When we grew up, we received all sorts of moral messages about how to behave and what kind of people we were. Over time, some of those messages became firmly embedded in our beliefs. For example, the frequent message that young women should be good at home, married, and with their children; that single parents shouldn’t raise their children, and that gay people should not be involved in the process of raising children. I am glad this has changed considerably, atleast in my circle and parents are now open minded, and more liberal about these things.
As children grew older, the messages became harder to ignore. More importantly, though, the children started to display more abusive behaviors, such as hitting other children, malicious behavior, skipping school, and so on. These changes in their behaviors signaled a shift in the way the parents responded to their children’s needs. For example, while it used to be a given that parents would get disciplinary action for hitting a child, many single-parent households began using corporal punishment.
The same thing happened with domestic violence. Many single-parent households have seen an increase in domestic violence since the turn of the millennium. The correlation between domestic violence and drug abuse is very strong.
While many people attribute the increased rate of domestic violence to poverty and lack of job opportunities, another possible reason is that there are more violent crimes in urban settings. If more people living in cities are being victimized by the law, then there are going to be more children who are being abused by strangers. The correlation between drug abuse and crime is very real. If you see violence at home frequently and don’t get help for your children, chances are that they will pick up drug abuse at school and drugs on the streets as well.
Back to our question, how has parenting changed over time?
Parenting styles are probably as different today as they were in the past. Many moms want to be more involved in the children’s lives; they want to be involved in all aspects of their children’s development. However, many working parents are now bringing home work and trying to balance that work schedule to bring the children up.
Some working parents choose to set up flexible work schedules so that the children can have their lunch and learn off-work activities during the day. Other working parents set up a flexible schedule that allows them to stay home with the children when they are working. This type of parenting is especially beneficial for working parents who want to be involved in their children’s lives but aren’t able to stay home with them. Flexible parenting styles are common among single-parent families where one parent works and the other parent stay home with the children.
Overtime attitudes toward what is considered appropriate behavior have changed. In the past it was believed that children should wait until they were “grown up” to ask questions and engage in adult activities. Now, most people think that asking questions and taking part in activities is fine even at an early age. Some even say that children are able to function better as they are allowed to complete their own daily activities without constant supervision.
Today it is more accepting than ever before. Most people consider it perfectly acceptable for two working parents sit down together on a daily basis and discuss what is going on in their family. More people also consider it perfectly acceptable for one parent to work full-time while raising the children while the other brings in income as a stay-at-home parent. Some single-parent families even have both parents working, gay people are raising children without any major problem. There really hasn’t been a period of history that reflects this more clearly than today.
