Similar to many families today, the average colonial family consisted of a mother, a father, and anywhere from four children to six children. That was a lot of kids to feed and take care of! The father of the house was very busy, whether it was caring for his farm and crops or hunting and fishing to feed his famly. Sometimes the men during colonial times were skilled in certain areas, such as trading, being a merchant , or a carpenter. Besides these laboring activites, men during colonial times were also required to serve in the milita , vote, act as a juror , and pay taxes. Although many people think women did not have such an active role in colonial America, women were just as busy as men! Besides having to care for thier house, family, and children as well as cook, women made candels and soaps for thier families to use. Women spun thread that they then used to make quilts, sheets, and clothing with. Women also grew different herbs, including lavender and peppermint, that they used both in thier cooking and in medicine!
Children's lives were very different from lives children appear to have today. Education was not required. In fact, there were not many schools avilable duing colonial times. This meant that most children learned mathematics, reading, and writing right in thier very home from thier parents, if thier parents were educated enough! And boys only! The most girls learned was how to write thier names and read the Bible, other than that they only learned how to do house work. How fair does that sound?! Sometimes if a boy was pursuing a trade, such as a carpenter, they would become an apprentice to a master tradesman and learn this skill from him.
All this information is from historyisfun.org
Colonial America. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2018, from https://www.historyisfun.org/
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