Changes Between 1880-1900 Essay, Research Paper

In this research project there will be a great deal of changes from then and now because of time era and also the change in influence. This research project is about how life was like for a boy living in the 1880 to 1900 era compared to the present day. I will discus their home life, family life, and personal life, morals, & responsibilities. The first paragraph within each title will be “then”, and the second paragraph within the title will be the “present day”.

This will cover all of the information that I have found on the selected subject. This information will be presented in my report in many paragraphs. Each of the paragraphs will be labeled seperately for a better understanding.

Responsibilities

Then

The childhood of a boy living in the 1880 to 1900 era was very different from how life is today. Such as there responsibilities were to assume the behavior of adults as soon as possible, but this all changed after The American Revolution. The American Revolution had such an effect on the political and social behavior; some of this was that it encouraged families to become more egalitarian. Magazine articles advised that the parents should be a less authoritarian institution. The children had needs of there own, they were individuals, and not simply the property of there parents. Which meant that they didn t need to dress exactly like them and take up their habits and responsibilities.

They did not have that many activities for work had filled most of their time. Urban and middle class families did have to send there child to work but can mostly prosper by not having to send their children to work. But still the child was a necessary and valuable economic asset for most families. This was do to the fact that still a vast majority of American families lived on farms and they must depend on the work of all family members. By the age of six or seven these farm children had specific responsibilities to help on the farm. The boys by the age of ten or twelve would have to take on men s tasks. The responsibilities of slave children were like the responsibilities of white children that lived on the farm. Except by the age of ten or twelve the slave children both boys and girls were sent to work in the field from sunup to sundown.

Now

The responsibilities now are different from back then in the 1880’s to the 1900 time period. This is portionaly because in 1880 to 1900 we did not have the luxury we have now because of lack of technology or lack of money/funding for there inventions. So then they needed all the help they could get around the farm this included all the family members. All members of the families had their special responsibilities such as carrying for the animals, crop tending, or helping around the house. Most boys now have the same chores except that the technology has made it so we don t have to work from sunup to sundown what they got done in that time we can get done in a few hours. So basically technology has made a deep impact on the boys life then to the their life now. Also there are not as many families living on farms as there were in 1880 to 1900 there are more families living in cities than farms.

Home life

Then

Our home life now was better than back then because back then there was more physical labor that was required. Punishments were on the harsh side with beatings and verbal abuse that were tough to take, rather than the reasoning and caring loving home we have now. Back then there was a less loving home and more of an attitude from parents that thought that children were there to take over there duties as soon as possible rather than be there for a kind loving hand. Boys now do not have to do the exact chores that there fathers do the mostly take on chores that they are more capable of completing rather than ones that would hurt them in the long run.

Now

The children of the poor would often not attend school regularly or dropped out at an early age. The family life of a young child that had a father that could not provide for the family or was absent had to run errands, scavenge for coal, and help the mother, who took laundry, cared for boarders, or did sewing or piecework in there home. Young boys would sell newspapers or often become street peddlers .

Personal life

Then

Personal life now for a 15-year-old has freedoms rather than back then they had boundaries. They were forbidden from doing such things now we are given permission by asking the head parent of our household. There are responsibilities that take up personal life but not as much as would take up a 15-year-old boy living in 18880 to 1900 eras. Our personal life is now dependant on the time we have and give our selves back then that pretty much had no personal life because work was there personal life.

Now

Most of a child s life was consumed by work little time for personal opportunity to express them selves and for reflection. Children were among America s first industrial workers; they were employed to tend spinning machines in text mills. They remained an important part of America s work force in the textile industry as late as the early twentieth century; statistics show that by 1900 13 percent of textile workers were under sixteen. The industries preferred hiring children because they could work for less than adults would. Parents would send their children to work this early because they needed the wages to help support the family.

The attitude toward their entertainment had changed; merchants started to offer dolls, trains, and other toys. Stores specializing in games, toys, and children s goods opened in larger cities. Then they began to pick up on early learning, influenced by German experiments that stated that we should offer children learning activities such as clay modeling and paper cutting, rather than specific instruction in reading or writing.

Morals and Family life

Then

Our morals and family life are so much different than what there was back then. Their morals were very restrictive to the actions of their children boys and girls no matter what age they were. This was because they had very a very strong belief system and it showed in their family life being as restrictive as it was. Their family life was mostly concerned by work while ours is being actually with the family. Mostly now time with the family is very important because it help brings the family together and provides a loving environment for kids. They healthy environment is more important now than it was then because now we have more problems facing you teens such as drugs, home life, stress, personal, and many others that they did not see as such a concern in 1880 to 1900 era for the 15-year-old.

Now

Americans believed that the main job of the family was still to properly rear the child in the right direction. Parents were still expected to provide for their kids with moral guidance and oversee their education and training. In the twentieth century the employment rate or mothers with young children had dramatically increased along with teen pregnancy and divorce rates. The single parent families usually headed by mothers also became more common. Many critics started to worry that these changes would endanger the families traditional family s traditional function of raising children because parents were either to busy or to disconnected from their children to provide the proper supervision and guidance.

The greatest concern however was that the children were becoming the poorest Americans. They were to often victims of parental drug use, abuse and neglect, poverty, and inadequate heath care and schooling. To fix these problems required government funding for education and social welfare programs, but many Americans not among the poor had seemed to balk at the subject of increased spending to benefit other people s children. Distinguishing between the protection and comforts they wanted for their own children and as decent standard of living for all youngsters. Another reason was that the United States, with its tradition of individualism and opposition to government intervention in the family, had never developed a full-fledged welfare state, which provided the kind or family support, medical care, and child care programs common in West European countries. Americans debated whether the social problems of children were mainly a parental or community responsibility.