1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910783769903321

Autore

Stearns Peter N

Titolo

Anxious parents [[electronic resource] ] : a history of modern child-rearing in America / / Peter N. Stearns

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : New York University Press, 2003

ISBN

0-8147-3999-7

1-4175-8838-1

0-8147-8698-7

Descrizione fisica

256 p

Disciplina

649.10973

Soggetti

Child rearing - United States - History - 20th century

Parenting - United States - History - 20th century

Parent and child - United States - History - 20th century

Child development - United States - History - 20th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Originally published: 2003.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Anxious parents : a 20th-century history -- The vulnerable child -- Discipline -- All are above average : children at school -- Work and chores : do I have to? -- I'm bored : the two faces of entertainment -- Conclusion : the impact of anxiety.

Sommario/riassunto

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw a dramatic shift in the role of children in American society and families. No longer necessary for labor, children became economic liabilities and twentieth-century parents exhibited a new level of anxiety concerning the welfare of their children and their own ability to parent effectively. What caused this shift in the ways parenting and childhood were experienced and perceived? Why, at a time of relative ease and prosperity, do parents continue to grapple with uncertainty and with unreasonable expectations of both themselves and their children? Peter N. Stearns explains this phenomenon by examining the new issues the twentieth century brought to bear on families. Surveying popular media, *#8220;expert” childrearing manuals, and newspapers and journals published throughout the century, Stearns shows how schooling, physical and emotional vulnerability, and the rise in influence of commercialism



became primary concerns for parents. The result, Stearns shows, is that contemporary parents have come to believe that they are participating in a culture of neglect and diminishing standards. Anxious Parents: A Modern History of Childrearing in America shows the reasons for this belief through an historic examination of modern parenting.