Through the reading, the two subject areas that caught my attention are:
1.Conflict: Children live adult like lives for most of the day only to come home and live a subordinate role to their parents. Working children experience this kind of transition after coming home from a hard day’s work. I agree with the author when he states that this particular arrangement at any point in a child's life is confusing. A child in this situation may feel superior in one aspect of their lives while feeling inferior in another. This age gap and relations may be the cause of some conflict within the family structure. Barriers may be put in place for the child to protect its familiar environment from the parents. The child might also feel threatened and overwhelmed by the presence of an authority after living a life of an adult outside the home even if it is only for hours at a time. The experiences the child goes through while working outside the home may also influence the way a child behaves once in the home. The child will either rebel against the parents or handle the situation in such a way that the child would handle it in a working environment. This is the difference between a mature child and one who is still growing up.
Parents also may not recognize this type of simultaneous feeling in their child. To parents, a working child learns responsibility. Being able to carry a job while attending other activities such as school and athletic events is also seen a form of development in shaping the child to be and more willful to achieve in their life’s goals. To the rest of the family, the child provides an example to siblings and to the other younger members of the family.
2.Discrimination: The other interesting subject I found in the reading was that much of the historical documentation of American childhood focuses only on the middle-class Anglo-Saxon males. While the young female population, the impoverished working class and racial minorities have minimal or no coverage on their adolescent journeys. Much of this type of segregated history is due to fault on the fact that much of America’s youth came from the favored race of Anglo-Saxon families.
The latter subject will most likely be the basis of my research. I am curious to find out if there are any existing records to be found on other minorities, specifically Filipino American minorities in the early 1900’s. I am interested in knowing how these minorities dealt with the issues of being raised as a child in a time ruled by higher society.
In pursuing this issue, I will need to look at immigration data to find out what kind of children immigrated and why their parents did so. I will also need to consult with an expert on Asian migration in the early 1900’s to find out how minority children lived through the cultural and physical changes of the transition from one country to another.
