Sixth of seven children I was raised in the farmhouse where I was born. By 1950 Dad had modernized our home to have running water, electricity and two bathrooms. Adult entertainment, before birth control, resulted in large families.
Older girls helped with housework, cared for younger children, the garden and gathered eggs. Boys were junior farm hands. Having a big family was useful living on a farm before modern conveniences when farming and housework took from dawn to dusk six and sometimes seven days a week.
Hot water was available IF one stoked and lit a fire in the hot water heater thirty minutes before it was needed. Dad installed a washing machine in the basement so laundry could be done indoors. There was also a shower in the basement so men could wash off farm dirt and change clothes before ascending stairs to be with family.
Purity culture, which forbids sexual intercourse before marriage, was the code we unconsciously lived. Dating was innocent and events often chaperoned. Young women marrying immediately after graduation from High School was the primary way sexual purity was guaranteed. Single parenthood was extremely rare and usually a result of the death of a spouse. Divorce was also extremely rare and carried severe societal stigma.
Arrival of television in 1952, with three snowy Chicago channels that featured wrestling, nightly news, bandstand and variety shows, brought awareness of what life was like beyond the farm. For the first time we saw how other people lived. People in cities had smaller families, went on dates alone, went to movies and some even went to college.
Availability of birth control changed American culture. Women gaining control over their fertility resulted in decreased family size. Marriage and childbirth are now much later than in the 50s. Many couples now live together for years before they marry if they marry at all.
Unmarried mothers now give birth to about 40% of all American babies. While many unmarried women have partners single parenthood, usually with a mother raising her children by herself, is no longer unusual. American women now average less than two live births per woman, fewer than the 2.1 needed to maintain our population.