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Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America
An examination into the history of modern parenting
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, "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 A Modern History of Childrearing in America shows the reasons for this belief through an historic examination of modern parenting.
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, "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 A Modern History of Childrearing in America shows the reasons for this belief through an historic examination of modern parenting.
251 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2002
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175 people want to read
About the author
Peter N. Stearns
313 books33 followersPeter Nathaniel Stearns is a professor at George Mason University, where he was provost from January 1, 2000 to July 2014.
Stearns was chair of the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University and also served as the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (now named Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences) at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, he founded and edited the Journal of Social History. While at Carnegie Mellon, he developed a pioneering approach to teaching World History, and has contributed to the field as well through editing, and contributing to, the Routledge series, Themes in World History. He is also known for various work on the nature and impact of the industrial revolution and for exploration of new topics, particularly in the history of emotions.
He is active in historical groups such as the American Historical Association, the Society for French Historical Studies, the Social Science History Association and the International Society for Research on Emotion.
Stearns was chair of the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University and also served as the Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (now named Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences) at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, he founded and edited the Journal of Social History. While at Carnegie Mellon, he developed a pioneering approach to teaching World History, and has contributed to the field as well through editing, and contributing to, the Routledge series, Themes in World History. He is also known for various work on the nature and impact of the industrial revolution and for exploration of new topics, particularly in the history of emotions.
He is active in historical groups such as the American Historical Association, the Society for French Historical Studies, the Social Science History Association and the International Society for Research on Emotion.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 22, 2009
This is an interesting and important book, but I've been plowing through it bit by bit for over a month (while also reading much more engaging stuff). The author is a social historian, and he couldn't write a short sentence to save his life. If you can mentally translate academic-ese into English, this is worth reading. But don't expect much humor, though there are myriad wonderful opportunities for it.
The main sections are on "The Vulnerable Child" (kids were assumed to be tougher a century ago, though lots more died), Discipline (a veritable pendulum through the decades), All Are Above Average (schooling), Work & Chores (today's kids don't do much in comparison), and "I'm Bored: The Two Faces of Entertainment".
The parts about the evils of comic books (in the 20's) and radio (30's) and superheroes (50's) were incredible - it has all really been said before (except today it is being said about tv & video games). My favorite part in this last chapter was from a famous psychologist in 1954, who "condemned homosexuality, noting that Robin, Batman's 'boy wonder', was often posed with his tights-clad legs provocatively spread."
The main sections are on "The Vulnerable Child" (kids were assumed to be tougher a century ago, though lots more died), Discipline (a veritable pendulum through the decades), All Are Above Average (schooling), Work & Chores (today's kids don't do much in comparison), and "I'm Bored: The Two Faces of Entertainment".
The parts about the evils of comic books (in the 20's) and radio (30's) and superheroes (50's) were incredible - it has all really been said before (except today it is being said about tv & video games). My favorite part in this last chapter was from a famous psychologist in 1954, who "condemned homosexuality, noting that Robin, Batman's 'boy wonder', was often posed with his tights-clad legs provocatively spread."
November 28, 2021
There were a lot of strange things about this book. I generally appreciated placing some of the challenges of parenting into their historical context and the clear-eyed analysis on how parenting has gotten “better” and “worse” (though I didn’t always completely agree with the author’s definitions of these things, when he specified).
One strange thing was the repeated commentary that American parents are more anxious than European parents. The author alludes to the fact that American parents have almost no institutional support in their parenting—cobbled-together parental leave, cobbled-together childcare options with little oversight, little social support otherwise, extreme out-of-pocket costs for education. However, he never lands the connection, suggesting that Americans are more anxious about their children for some cultural reason. I mean maybe, but what about that laundry list of material reasons you just gave.
The lynchpin of his argument is that the American approach to parenting has changed from the 19th to 20th centuries due to a shift in attitudes about children, namely that they were once seen as sturdy and they are now seen as vulnerable. This leads to an explanation that corporal punishment fell out of favor because kids were no longer seen as tough enough to be struck. This reasoning seems beside the point to me, and is representative of my dissatisfaction with this book. The author seems uninterested in psychological findings regarding children that guided many changes in parenting approaches, nor does he contemplate the aspirations of parents to right what they perceived as the wrongs of their own upbringing. (He notes toward the end that physical violence among children is much less of a going concern than in the 19th century, though does not connect this to the decline in corporal punishment.)
Also: parenting is not the only practice that has enjoyed an anxiety makeover in the 20th century. I found it puzzling that the author did not tie this part of life to more general upward trends in anxiety in the 20th century.
One strange thing was the repeated commentary that American parents are more anxious than European parents. The author alludes to the fact that American parents have almost no institutional support in their parenting—cobbled-together parental leave, cobbled-together childcare options with little oversight, little social support otherwise, extreme out-of-pocket costs for education. However, he never lands the connection, suggesting that Americans are more anxious about their children for some cultural reason. I mean maybe, but what about that laundry list of material reasons you just gave.
The lynchpin of his argument is that the American approach to parenting has changed from the 19th to 20th centuries due to a shift in attitudes about children, namely that they were once seen as sturdy and they are now seen as vulnerable. This leads to an explanation that corporal punishment fell out of favor because kids were no longer seen as tough enough to be struck. This reasoning seems beside the point to me, and is representative of my dissatisfaction with this book. The author seems uninterested in psychological findings regarding children that guided many changes in parenting approaches, nor does he contemplate the aspirations of parents to right what they perceived as the wrongs of their own upbringing. (He notes toward the end that physical violence among children is much less of a going concern than in the 19th century, though does not connect this to the decline in corporal punishment.)
Also: parenting is not the only practice that has enjoyed an anxiety makeover in the 20th century. I found it puzzling that the author did not tie this part of life to more general upward trends in anxiety in the 20th century.
August 7, 2019
Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America (Hardcover)
by Peter N. Stearns
too much not mentioned.....
not mentioned: Schreber who had a big American popular following and whose ideas were offered up by American psychologist John B Watson who founded Behaviorism a major influence in psychology.
Dr. Daniel Gottlieb Moritz Schreber.was a prominent German doctor who set himself up as an authority on child psychology. In 1858 his books on child rearing were so popular with German parents, that some of them went through forty printings. ...Dr. Shreber's psychology started with the newborn baby who should be drilled from the very first day to obey and refrain from crying. Master the crying baby through frightening it....
Lest you think this is OBE, my father believed much of this teach a baby not to cry stuff. Eve Ensler The Apology wrote about this in her childhood.
see also
For your own good : hidden cruelty in child-rearing and the roots of violence / by Alice Miller
For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence
by Peter N. Stearns
too much not mentioned.....
not mentioned: Schreber who had a big American popular following and whose ideas were offered up by American psychologist John B Watson who founded Behaviorism a major influence in psychology.
Dr. Daniel Gottlieb Moritz Schreber.was a prominent German doctor who set himself up as an authority on child psychology. In 1858 his books on child rearing were so popular with German parents, that some of them went through forty printings. ...Dr. Shreber's psychology started with the newborn baby who should be drilled from the very first day to obey and refrain from crying. Master the crying baby through frightening it....
Lest you think this is OBE, my father believed much of this teach a baby not to cry stuff. Eve Ensler The Apology wrote about this in her childhood.
see also
For your own good : hidden cruelty in child-rearing and the roots of violence / by Alice Miller
For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence
April 26, 2021
I really liked this read. The research format along with the metaphysical intentions were extremely insightful and powerful to me.
June 27, 2012
A strong academic book on the changes in child rearing over the last century. While the author covered each thematic topic (school, boredom) with interest, coherent arguments and interesting facts, it also felt a little repetitive at times. The writing itself was a little less formal than your average academic title: while it made the book easier to read in places, it made checking the sources or looking for specific references more challenging (which, when writing a dissertation about this topic, is a true frustration, but will not bother the casual reader as much.). The overall argument, that we have increasingly come to view children as precious, fragile, delicate and in need of protection was convincing and well supported.
July 30, 2012
I think I would have enjoyed Anxious Parents more if I had chose to read it voluntarily. Still, I'll give it 3 stars because it is an incredibly comprehensive study of various areas of childrearing that have been especially stressful to parents in the 20th century. At times I felt it was a little too comprehensive - Stearns is a bit long-winded (but then again, it is a historical book, and those tend to be a overloaded with qualifying examples). I would definitely recommend this to anyone interested in an astute analysis of recent and current parenting anxieties.
June 5, 2011
Very interesting book, detailing cultural events (child labor laws, the automobile, pop psychology, vaccines, birth control, etc.) that led to major shifts in parenting philosophies from the 19th to the 20th century. Gets a little repetitive after about half way through, but I like the thesis: that the trend towards overbearing "helicopter" parenting is damaging to child and parent, and one that parents can and should choose against.
March 31, 2016
This was an extremely enjoyable, unorthodox academic book (references at the end of each chapter, explained with reference to their place in the chapter rather than in alphabetical order), very clearly written, packed with fascinating details, about the evolution of parenting in the 20th century and the associated construction of countless anxieties by the media, psychologists, doctors and consumer culture.
August 29, 2009
If you are interested in understanding from a historical perspective why contemporary parenting seems to reflect such worry and insecurity, this book is a great read. I did not read the book cover to cover, but used it more as a resource book dabbling in various parts.
February 22, 2011
A fascinating examination of the anxieties of parenting in 20th-century America along with analysis of how they were provoked or calmed by "expert" advice. Interesting discussions of chores, "boredom," homework and other phenomenon that were the subject of both anxiety and changing advice.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews