During the Great Depression children suffered tremendously as well as the adults, probably even just a little bit more.
Children began to starve, no longer went to school due to their parents not having jobs; which eventually lead to most children working at factories. Their days of being joyful and happy were over and these children had to grow up and act like adults in order for their well being at a very young age. Before the Great Depression, the United States was filled with joyful children everywhere. Children went to school and came back right home and played with either their siblings, dogs, friends or even themselves. It didn’t really matter because they were happy and had no worries. Well, that was until late 1929.
Around 13 million people didn’t have jobs, this meant that parents couldn’t pay tuitions for their children. The children who could afford to go to school would mostly not afford by lunch, so they wouldn’t have any. Children had to drop out of school because of pay and started working. Although some schools had to be shut down because of the lack of students which meant the lack of money as well.
The Great Depression left children scared and worried about their families, for example, some children just started leaving their homes and running away. This is because they don’t want to be burdens and the cause of their poverty. And other just left for the sake of living their lives to the fullest. The idea of making children work in factories was never a good idea. This is because these factories they worked in were dangerous and gave little pay. Although they gave certain jobs depending on if you are a girl or a boy. If you would be a girl you would then be given the job of sewing clothes, which was so bad compared to the boy’s job.
The boys would usually do the heavy lifting around the factory. Nonetheless, children didn’t only work in factories. Some other children would work on their family’s farm or even other people’s farm. And sometimes even in mines which is very dangerous as well. Children took their jobs very seriously if a child didn’t get their pay or even a job they wouldn’t return home because of the disappointment their family would have.
When families got to a point where they lost their houses, they instantly became homeless. Some families would send their children to live with other people, helping them not to starve to death. Homeless families were then living in shelters with the rest of the 1000s of homeless people. In 1934 about 23,000 children were sent to foster care because they were either abandoned or their parents thought foster care was better than being homeless.
During this time the rate of children was high, and the chances of them getting sick were high as well. These children would highly suffer from malnutrition, which was also the reason why “President Herbert Hoover’s 1930 White House Conference on Child Health and Protection pointed to the progress that had been made for American children”.This was very good for especially families who were poor and couldn’t afford to pay for their children’s health care. The Great Depression affected both adults and children massively, it stopped them from having a normal life and instead of a life full of problems. The Great Depression was an insane time to a point, it made children still in middle school dropping out of school, and start working for the better of their family.
