When wearing a hat, it would be suitable etiquette to take it off when going indoors, into a shop or when talking to a lady on the street. They encouraged their sons to excel in school, in athletics, and to attend college. Loretta Swit begged the writers to stop using it. In fact, children were often meant to be "seen but not heard." Due to what's called the "Cold War," children of the 50s also lived in an atmosphere of fear. Children had to say "please" and "thank you," and if they didnt use these words correctly, they would be informed by adults that they were being rude. Somewhat paradoxically, it involved a high level of trust granted from parent to child along with the simultaneous enforcement of a rigid, top down rule structure. He takes the boy by the legs and dips him in the cistern, and sends him back to work. } else { Family became a powerful unit, efficient enough to subdue the demons of war that were haunting the common man. However, elders who look back at what life was like in the '50s see a lack of morals in today's society that affects how children grow up. They produced films such as High School confidential, Blackboard Jungle, Teen Rebel, The Wild One, Rebel Without a Cause, and more, which fed 1950s teens' rebellious spirit. He encouraged parents to be reasonable, consistent, open, and friendly with their kids not regimented or authoritative. ), No TV, no Games Consoles. Children are a blessing, so says the sage, but youd never know that by watching the way adults have treated kids for centuries. For example, the creation of antipsychotic drugs and advancements in health care caused the number of mentally ill patients institutionalized at public hospitals to decrease by 92 percent from 1955 to 1994, according to a report from Out of the Shadows: Confronting America's Mental Illness Crisis. The 1950s brought a widespread fear that kids were out of control under the influence of comic books and movies and rock and roll. By the way, those last two totally contradict each other which always puzzled me when I was younger! How to discipline students has been debated in American schools since the country was founded. // Leaf Group Lifestyle, Beliefs, Values and Customs of Chinese Parents, How Child Rearing Practices Influence a Child's Development, The Effects of the Military on Child Discipline, The Effects of Having Strict Parents on Teenagers, The Psychology of the Mother-Son Relationship, Child-Rearing Practices in Different Cultures, How to Replace the Bulb in a Fisher Price Globe, The Psychological Effect of Child Discipline. 7. On the bus, it was expected that boys would give up their seat for a woman or anyone senior in age and also give up their places in line for the bus. A child would be taught to say, "I would like," and was taught never to say the words, "I want."