20th Century v/s 21st Century Moms

 “Change is the only constant!” and parenting is no exception to that rule. Parenting style and techniques have also evolved with the changing times.

So at the bloggers marathon hosted by Super Moms of the world we thought of discussing the 20^th century moms v/s the 21^st century moms.

Changes in parenting style:

21^st century moms are the children of the 20^th century and as we all know we have seen a paradigm shift in society in our generation. Technology and global exposure has brought this change in social, economic, political ideologies and scenario. Parenting is hugely influenced by the social changes and thus a shift in parenting style too.

Easier transition to motherhood:

During the 20th century, women were more domesticated and centred towards their home from the time of their marriage or rather girls were groomed by their parents to be care givers to their family. This was how girls were essentially raised. It was ingrained in them that they have to look after their family and that it is their primary duty. Girls were conditioned from a young age to play the role of the nurturer and so I think that this made the transition to motherhood easier for them.

Change in support system:

“It takes a village to raise a child!” This phrase must have been coined maybe because in the previous century even extended families and neighbours helped in raising children. Both my parents were working and so from a very young age I used to stay alone at home during the afternoons. But we had wonderful neighbours and so my mother was at ease and not worried about me while at work. She had a strong support system. Nowadays this scenario has changed. We rarely interact a lot with our neighbours, particularly in the urban metros. Now the support system for working parents is the domestic helps. More and more families are staying in a nuclear set up due to various reasons. (I shall not dwell on that) but essentially the point that I want to make is that the support system that moms now have has changed.

Over-protecting children:

Moms of the 21^st century are over protective, they don’t want their children to make mistakes. They want their children to be perfect. Maybe this need arose due to the increased competition in the 21^st century. I feel 20^th century moms gave more freedom to children to learn from their mistakes. They groomed them to be independent; to make their own decisions. I think 21^st century moms need to learn this from their moms and grand moms.

Overly competitive:

Our moms never did our school projects. In the race to be the best, moms complete the tasks assigned to kids in school but fail to understand that the child essentially goes to the school to learn and if you are going to do the tasks assigned to them he is not learning even if gets that “ Top rank”. We as moms need to groom the child to accomplish the tasks life throws at him without our assistance for him to be successful. A child needs to understand the difference between rat race and healthy competition. And that responsibility is on the parents.

New terminology of motherhood:

 Many terms like the tiger mom, helicopter mom etc; have been introduced in the 21^st century which never existed in the 20^th century.  Did our moms even know about all this? Being a mom was simple. It was a natural way of life to parent your child. Parenting is becoming complex day by day or are we moms over conscious and making it complex. Can’t it be simple as it was?  Moms need not over think everything and this is something I learnt over time.

 I am not saying that parenting kids was easier in the 20^th century. Moms had different challenges at that time. Moms in the 20^th century were more involved in the household duties to focus on the children. Mother’s choices weren’t visible or vocal as they are today. My grand- mother has numerous incidents to share with me about how she wanted to take care of her children’s needs but was forced to focus on other household duties. So I guess every mom faces different challenges according to the changing times.

Though parenting has evolved since the last century, the unconditional love that a mother has for her child has remained constant and unchanged. A mom from any century will face any adversity and come out victorious to protect and provide for her child. So I dedicate my article of this blogger marathon to the moms of 20^th century, who raised us and passed on all their wisdom which we will treasure. This inheritance of wisdom will guide us in raising our children as responsible and humble human beings.

Do share incidents and anecdotes from your life where your parenting views differed from your mother or daughter and be part of our blogger marathon’s topic of the week- 20^th century moms v/s 21^st century moms!

I have written this article as a part of blogging marathon. Please visit the link below to know more about the marathon and read posts by other Super moms!

http://supermommitali.com/category/bloggers-marathon/

Happy Parenting!