Relationship Between Children and Parents During the Fifties

In the 1950s, family dynamics in post war period of WWII embodied the relationship between children and their parents. The suburban family lifestyle in the community centered on conformity –family togetherness involved parents taking interest in their child’s life. The coexistence of Americans in the Fifties perceived the relationship between children and adolescents to their parents as rebelling against parent authority. Such scenarios such as, “Live My Own Life,” an episode on a TV shows Father Knows Best, Bud Anderson feeling resentment toward his parents, because his dad disapproves of the activities he wants to enjoy. The episode shows that Bud wants to grow up even though his parents continuously treat him like a kid. Another distant relationship between children and parent is the literary text, “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury. In Bradbury’s text, the children’s self refinance on technology replaced the parents absent role in the family. The theme of depending on technology, abandonment, and man versus machine justify the parents’ blind sight, enabling technology to supply happiness in the children’s lives. The discourse in the Fifties was self-reliance, where children persuaded with their parents to give in their every whim.

The episode “Live My Own Life” on Father Knows Best, Bud feels that he has reached the end boyhood and is ready to become a man. For instance, Bud uses his dad’s shaver and begins to shave before school starts. The main concern is Bud’s dad, Jim Anderson, who disapproves of his ideas, which include Bud motor scooting with his friends at the stone quarry. Jim condemns the idea without raising his voice or emoting anger, but stating his reason that he is concerned for Bud’s safety; since, the stone quarry i...

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...nt, and children begin to defy their parents. Children in the Fifties growing up expected their parents to set the example by not being rigid or setting a standard to live by. The Fifties introduced children independency by living on their own and making their parents appease their every need. The mother was always the concerned parent looking out for their children, while the father handled disciplinary actions and tried to resolve conflicts. In both, “Live My Own Life” and “The Veldt” the parents were not able to handle their situation attentively, resulted in their child’s opposition. Child development of the Fifties existed with defying their parents and rebelling, which led to juvenile delinquency. The American Fifties emerged with children’s subjective view against their parent, and retaliating caused middle class children seen as “good kids” behaving badly.