Families Past and Present

In addition to reading good new books on parenting, it can be worthwhile to read history too. To that end, some may be interested in reading a short book by Steven Ozment, Ancestors: The Loving Family in Old Europe. It’s always interesting to see what was very different: the harsh corporal punishment, the seen-and-not-heard approach to child-rearing, the penchant in some societies for sending kids off to another city at an early age.

But it’s also fascinating to see what hasn’t changed. For example, Ozment includes several letters of parental advice from Old Europe that sound remarkably contemporary. He also lists popular group games from the 16th century, familiar fare like ball, ring-around-the-roses, hide-and-go-seek, chase, thieves and sheriffs, musical chairs, and freeze. Ozment also debunks several myths about the families of yesteryear, myths like: women were perpetually unhappy with their lot in life, children were unloved, no one tried birth control, and teenagers didn’t rebel.

The book is only 112 pages of text. Although a scholarly work, it is easy to read and full of good anecdotes. Here is the conclusion:

For a modern age faced with a family crisis, there is good news from the recovered history of the family: this smallest and seemingly most fragile of institutions is proving itself to be humankind’s bedrock as well as its fault line. Its strength lies in the cohesion and loyalty of the parent-child unit around which the larger worlds of household and kin, community and nation, and the global village necessarily revolve. Among these various social worlds, only the family creates itself virtually from nothing and gives life and stability to others. The family is the great survivor amid the changing ages and cultures that envelop, shape, and test it for a while, only to run their course and pass away. (111-12)