An enormous Pew report came out today on Parenting in America.
This is the result of a questionnaire "among a nationally representative sample of 1,807 parents, 18 years of age or older, with
children under 18, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia."
It covers pretty much everything about how Americans parent, sliced and diced by income levels, parenting styles, discipline styles, involvement of mothers vs fathers, married vs unmarried, family size, etc.
Parenting in America
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jennypenny
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Re: Parenting in America
From the last section of other findings ... On average, parents say children should be at least 10 years old before they should be allowed to play in front of their house unsupervised while an adult is inside. Parents say children should be even older before they are allowed to stay home alone for about an hour (12 years old) or to spend time at a public park unsupervised (14 years old).
That part shocked me. Doesn't anyone let their kid walk to school at least? Do they really provide after school babysitting for a middle school child? I guess I find it funny that according to the survey, a kid isn't mature enough to be at a park unsupervised until they are 14, but by 16 they are magically ready to drive? And at 18, to vote, serve in the military, and go away to school?
It's absurd. At 12, I WAS the babysitter and was working by 14.
That part shocked me. Doesn't anyone let their kid walk to school at least? Do they really provide after school babysitting for a middle school child? I guess I find it funny that according to the survey, a kid isn't mature enough to be at a park unsupervised until they are 14, but by 16 they are magically ready to drive? And at 18, to vote, serve in the military, and go away to school?
It's absurd. At 12, I WAS the babysitter and was working by 14.
Re: Parenting in America
I didn't analyze the data very strictly, and I will a bit later, but "average" is pretty broad. Even though it's a nationally representative sample I'd be interested to see how it's broken down per question, especially for a question like that. I wouldn't be surprised that some parents in well-off neighborhoods would be more likely to allow that than say, inner city parents.
Although, having lived and worked in NYC and then the surrounding suburbs, New Yorkers let their children take the subway and walk to school from like elementary school age. So I'm sure that average might be pulled in certain directions by different populations of parents.
Either way that average is certainly representative of the prolonged childhood that developed (Western) nations usually produce~
Although, having lived and worked in NYC and then the surrounding suburbs, New Yorkers let their children take the subway and walk to school from like elementary school age. So I'm sure that average might be pulled in certain directions by different populations of parents.
Either way that average is certainly representative of the prolonged childhood that developed (Western) nations usually produce~