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The Changing Face of theAmerican Family: Early History

Puritancolonies,whichledtoadecreasein
themortalityrateandanincreaseinthe
birthrate(Mintz,2001).Othercolonies
werestillplaguedbyahighmortalityrate,
resultinginacomplicatedmixof
stepparents,stepchildren,wards,half-
brothers,andhalf-sisters(RedefiningFamily,
2005).NewEnglandwasthefirstsocietyin
Americanhistoryinwhichgrandparents
werecommonplace(Mintz,2001).

The Role of Children

The Puritans viewed children as
miniature adults; therefore,play was less
acceptable in Puritan colonies than in the
other colonies.To the orderly Puritan

mind,playthings were unproductive and

wasteful,distracting children and adults

from the important tasks in life.Further,

Puritans connected toys and dolls with the

evil use of poppets (amulets) used in the

practice of witchcraft (Calvert,1992).

The Puritans stressed human sinfulness

and what they called child depravity.Thus,

they strove for complete authority over

their children and used every means to

“break the will”of youngsters.Their

childrearing practices,therefore,tended to

be harsh.

This view of childrearing was not

necessarily reflected in other New World

colonies. Many children grew up with

very different experiences than children

in New England. Other colonies were

While the New England Puritans stressed

sinfulness in their children and sometimes

used harsh childrearing practices, other

colonies were less occupied with sinfulness

and preferred to mold and shape their

children through pious moral example.

In marked contrast to the Puritans, who forbade

women to preach before men, Quakers elevated

women to complete equality with men, even

to preaching in meetings.

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