Frances Benjamin Johnston photo of the Library of Congress

On the other side, huge numbers of children worked in factories and mines . . . :(

Or make it alive to adulthood.

Only the wealthy were educated. Women had no rights, child abuse rife. My poor grandmother

AncientFaces , I know there was so much wrong, especially in the cities, it just seems if you were blessed enough, it was a simpler time.

Suzanne DeBernardo I understand - I love lots about that time. It's the same with every era, there's the good and the bad. And every era is better if you have money! :)

Horrible living conditions but epic architecture and arts...

Not just rich, also white.

And not Irish or any other migrant minority white or otherwise who wasn't adopted in some form of tokenism.

It really wasn't a very nice time. Spanish flu, tuberculosis, child labor, horrible working conditions and no protections for workers, no vaccinations, the beginnings of the eugenics movement.

Sure, some things were simpler if you were white, English-speaking, and upper middle class (it also helped to be male as women still had few opportunities, no birth control, no right to vote, and no legal right to their own children, and domestic violence wasn't against the law in most cases).

But they did have pretty clothes and a nice aesthetic, I'll give you that.

Not entirely. Lol there are still well behaved children today and they can be dressed in jeans and t-shirts. (Also at least kids today behave because they know it's the right thing to do and not just because they were scared. And in your terms of "messing up their good clothes": kids in that day and time were expected to act like mini adults and not like kids, kids today are allowed to play and be kids. I feel it's ridiculous to compare children today to children of then. Even children 50 years ago had it easy compared to them and probably would have been seen as badly behaved. And it's especially weird to compare clothing styles to behavior. Lol

Okay...I was mostly kidding.

Sorry. I just hate when they word stuff like that like the post ended with. I feel it doesn't give us credit and makes our parenting skills look like we let our kids run rampant lol we do try. and most of us are just trying to do what we were brought up like and tweak it to try and make our kids better. Isn't that all any parent is trying to do?? 🙂

If my behavior had been dictated by my dress, I'd have been a disaster as a child. I'm absolutely shocked my mom let me wear some of the things I went out in public in. They weren't inappropriate, just really, really weird lol.

Like parents don't care today?? Lol it more documented today of uncaring parents. There was just as many then. People who sold off their kids when they couldn't afford to feed them or kids abandoned because parents couldn't afford them. Nothing is new in this day and age that wasn't done back then. It's just more widely heard of.

Yes, many parents care.

Jessie Whitten Sorry you are offended.

AncientFaces I'm not offended I just feel too many people already look down on today's kids and we don't need any instigating. You always get the, oh so fun comments like "well today's kids could never live back then" and "I'd like to see today's kids work like that" "you don't see kids today w/ that kinda of behavior" no da! They were supposed to be seen and not heard. like kids are very adaptable and I'm sure if you wanted to work a child like a horse they would do it. But it's ILLEGAL now!! And this is not then!! I'd rather work 2 jobs myself before making my kids work in a factory like back then. (Farm work is different. I feel it's good for kids to be taught and to do chores w/ farm work.) but kids are still allowed to be kids. Back then they didn't get a choice and it was looked as unruly if they "misbehaved" or really acting like a child and were punished. Nope those days can stay in the past.

Relax.

Nowadays,'acting like a child' gets them a prescription for drugs :(

Been saying that for years.