That was then...this is now
Children haven’t changed over the last 50 years but our parenting styles have. What
on earth would 1960s mum make of baby-
Right from day one, the life experience of sixties and seventies babes was quite
different from today. While a third of seventies mums stayed in hospital for over
a week post delivery, six-
Breast versus bottle
Breastfeeding began to fall out of fashion in the fifties and bottle-
By 1975, half of all babies were bottle-
Feeding
Current advice is to milk-
gradually introducing solids. By contrast, many fifties parents weaned at four months on bone broth! ‘Babyled weaning’ is growing in popularity. Forget weaning spoons, babies choose their food from a selection on offer and ‘feed’ themselves. Yes, it’s as messy as it sounds. Grandparents – keep schtum and resist the urge to do the aeroplane spoon manoeuvre!
Few fifties households had fridges, so instead of heading off to a coffee morning
mums found themselves trawling the High Street daily to source perishables. In the
swinging sixties, shop-
daily shops became weekly, thanks to a boom in car ownership and
Supermarkets.
Convenience was king in the seventies as the number of working
mums hit two-
The nineties saw a growth in all things organic and by 2014, organic items made up
almost two-
Discipline
According to Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) research, just one generation
ago most parents smacked – 77 per cent in the seventies. Two-
Teachers and most parents nowadays take time to explain why
children are being punished and how misbehaviour means ’time out’ or the removal of certain privileges for a period of time. Happily, the norm is now ‘positive parenting’ in the form of praise and encouragement.
Work and childcare
British family life is unrecognisable from the 1950s stereotype. Numbers of stay-
Most families now depend on childcare. Today, a third of Britain’s working mothers
are the main family earners and stay-
little change in the number of stay-
Until the nineties, working parents tended to forge their own
childcare arrangements. Often these were informal – relatives, friends or neighbours – but some parents used nannies, childminders and nursery schools.
Everything changed in 2002 when the government introduced free
nursery provision for four-
Daily life
Undoubtedly, previous generations
had more freedom to roam. Until
the nineties, many children stayed
out playing until teatime and walked
themselves to school, encouraging
self-
Today’s parents are more fearful.
Alarming coverage in the media and on
the internet, and 24/7 communication,
fuels anxiety about ‘stranger danger’
and health and safety. But evidence
suggests that the world is no more
Dangerous.
Many mums in past generations left their babies outside in the pram to get some fresh air (even in winter) while they tackled the housework – unthinkable today, along with leaving a child (sleeping or not) in the car seat while you pop into the shop.
But there were restrictions! Toddlers generally wore reins when out walking in the
sixties and had their indoors adventuring curtailed by playpens. Not to mention being
told to ‘be quiet’ and play upstairs when the grown-
In the fifties, toy factories hadn’t returned to pre-
Are more expectations placed on our children? Starting school at just four (globally, most begin at six or seven), they’re introduced early to formality, testing and homework. Their predecessors were free from SATs and parents didn’t fret over league tables.
Lifestyle
Meet the gurus
These parenting experts have been hugely influential in shaping attitudes over the last 50 years, each offering different advice
50s and 60s
Dr Spock
American paediatrician Dr Benjamin Spock’s
Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care
is an all-
be more affectionate and to treat children as
individuals. A refreshing antidote to early 20th century guides that discouraged cuddling, Spock asked parents to trust their instincts and lighten up on routines.
70s and 80s
Penelope Leach
Psychologist Penelope Leach’s Your Baby and
Child: From Birth to Age Five (1977) argued
that one-
development. Leach wanted to liberate parents from traditional advice like rigid routines and to embrace childcentred parenting.
Critics say she makes parents feel guilty that they’re never doing enough.
90s and 2000s
Gina Ford
The former maternity nurse and so-
Queen of Routine’s ideas divide opinion! The
Contented Little Baby Book (1999) promoted
a regime of set feeding times to establish
routines. It recommends ignoring a crying child to restore sleeping patterns in some circumstances, and avoiding eye contact
before bedtime to prevent over-
2000s
Supernanny
Professional nanny and TV star, Supernanny Jo
Frost has reached tens of millions of viewers
with her positive parenting techniques. She uses incentives for good, and deterrents for bad behaviour along with the famous ‘naughty step’. Critics question whether changes in behaviour only last while the cameras roll!
Technology and social media
Countless seventies parents fretted over their children’s love affair with the ‘Gogglebox’, and in the eighties and nineties home computers were added to the worry list. Today, there’s concern
that iPads are over-
Most mums (68 per cent) now use social networks and texting as a
parenting prop, claims The Changing Face of Motherhood report (Social Issues Research Centre). Previous generations tended to display a more stiff upper lip in public, sharing concerns only with close family.
Health and safety
The eighties saw a boom in child-
and seventies mums were advised to ‘train’ children to avoid home hazards in the first place. There were lots of ‘NO! Fire is dangerous, darling!’ Conversations!
Thanks to an ever-
polio, smallpox and tuberculosis to worry about! Today’s children enjoy protection from mumps, rubella, measles, ‘flu, rotavirus and some meningitis strains. How lucky we are. Today’s parents probably do have more opportunities – it’s how we use them that counts!
DADS’ CHANGING ROLE
• 94 per cent of today’s dads are present at births compared with 58 per cent in the seventies.
• 98 per cent changed nappies in the
noughties compared with 68 per cent
in the seventies.
• 91 per cent now put baby to bed
compared with 70 per cent in the
seventies.
May/June 2017
All information is correct at time of publishing