Families in the 1950’s appeared to show happiness, but felt otherwise in the inside due to personal problems that they refused to show to others around. In the story “What We Really Miss About The 1950s” written by, Stephanie Coontz she mentions, “In 1996 POLL BY THE KNIGHT-RIDERS NEWS AGENCY, more Americans chose the 1950’s than any other single decade as the best time for children to grow up.” People must have picked the 1950’s as the best time due to how great the economy was. As a matter of fact, “at the end of the 1940s, the divorce rate, which had been rising …show more content…
According to Tim Stanley’s article titled, “ The Changing Face of the American Family” a sitcom from the 1950’s was that the, “storyline Beaver met the son of divorced parents and was jealous of all the presents he got from his estranged dad. But he quickly discovered that divorce also leads to insecurity and depression, so the episode ended with Beaver begging his parents never to part. Divorce wasn't the only model of social dysfunction that the show explored.” The sitcoms provided by Stanley can possibly teach an individual how bad a divorce can affect another, and lead to them being an emotional wreck. The sitcoms also show that the nuclear family would be the option to take action on. According to “The Good Wife's Guide” published in May 13, 1955 to be a great housekeeper, “Your goal: To try and make sure your home is a place of peace, order, and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit… Make him comfortable.... You have no right to question him. A good wife always knows her place.” Different types of advertisements in the 1950’s were tricking families into believing what was wrong and what was right. A study that was made in 1957 claims that, “Friedan had been asked to conduct a survey of former Smith College classmates…. 89 per cent of the Smith alumni who answered her survey were now homemakers”(Stanley).