What up, it’s definitely been a while. But as much as I have probably been missed I finally return so don’t be working. We’ve actually started a brand new project about the post war history of Canada. We’re focusing on Deep Cove as a case study, we’ve been interviewing prominent Deep Cove residents to talk to them about the history of the cove, and the changes they see today. However we’ve also been focusing on general Canadian history, and one of the topics we touched on was suburbia and life in the 50’s. We only talked a tiny bit about it though and I really wanted to expand on what it would be like to live a day in the 50’s.

The “Nuclear Family”

The fifties as we learned was a time of big change for Canada, in the post war years the country went through quite an evolution. A typical family was more wealthy then ever in the 50’s, they began to own cars, and TV’s, and other new pieces of technology. People began to leave the city and live in new areas, forming the suburbs. The family also took on a completely new way of living. The centre of the home began to shift from the kitchen to the television room, and family’s began to watch TV and consume more content than ever. This was a big change from the deprivation of the War Time years, and Great Depression. People even started to become more interested in fashion and art, and I’m sure we’ve all seen pictures of the 50’s poodle skirts.

The fall of the Nuclear Family

There was also a much greater focus on the “family” in the 50’s. There was a movement towards protecting teens and kids, and taking them away from places of work, and enrolling them in schools. The one other thing I found particularly interesting was the idea of the “nuclear family”. This was the perfect 1 man 1 woman 2 children (a boy and girl) family, under one nice little house. The name came from the idea of a nucleus being a core, like the supposedly tightly families. This was an image that was highly perpetrated in the 50’s. And the suburban families sought that flawless image and lifestyle like never before. I thought this was really interesting as the”nuclear family” is not really an image we still see today and is a great example of how much society’s standards have changed over time. There is no longer a pressure for a perfect family image today, and instead there is much rebellion over the men as the breadwinner style household. 

Thanks for reading this post, I hope it was mildly enlightening.

Holly