Useful to Useless and Back to Useless

The 20th century economically useless, emotionally priceless child displaced the 19th century useful child. In this shift children world consisted of affection and educations, while work and profit were left out. Child work and child money became primarily defined as education. They were paid allowances not for a wage for their work, but to teach the children how to become a consumer. The home in the 20th century was thought of as a sentimental institution protecting the child from negativity of the industrial world. The value of the child started to increase in monetary value as the children economic value started to decline.

The worthless child is an example of the limits capitalism can have on a society. Citizens chose to spend more on their children and have their children be less of an economical benefit because they sacred values of society said it was wrong. Wrongful death awards, adoption, insurance markets are all markets shape with the assumption that children are worthless and need to be protected. These markets have no utilitarian value only a sentimental value, which means its value is made by the people of the time.

Even money in the household do not hold the same value it hold outside the home. Allowances are seen as symbolic wages for children to learn. Children are not working and getting a wage for how much work they do. The household is not even a place were real money is distributed. Wives do not get wages for their work in the house because society do not see the home as a commercial setting. This further tells us the money children are receiving as allowance is undesired.

From the Sacred Child to the Valuable Housechild:
This trend of creating a sacred child is currently being challenged by the ideology of the valuable house child. To due the influx of immigration, single families homes, and impoverished people, Americans are starting not to be able to afford their children not contributing anything. Without the support of the children, the family would not be able to function.

Another problem with the notion of the sacred child is the fact that parents see their children as sacred but other children as problems. Public programs of welfare, are not considered priorities in America. So underprivileged children have to work in order for their survival. The author argues for the sacred model to work, value of children need to transcend the boundaries of the individual homes.

An extreme of the current trend against the sacred child is the rise of adults not wanting kids. Many adults fear children and see them as obstacles to fulfillment in their career and relationships. This fear is also rushing these sacred kids out of their elements into a world where they were not prepared to enter. The new ideology is to get children out into adulthood as soon as possible. This rushing of adulthood is call the "Age of Preparation." The object is to expose children to adulthood experiences early. A side effect of the Age of Preparation is that children are having sex and using drugs at younger ages.

Another new way of think of children is going back to children being useful tools for the family. Psychologists support this view with evidence that economic dependency can be a pscholgically a hazard to kids. Being a useful child, you know exactly what your purpose is in the family and it gives you self worth. You self worth is dependent on you not your parents.

On the legal side of child labor legislation, many people are questioning the validity. The question, "Why should children be treated differently from adults in the area of employment?" some feel children should be back to the workforce.

A middle ground that some Americans are starting to uphold is having children more responsible in the household. Non-nuclear families are having their children taking over many of the household responsibilities while the mother provides the money for the home. This is becoming the alternative to keep the children out of the workforce but to be economically useful. Such duties like cooking, babysitting, and cleaning are done by the kids, leaving the mother with more time to make money.

The sacred child is in major questioning. In the current century, many new ideologies have sprung up challenging the sacred child and although it is the dominant ideology as of now, in the near future that may change. In my opinion, the system needs to change. Child working promotes maturity, supports the house, and makes them appreciate what they have in life. I feel we need to follow after the single family houses, because they got it right!