families of the past ©copyright 2010, scott johnson. all rights reserved

Families of the Past

©Copyright 2010, Scott Johnson. All rights reserved.

Families of the Past

Families of the PastTrue or False:

1. The portion of the U.S. population marrying today is lower than in 1900.

2. Because of rising divorce rates, children today are more likely to live in single-parent households than they were a century ago.

3. In the past, most families lived in three-generation households after grandparents retired and moved in with their offspring.

4. Most American children currently live in single-parent households.

5. Teen pregnancy rates are higher today than 30 years ago.

6. Modern technology has its costs: We have less time for leisure than our great grandparents did.

7. Despite other racial progress, interracial relationships are still frowned upon by most white Americans.


Families of the Past“We’re generating a tremendous amount of stress within our culture by our relationship to work, at the same time that we have been eliminating the traditional sources of nurturance that most people through time have felt.... [People in the past have had] a sense of safety and comfort within the family. Home is the place you go where you feel taken care of. Home is the place where you get recharged. And what we’re defining [is] a society more and more where people spend less time at home; there isn’t a homemaker there, male or female, who’s taken responsibility for setting the conditions in which people can feel taken care of in their life and recover from the stress of the workplace. And so, what’s gonna happen with that, with that stress? We narcoticize ourselves with the popular culture [which is] certainly...one place they feel taken care of by their television shows or their home entertainment center. That’s what soothes them. So sure, people are looking for ways in which they can begin to feel nurtured, where they can feel a connection with something that sustains them. Families are not providing the traditional support that they have in the past.” Rich Simon, NPR, 6 July 1998


Families of the Past“I'd rather talk to grandparents than parents. (I'm sure the fact that I'm a grandfather myself has a lot to do with that.) Today's grandparents -- mostly the ones older than myself -- represent the last generation to rear children according to tradition as opposed to psychobabble. They tell me stories, these venerable elders of ours, stories of the way it used to be and still can be -- if we'd heed their wisdom, that is.” John Rosemond, Duluth News, 20 February 2005

is any of this true?©Copyright 2010, Scott Johnson. All rights reserved.

Families of the Past“Today's grandparents -- mostly the ones older than myself -- represent the last generation to rear children according to tradition as opposed to psychobabble. “

11 y.o. paper vendor, working since 7. Father once bit his arm for not selling enough papers. Sometimes works till 10.p.m.


Families of the Past“[People in the past have had] a sense of safety and comfort within the family. Home is the place you go where you feel taken care of. Home is the place where you get recharged.”

depression family; just lost farm



tent city family; just sold tent for food



family sewing garters in tenement


Families of the Past“Families are not providing the traditional support that they have in the past.”

family picking nuts in dirty basement



5 year old cotton picker & 5 year old shrimp picker



girls working in spinning mill



department store boys



fish cutters



child coal miners



bowling pin setters



newsboys playing craps; nearly all smoke



boys working in mill



“…jack shall have a new master. he shall earn but a penny a day because he can’t work any faster.”



“… the pig was eat & tom got beat”


families of the past ©copyright 2010, scott johnson. all rights reserved

Documents