Traditional Families Today

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Many people think American families are facing worst problems today than in the past perhaps because people are comparing today’s families to the notion of the standard traditional families of the1950’s. However families were worst off in the1800’s and around the turn of the century when many children worked full-time in sweatshops, mines and mills during the industrialized period when child labor was the norm (Alchin, 2015). During this period, parents depended on their children as a source of income. Children were deprived of a decent education that could help them get better jobs and they had no play time and they got little to no rest (Alchin, 2015). Some children had to work as early as five years old and paid the average low wages of about one dollar per week until they reached age sixteen, typically from sunrise to sunset for 11 to 2 hours per day, six days per week with less than a one hour break per day …show more content…
I agree with the scholars that families are adapting to social changes and these changes have a direct impact on families. Many parents are in the workforce and they are trying to spend time with their children, but the time may not always be quality time especially for single mothers. Single mothers wear so many different hats and they have to juggle everything alone if they do not have extended family members who can step in and lend a hand. They tend to burn out from trying to meet everyone’s need which leads to stress and anxiety affecting the family. These children are found to do less on average in their overall well-being than their peers living and are far more likely to live in poverty than children living with two parents. However, many of these same children may do well and adjust especially after a parental divorce where there was family

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