The Baby Boom
This era is defined as people born from 1946 to 1964. Such individuals are also known as ‘boomers’. You may be one yourself or know others who fit that era or have relatives born then. It was a boom due to the high increase of births following World War Two. The highest number of births occurred between 1946 and 1955.
The boom was not just babies born but many new businesses developed or expanded. Products and supplies all related to babies and young children came to the market. Another lifestyle change was that were more married women as stay-at-home mothers. If you look at birth order, you see babies were born close in age to each other in a family. My mother for example had 4 children within 6 years. I was born February 28, 1950.
Americans now had plenty of jobs, new housing (especially suburbs), prosperity, which made people look to the future and for many that future simply had to include children. The estimated number of babies born during that era was 76 million which became 40% of the total nation’s population in 1964.
Infant survival rates greatly increased with improvement in incubators and births in hospitals.
As babies and children, they developed a strong consumer era also. Other characteristics include valuing relationships-friends and family; they are goal-oriented; they are self-assured and confident. Those babies grew up and developed many great ideas, especially in technology areas for mankind over the decades.
They have witnessed: Sputnik in orbit, space travel, landing on the moon, more students attending college, the Cold War, television, computers, Vietnam, racial protests and greater travel, to name a few.
Take the time to ask those baby boomers you know (family and friends) of their own experiences growing up and as adults. Have them compare life then vs now.
Mark your calendar also for release of the 1950 US Census on April 1, 2022.
Photo: Suburb neighborhood sign.
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