Famous Landmark Documentary: The Post World War Two American Family

The post world war two American family, was a very different family structure than had previously existed in America. They were not radically different in terms of power, but more in a terms of responsibilities held by its members. The family unit itself had different goals that every member work towards, but the children, wives and husbands of the families contributed in very different ways. Families during this time, main purpose and drive was to better their current lives as much as possible and to achieve their idea of the American dream (“Famous Landmark Documentary”). No longer was a family just trying to survive like there were in early America. Achieving the American dream is a pretty abstract goal. In the minds of most Americans

They were no longer needed to help with the housework or in the fields. Instead parents tried to keep as much of the real world away from them as possible. This is evident by how parents would shelter their children from things seen sexual or scandalous ( Chamberlain 1). This story from that time is rather telling about the extent parents went to keep their kids innocent. “One of my colleagues was a preteen when Elvis first made it on television. After being warned by the nuns, she was only allowed to watch if she and her family covered up the bottom half of the screen, which they did.” (“Famous Landmark Documentary”). Although this may be an extreme example, it really shows the lengths parents went to, in order to protect their children 's minds from “unsavory content”. It wasn 't even stuff on television, parents would also avoid talking about serious issues like the African American civil right union, or the cold war. This is seen in the case of the millers in Levitown, or how they teach duck and cover drills despite the lack of good it would actually do (“Famous Landmark Documentary”). This lack of trust in the young minds of children is a stark difference from the farm days when children would be given work to do at a young age so the family could survive. Instead in the is era children were supposed to just play and enjoy childhood and all real concerns should be borne by the

There was an enormous negative stigma attached to have an illegitimate child, not getting married young, to not have kids or even not want more kids after you have a had a few. A fear of all these stigmas is easily seen in the story of a young woman that was in Major Problems in the History of American Families and Children. In Major Problems, a young woman discovers she is pregnant, and isn 't married to the father. She spends some time hiding the pregnancy and hoping she will just have her period until her mother discovers the pregnancy. The young woman, is so distraught with the idea of mothering and illegitimate child that she claims she would rather die. She then risks her life to abort the pregnancy, and succeeds, but heavily damages her health (Jabour 381). You can see the rest in another story about a mother who wants to get. sterilized after already having two children that is also in Major Problems in the history of American Families and Children. She has to get her husband 's permission then goes to get the Procedure. But before the procedure can be done, her case has to be taken before an all male committee decide if he can be allow to have it done. Even after the procedure is ok-ed, afterward she constantly feels somewhat guilty over the decision and feels judgment from other women (Jabour 379). Both these stories bring home how