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Article Excerpt
THIS STUDY IS AN EXPLORATION OF THE CHANGING ETHOS of parenting, based on an examination of parenting magazines and articles. Drawing upon the work of authors who argue that childrearing is becoming a more intensive endeavour, I examine changes in the publication rates and the specific content of parenting articles. I argue that the substantial growth of parenting magazines in a number of English-speaking industrialized countries is indicative of a larger concern about "parenting" as a deliberate undertaking or strategy. Consistent with others who document a heightened concern with children's cognitive development, I find that, over time, Canadian parenting articles increasingly emphasize schooling and children's academic skills.
A Shifting Ethos of Childrearing: Intensive Parenting
Research suggests that raising children has become increasingly intensive, complex and time-consuming. Historically, children were largely viewed in terms of their economic usefulness, rather than in emotional, sentimental terms (Zelizer, 1985; Hays, 1996). In the late 1800s, "English Canadians showed little awareness of children as individual persons ... they saw nothing of the inner, emotional life of youngsters" (Sutherland, 1997: 6). In contrast, today's standards of appropriate parenting call for substantial amounts of time spent in direct child care; the time required to produce a "good" childhood has increased (Arendell, 2001). Relying on time series data, Sayer, Bianchi and Robinson (2004) report that even as changes in the family converge to potentially decrease children's time spent with their parents (i.e., women's greater participation in the paid workforce, more single-parent households), since the 1960s parents have compensated for these changes by spending more time with their children.
The logic or ideology of "intensive mothering" holds that childrearing should be centred on children's needs. Hays (1996) argues that methods of appropriate childrearing have intensified to become emotionally absorbing, labour-intensive, expert-guided and financially expensive. Intensive parenting (1) is characterized by investing enormous amounts of time in the day-to-day care of children. For example, rather than expecting adherence to an absolute set of rules, negotiation is the order of the day. Spanking, or even telling a child "no," is not acceptable parenting behaviour. Instead, enormous expenditures of time and effort must be invested in disciplining children: talking, reasoning and negotiating, even with small children (Hays, 1996). The logic of intensive parenting requires that parents interact with their child at virtually all waking moments, attending closely to the child's needs and demands. Empirical research finds support for these intensive methods. Lareau (2000; 2003) suggests that middle-class parents enact a logic of "concerted cultivation," actively cultivating children's development through relentless reasoning, negotiation and a multitude of organized activities. Parents believe that by exposing children to these activities and experiences, they will foster their children's talents (Lareau, 2002; 2003; Chin and Phillips, 2004).
Intensive childrearing practices such as "concerted cultivation" are invoked unevenly across social classes. In both Canada and the United States, research findings suggest that social class bears directly on childrearing practices (see Fox, 2001; Lareau, 2002; 2003). As Fox (2001) notes, the material and personal resources required to enact intensive mothering are "usually unavailable to working-class women" (2001: 380). Some authors suggest that, while upper- and middle-class mothers are more likely to put these tenets into practise, mothers regardless of social class see this intensive approach to childrearing as proper and appropriate (Hays, 1996; Chin and Phillips, 2004).
Fostering Children's Cognitive Development
Accompanying a shift toward an intensification of parenting is a particular emphasis on fostering children's intellectual or cognitive development. In addition to attending to their children's physical and emotional wellness, parents are encouraged to focus on children's cognitive and intellectual needs (Hays, 1996; Wrigley, 1989; Lareau, 2000; 2002; Schaub, 2004; Stevens, 2001; Arendell, 2001). Lareau (2000) argues that
in addition to their traditional nurturing obligations, parents are now responsible for promoting cognitive development.... This movement from physiological and psychological arenas to cognitive development significantly increases the duties and obligations of a parent (2000: 83-84).
This focus on cognitive development and, ultimately, academic performance is a relatively new phenomenon. Prior to the twentieth century, North American parents were not primarily concerned with their children's intellectual prowess, and did little to ensure children's academic success (Wrigley, 1989; Urwin and Sharland, 1992). Yet, as children's life chances are influenced by how they fare in school, parents' concern for children's cognitive performance has increased (Wrigley, 1989).
Mayall (2002) argues that childhood has become "scholarized," with children spending more time engaged in intellectual pursuits. Lareau (2000) documents the manner in which middle-class parents attempt to "educationalize" the home environment by promoting academic activities and integrating educational aspects into leisure time and routine aspects of dally life, fostering children's cognitive development at every opportunity (Epstein, 1987; Lareau, 2003). Toymakers, academic experts and other professionals collectively call on parents to deliberately stimulate their children's academic skills (Wrigley, 1989). Parents are spending more time in developmental activities, such as teaching small children, than they did in previous decades. In 2001, 94% of parents reported teaching their child words, letters and numbers, compared with 53% of parents who did so in 1951 (Schaub, 2004). In 1998, mothers spent 24 minutes daily "teaching and playing" with their children, more than twice as much time dally as did mothers in 1965 (Sayer, Bianchi and Robinson, 2004). Childrearing philosophies and practice in recent years identify a trend toward not only more intensive parenting, but also cognitively intensive parenting (see Schaub, 2004).
Childrearing Advice for Parents
A number of authors have turned to parenting literature to examine changes in the context of childrearing over time (e.g., Wrigley, 1989; Wall, 2004; Knaak, 2005). Such sources are largely aimed at middle-class audiences, and are not a direct proxy or measure of how parents rear their children. Yet, they are instructive in terms of tapping into the cultural context of parenting. Throughout the twentieth century, concerned parents have turned to parent education materials in the form of "how-to" manuals and childrearing articles in popular magazines. The absorption of childrearing advice by the public is astounding. By the mid-1970s, enough parenting publications were sold in America that every family with a child under age 12 could have at least one publication (Hardyment, 1983; Bigner and Yang, 1996; Clarke-Stewart, 1978). Moreover, publication of parenting books has increased by 650% since 1979 (Smith, Van Loon, DeFrates-Densch and Schrader, 1998: 197).
With each new generation, theories on childrearing are amended in light of new scientific findings. This continual fluctuation of childrearing advice from generation to generation has bolstered the popularity and proliferation of parenting literature. As new...
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