English language and literature

English - Parenting

COMPARISON of PARENTING PRACTICES

American society has undergone numerous social changes during a relatively short period of time. Parenting styles, child-rearing and family values are among those changes. A generation ago, parents seemed to have much more control over the lives of their children, especially during late childhood and early adolescence. As a result, family dynamics and the relationship between parents and children are significantly different today from what was typical thirty years ago.

In many ways, those changes are attributable to the increased availability of mass media and consumer technology. A generation ago, the typical family had a single television that was set up in the living room area; it played a similar role in family life to that played by the family radio receiver a generation beforehand. Programming content was much more limited before the advent of cable and satellite television and in the pre-

VCR era, one usually had only one chance to watch any given program of interest.

As a result, children and parents watched television together as a family. Today, the typical American family household includes approximately one cable-enabled television per person and even children in non-wealthy families have televisions in their bedrooms, as well as computers connected to the Internet. Those changes have altered family relationships by reducing the amount of "family time" that children spend with their parents. Even the wider availability of fast food seems to have played a part in that previous generations usually shared meals with their parents at home; today, adolescents do so comparatively rarely, preferring to eat with their friends outside.

Whereas prior-generation children and adolescents relied on their parents or their schools to organize social events for them, today that is the exception. Adolescents enjoy greater degree of independence from their parents' influence because, among other things, they have increased access to public transportation and many more options for socializing with their peers outside the home or school. Previously, telephones were all hard-wired and (like the family television) were located in the family room or kitchen.

Today, many children and nearly all adolescents have their own cellular phones that enable them to maintain much more privacy from their parents than their parents ever enjoyed at home.

In previous generations, parents were often the main source of financial support for their children's extracurricular interests; typically, parents paid children an allowance to do household chores. Today, many more adolescents have the opportunity to hold part-time jobs close to home. Likewise, whereas in previous generations relatively few adolescents had their own cars, many contemporary adolescents start driving while still in high school. This combination of reduced financial dependence on parents and increased ability to pursue their own interests outside the home at an earlier age have altered many aspects of the parenting and family relationships.