Father Knows Best
June 2025
Stay cool this summer!
I grew up in the 50's and besides American Bandstand, my favorite afternoon TV show was 'Father Knows Best.' It starred Robert Young as Jim Anderson, the calm, wise father of a middle-class family in the fictional town of Springfield. The show also featured Jane Wyatt as his supportive wife Margaret, and their three children: Betty ("Princess"), Bud, and Kathy ("Kitten").
The show portrayed an idealized version of family life in post-WWII America. Each episode typically revolved around a small family problem or moral dilemma, which Jim Anderson would help solve with patience, authority, and quiet wisdom. The show was notable for its wholesome tone and emphasis on traditional family values, often wrapping up each episode with a feel-good resolution.
Jim Anderson was the quintessential 1950s dad -- calm, rational, and morally upright. He was the final authority in the household, yet compassionate and reasonable. This depiction reinforced the idea that fathers were not only providers but also the moral compass of the family.
Jim worked in insurance -- a stable, white-collar job -- and his role as the sole provider reflected the dominant "breadwinner-homemaker" family model of the 1950s. This model emphasized a gendered division of labor: the father worked outside the home, and the mother managed the household.
The show reinforced the ideal of the nuclear family as the foundation of American life. Fathers were expected to be pillars of stability, offering logical guidance in contrast to the more emotional or reactive nature attributed to women and children.
Unlike the rougher or more authoritarian male figures in some other media of the time, Jim Anderson was thoughtful and approachable. This "gentle patriarch" model was comforting in the Cold War era, symbolizing both strength and moral certainty without aggression.
The Anderson family was aspirational -- they lived in a tidy home, practiced good manners, and addressed each other respectfully. The father's role was to ensure that this order was maintained, reflecting a desire for security and predictability in postwar America.
My home wasn't anything like this picture. Both parents worked every day, even my Grandmother owned her own interior design business. Significantly to my life, my parents divorced when I was 12. This was considered a scandal at this time, not anything like the aspirational Father Knows Best family.
Times have changed a whole lot since then. Dual income families have become the norm, women staying home to care for the children is unusual. When I went back to teaching soon after Adam was born, there was judgement and opinions about that, now referred to as 'mommy's guilt.' Men and women had to take a second look at each other's roles. Divorce rates increased.
And yet, many aspirations remain, still, even after all these changes and challenges.
While Father Knows Best is often criticized for being too idealized or unrealistic by today's standards, it serves as a time capsule of mid-20th-century American family ideals. Today, we recognize that the 1950s image of fatherhood was narrow -- it centered on white, middle-class, heterosexual men and excluded a wide range of paternal experiences, including those of single fathers, working-class dads, and fathers of color.
Modern portrayals of fatherhood have become more diverse and emotionally complex, reflecting changing norms about masculinity, parenting, and gender roles. Still, Father Knows Best remains a touchstone in discussions about how media both reflected and shaped public expectations of fathers in the 1950s.
How does your experience growing up compare or contrast to this picture? Perhaps this question provokes an interesting conversation.
Please share your experience with me. Susan@SusanLBrooks.com.
Talk to me. Susan Brooks (602) 228-5279
Featured Modern Elders*
My Dad
My Dad was a big man. He was a star football player in high school, and an athlete all his life. He was also the first to return home from WWII having earned a purple heart for his bravery. He loved people and people loved him. One of the greatest lessons I learned from him, which served me well in my career, was when he shared his secret for success. Because my Dad was so much bigger than me, he made it a point to keep our conversations at an eye to eye level, and once I memorized his process, I taught it to our children and now to their children.
Here's what he told me: "Look the person directly in the eye. Don't break that rule or they will feel like a distraction. Offer a firm handshake, both in the beginning and at the end of your time together. Show a lot of teeth. Your smile must be the real deal throughout your relationship." Sales was his specialty using this formula.
June 15 is Father's Day and because life has become so complicated and confusing I thought sharing Dad's advice might be helpful to many of you for a sure thing to make you smile.
I'd also like to invite all of you readers to share some advice or, better yet, wisdom that your Dad gave to you that you'd like to share with others. Please contact me directly at Susan@SusanLBrooks.com or (602) 228-5279 along with a short recap of your relationship with your Dad.
Feel free to choose your Dad or your 'Dad of Choice' perhaps a Step-Dad, favorite Uncle, or dear Grand Dad. Remember, Father Knows Best!
Your responses will serve as our Modern Elder section this next month's round. Let's capture the history and wisdom that Fathers seemed to know instinctively or from their own experiences. Maybe, just maybe, this might open up a whole new conversation, if your Dad is still walking the planet and you engage him in this conversation just in time to share it with your children and us!
Happy Father's Day!
If retirement or the next chapter is calling your name, if I can help you realize your vision in business and lifestyle, email me. Let's make it happen now! Susan@SusanLBrooks.com.
*Chip Conley, best-selling author and speaker, hospitality entrepreneur and leading thought leader, created The Modern Elder Academy's mission "to inspire the ability to reframe a lifetime of experience and recognize one's mastery, relevance, and value in the modern workplace." The Modern Elder* is Conley's term and effort that "liberates and inspires us to embrace wisdom as a path of growing whole, not old...The Modern Elder marries wisdom and curiosity."
Every month this newsletter will Feature the stories and wisdom of Modern Elders.
Share your Modern Elders with us...maybe it's you!! Please send in your Modern Elder Story along with a one-line Wisdom statement plus photo to be featured. CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT.
Today, I am 78 years old, and proud of it! Paul Simon, who is now in his 80's said it best years ago: us boomers were BORN AT THE RIGHT TIME!
Yes, I was born at the right time! I'm still a hippie from the 60's, I marched for civil rights for all humans, equal rights for women, waving my bra with the best. I am proud to be living and growing in a robust marriage of 57 years. I survived motherhood, and so did my now-adult children. I was an award-winning woman business owner when there were but a few of us. I've learned a whole bunch of lessons, and more importantly, I've earned my fair share of Wisdom, too. I am Pro-Age!
According to Chip Conley, one of today's leading thought leaders: "Experience is making a comeback. Wisdom never grows old." Chip created the hallmarks of the Modern Elder*: "learning to marry wisdom and experience with curiosity, cultivating a beginner's mind so that learning never ends, exemplifying a willingness to evolve both as a student and sage." Research shows that shifting our mindset about Aging can add 7.4 happy years to a person's life.
Proud to say I am a graduate of the Modern Elder Academy as well as an active participant in Wise Aging: Living with Joy, Resilience, and Spirit programs. As one of the creators and hosts of the Thrive@55 event, we celebrated our female community leaders who were 55+.
As long as I'm able to see the sunrise every morning and keep a curious mind, there's more living to do, so much more to learn, and so many new ways to serve. Trailblazer that I am, and always will be, I recognize my next mission: by example and demonstration I am committed to Changing the Face of Aging: One Modern Elder* at a time!
I welcome both local and national speaking engagements as well as one-on-one coaching opportunities to delve more deeply into navigating life transitions. Email me Here.
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