The myth of self-sufficiency blinds us to the workings of other forces in family life. For families are not now, nor were they ever, the self-sufficient building blocks of society, exclusively responsible, praiseworthy, and blamable for their own destiny. They… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
Today's parents have little authority over those others with whom they share the task of raising their children. On the contrary,most parents deal with… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
The myth of the self-sufficient individual and of the self-sufficient, protected, and protective familytells us that those who need help are ultimately inadequate. And… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
Confronted with the unhappy facts of exclusion, we sometimes reassure ourselves by telling stories: the poor boys who made it, theblacks who became a… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
Within forty years of their arrival in the Plymouth colony, the first white settlers were afraid their children had lost the dedication and religious… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
In the early nineteenth century, the doctrine of self-sufficiency came to apply to families as well as individuals.... The familybecame a special protected place,… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
Recognizing that family self-sufficiency is a false myth, we also need to acknowledge that all today's families need help in raising children. The problem… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
The psychological pain--and the ethical shame--of American poverty are made greater by the fact that this country possesses the wealth and the energy to… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
Mothers work outside the home for many reasons; one of them is almost always because their families need their income to live up to… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
In the end, the fate of children depends on our ability to use technology constructively and carefully. The connection of childrenand technology is not… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
One current reaction to change in families, for example, is the proposal for more "education for parenthood," on the theory that this training will… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
The most important difference between these early American families and our own is that early families constituted economic unitsin which all members, from young… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
Poor children live in a particularly dangerous world--an urban world of broken stair railings, of busy streets serving as playgrounds, of lead paint, rats… — Kenneth Keniston Copy Share Image
