Re: The why questions- I am both a child therapist and the mother of jimrandomh. I don’t remember him ever doing that and the children I work with ( I see about 18 on a regular basis) never do it to me. I think tetsuo55 is right in his observation that children tend to do it when they are being ignored. As an only child of older parents, jimrandomh was virtually never ignored, and, of course, the children I see for individual therapy sessions already have my attention.
Re: “Good parents”- A few observations- The age of puberty has been dropping, the average age of marriage (or settling into committed relationships) has been rising. Not too long ago people got married shortly after they reached puberty.
There were no birth control pills until the 1960′s. The early birth control pills were of higher doses and had more side effects. Condoms existed but were not as reliable as they are today. Abortions were not legal in the U.S. until the early 1970′s. Aid to Families of Dependent Children, otherwise known as welfare, now modified into Transitional Assistance, didn’t exist in most states until the 1960′s. In other words, prior to the late 1960′s, the chances were good that if you were sexually active, you would get pregnant. If you did, your options were much more limited.
Then came the sexual revolution. There were birth control pills. Abortions became legal. Visitation restrictions in dorms were eliminated. Herpes Simplex 2 was pretty much unknown until the late 1970′s, AIDS was first identified in the U.S. in 1981. I had the good fortune to turn 18 in 1970- except for the Vietnam War, it was a great time and I had fun.
Parents today, however, worry about their teens not only getting pregnant, but AIDS, herpes and other venereal diseases that weren’t around in my youth. In addition, with younger puberty, the worries come at a younger age, when teens are less able to handle it. (I had a 12 year old girl tell me that she was thinking of having sex with her boyfriend, a Caucasian 4th or 5th generation American girl from a working class community.) I don’t think it’s just to conform to the societal archetype of Good Parent, there are real things to worry about.
Re: The why questions- I am both a child therapist and the mother of jimrandomh. I don’t remember him ever doing that and the children I work with ( I see about 18 on a regular basis) never do it to me. I think tetsuo55 is right in his observation that children tend to do it when they are being ignored. As an only child of older parents, jimrandomh was virtually never ignored, and, of course, the children I see for individual therapy sessions already have my attention.
Re: “Good parents”- A few observations- The age of puberty has been dropping, the average age of marriage (or settling into committed relationships) has been rising. Not too long ago people got married shortly after they reached puberty.
There were no birth control pills until the 1960′s. The early birth control pills were of higher doses and had more side effects. Condoms existed but were not as reliable as they are today. Abortions were not legal in the U.S. until the early 1970′s. Aid to Families of Dependent Children, otherwise known as welfare, now modified into Transitional Assistance, didn’t exist in most states until the 1960′s. In other words, prior to the late 1960′s, the chances were good that if you were sexually active, you would get pregnant. If you did, your options were much more limited.
Then came the sexual revolution. There were birth control pills. Abortions became legal. Visitation restrictions in dorms were eliminated. Herpes Simplex 2 was pretty much unknown until the late 1970′s, AIDS was first identified in the U.S. in 1981. I had the good fortune to turn 18 in 1970- except for the Vietnam War, it was a great time and I had fun.
Parents today, however, worry about their teens not only getting pregnant, but AIDS, herpes and other venereal diseases that weren’t around in my youth. In addition, with younger puberty, the worries come at a younger age, when teens are less able to handle it. (I had a 12 year old girl tell me that she was thinking of having sex with her boyfriend, a Caucasian 4th or 5th generation American girl from a working class community.) I don’t think it’s just to conform to the societal archetype of Good Parent, there are real things to worry about.