The Changing World of Children

Last week my father died, sensitizing me all the more to issues of death, loss, and remembrances of my own childhood. I thought of mine as a safe, if not entirely happy childhood, but these two books made me realize the minefields I navigated and the benefits I enjoyed growing up. As a social worker, professor, and mother, my responses range from optimism about the prospects for children and my fears for their future. In the 1960s and 70s, two conflicting views of children were coming more clearly into the focus of society and those who were creating psychohistory. Much less was known about childhood and its influence on adult lives, but as these connections were beginning to be made, two very different works appeared and added to our understanding of childhood, society, and societal responsibility for children. The Goertzels, building on the traditional biographical emphasis on family in the development of character and the newer field of child psychology, represent the strand of finding the origins of adult accomplishment in the lives of the “eminent” as children. Shirley Soman, in contrast, approaches the lives of children from the standpoint of the engaged and enraged social worker, calling for society to wake up and stop destroying our children. The former book is hopeful about using our knowledge to help children to flourish, while the latter is pessimistic, evincing a gloom supported by myriad horror stories and statistics. I lived a blue-collar childhood in a trailer park typical of the South, surrounded by prejudice, as well as many of the dangers Soman explores. But I was also surrounded by family members who knew I could “do better” than they had. Their support was palpable and representative of families described in Cradles.