Great Depression Children

Usually children have the role of just playing, studying, and maybe some chores to help around the house. While this is the case of many households, during this time of stock crash, children had the equal role of an adult. Infact there were cases where, “the male figure in the family lost his job, and other family members such as the wife or children often attempted to obtain work” (Stull) Although working at a child’s age may not surprise many as it may already be a custom to others, the reversed roles of the children nonetheless affected the way children viewed their life. It is said that,“during the Great Depression an estimated 250,000 youths left home to search for work”(Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information) Children that started off with a no money life, may have not even had a childhood filled with games and laughter, but instead filled with cries and pleads for jobs. Typically, “they often began washing dishes and doing other chores around the house and/or on the farm by the age of five and were able to do most jobs like adults by the time they were teens.. they often worked alongside their parents, helping with gardening, canning, cleaning, ironing, cooking, chopping wood, farming and performing many other different jobs. It was a natural way of life as they grew older.” (Stull). Like cause and effect, the strain from child labor, causes the children to have bad health, and poor health prevents them to have time for education. Within the strict schedule the children have, the word play or rest, hardly exists. The child labor they go through does not provide any time for rest, therefore impacting the childhood as it creates only

This forced children in urban areas to work street jobs, like newsies and shoeshiners. This work greatly increased by 74,000 more newsies and 415,000 newspaper carriers between the years of 1928 and 1934. This increase was the product on the lack of jobs, they did it to earn money to support themselves and/or their families. Like many people, the children adapted to the change in order to survive. The change was not just a political one based in laws by banning child labor, but also a social change in that it became more of a common sight to see children work certain jobs. With the change, not all kids went to the street, many went to and stayed in school during the depression.

Between 1854 and 1929 there were about two hundred thousand children who were either orphaned or abandoned by families who could no longer care for them. These children needed new families to care for them. The children traveled west mainly to rural areas in the Midwest by train in search of new homes where they could live and work. The children generally were a year old to seventeen years old. Most were separated from their brothers and sisters, and some never saw their siblings again. Thus began the “placing out” movement.

    The great depression was a time where unemployment was at an all time high and to add on to it people in the great plains faced another problem the dust bowl. In the great depression many kids from all over the country were told or felt like leaving their home because of hard time that have faced their homes because the money was scarce. So they road the rail looking for work and trying to make money for the family. These were kids that were faced with hardship and having to worrying about where their next meal was coming from, they didn't know were they were going or what they would spend the night.

During the 18 and beginning of the 19th century in certain regions of the U.S child labor made up more than 40 percent of the population (Wolensky). That’s almost half of the working population. Since the beginning of time children have always been known to help their families with domestic tasks. Most of these kids worked in factories because they were easy to control and paid less than adults. Kids earned less than half of what adults made in the work force. In these factories they usually cleaned under and inside machines while functioning because of their small size.. That’s how these kids felt as it was described in a article in our history book. They were always in danger of getting hurt or even dying, which many did. Kids as young

During the Great Depression, life wasn’t easy. Many farmers lost their farms and during that same times, years of erosion and drought were created in the Midwest, where crops could no longer grow (about.com) and many families lost their savings as the numerous amount of banks collapsed in the early 1930s. Because these families could to not pay for rent payments or mortgage, they were forced out of their homes or were evicted from their apartments. Unemployed and underemployed male heads of the families founded the depression to be extremely difficult, because in traditional concepts, the men were the providers of the families (galegroup.com). Unemployment rose from three percent to 25 percent during the depression. Those who still had jobs, their wages fell 42 percent. Famers and other unemployed workers traveled to California to find work, but many of them ended up living as homeless (about.com) It is said in academic.mu.edu that The main role of women during

The Great Depression was a hard time for many people. Many parents, and kids, had to have the will to drive themselves to work many, many jobs. Parents also had to have the “ability to stretch every available dollar” (Hastings). In Digging In, the author said his dad sold iron cords door to door, bought a horse to break gardens, “worked a day in the hay”, picked peaches, rented out an extra lot for a garden on the shares, raised some sweet potato slips, painted houses for about $5 a house, hung wallpaper, sometimes traded an infrequent dozen of eggs at the grocery store, worked at the strip mines one or two days, cut hair for boys in the neighborhood, guarded the fence at the county fairgrounds, sold coal orders, and when he could, worked occasionally on WPA, an organization to employ millions of unemployed workers. That is a lot of work!

Freedman discusses the lives of the American children affected by the economic and social changes of the Great Depression. Middle-class-urban youth, migrant farm laborers, boxcar kids, and children whose families found themselves struggling for survival. Freedman also writes about the faced challenges like unemployment, insufficient food, and shelter. Drawing on memoirs, diaries, letters, and other firsthand accounts, and illustrated with archival photographs. Freedman’s book features the voices of those who endured the Depression.

Growing Up As a Child during the Great Depression Life during the Great Depression was very rough on the people that were affected. Living during the Great Depression was not fun at all. Finding work during the this time was a very difficult task. Growing up as a child during the Great Depression, made it harder on the people who were affected further in life. LIFE BEFORE THE GREAT DEPRESSION People during this time thought that everything was going to be alright and nothing horrible would happen.

People who lived through the great depression had a rough time. Families had little food or money. It didn't rain for months. Public people were hopeful through the whole thing it would rain. The coal mines shut down, therefore, nobody had jobs. It also was a drought during the great depression. The only money that anyone would get was when fathers would cut hair for the boys in the neighborhood.

Suffering and despair came as a result of The Great Depression. Children had health problems due to poor diets and malnutrition and often looked for a way out of the suffering. The men would walk the streets every day in hopes of finding a job, after 2-3 years of suffering some men would even abandon their families. Many women weren’t allowed to work in schools if they were married, people often thought that they were having an easier time than men. People would build shacks out of scrap metals and use newspapers to stay warm. The African Americans, Latinos and Mexicans were the lowest paid and had the highest unemployment rate, they also dealt with racial violence and whites had them

“Child neglect [also] became a problem’’ during the Great Depression (Text 3). Children were often abandoned, or they simply left home to find work and provide for themselves. The image of family life was drastically altered due to the Great Depression, and many people were left without a family at

In 1929 family bonds were tested. During the Great Depression either family’s triumphed or were dissolved. The stress of the Great Depression, surprisingly caused the divorce rates to go down however this is not as good as it sounds. Men would choose the “poor mans divorce” Instead of legally divorcing. This caused problems for two reasons, it changed statistics making it look like people weren’t divorcing, when in reality they were. More importantly because they couldn’t afford a family, the husband would have to leave their wife and kids when they needed him most (Weebly). Things seemed to be especially difficult for unemployed men because they were considered the head of the family and the ones to bring food to the table. Traditional conceptions

As you are walking with a group of friends waiting to jump on the rusty train coming 120 miles per hour towards you, you wonder if your family will be heartbroken when you leave them. In the Great Depression, children didn’t get the good education they deserved. Kids’ parents were part of the reason they didn’t get a good education and for not having much clothes to wear. The children of the Great Depression didn’t have a childhood like we did when we were little kids. Children didn’t get to go outside and play with their friends or go to school and play at recess. They had to help their family get food and money by working instead of going to school. The Great Depression had many horrible effects on children including lack of education, unemployment, orphaned kids, and Boxcar Kids.

Children didn’t have a lot during The Great Depression.Kids had to share burdens and issues on money with their parents.Often parents couldn't get gifts for their children so some would often make them presents.In the movie all the children in the neighborhood would share one cake for all the children birthdays.