[speaker001:] okay so um seeing we're both from different parts of the country um I imagine that uh social changes have happened in both areas but you know is rapid I'm not sure could you tell me some of the things that's happened in your area
[speaker002:] well I thought the second part of the question you know how do you perceive life in the United States differently you know as opposed to ten to fifteen years ago um
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know that one my oldest children are are fifteen so that's huh you know that that was immediately what clicked in my head what do I see now different than I do you know when they were born
[speaker001:] when they were born yeah
[speaker002:] you know um I have my oldest are two girls they are fifteen and fourteen
[speaker001:] oh boy
[speaker002:] so not quite fourteen the um I think we're seeing lots and lots of of changes as regarding families you know at that point I felt like I was one of the few people that truly wanted to children and now I think you're seeing that a little bit more it's coming back again
[speaker001:] oh is that right
[speaker002:] and but people are certainly having their children their families later you know it's not
[speaker001:] uh yeah in some cases uh
[speaker002:] and the ones that are having them earlier they're having them a lot earlier like eleven or ten
[speaker001:] that's yeah that's early uh I was kind of young I I got married as soon as I got out of school and started raising a family so
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] uh my oldest is uh thirty four and my youngest is going to be twenty six
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh
[speaker002:] so that uh definitely makes a difference my husband was quite a bit older when we married and we decided to you know we wanted to to get our family pretty quick you know and
[speaker001:] yeah right yeah
[speaker002:] um that was you know really a definitely uh identifying factor you know we began
[speaker001:] yeah I don't I I'm not sure about that excuse me
[speaker002:] in having a well I know that uh here in Dallas we have the unfortunate um reputation as being I think it's the fifth largest of uh I'm trying to think how that was fifth on the list of teenage mothers in the United States
[speaker001:] is that right
[speaker002:] oh yeah we have I think in nineteen it seems like the statistic was for nineteen eighty eight in Dallas County there were
[speaker001:] yeah the problem yeah
[speaker002:] I want to say three hundred and fifteen gosh that seems like an awful lot
[speaker001:] well
[speaker002:] of children born to mothers under the age of thirteen
[speaker001:] oh yeah but under thirteen probably what do you contribute that to then as compared to say uh uh twenty years ago you know with with children
[speaker002:] it can't be education because you know there's more and more family related issues being raised at school um you know they're lot more progressive more pointed sex education programs all over the country
[speaker001:] yeah right right right I grew up in kind of uh there was a rural area and there was nothing but farms and mostly mostly dairy and orchards apple orchards and you know peach orchards uh
[speaker002:] one thing that I really see a difference and I guess you know overall uh you know that it's a negative is that you know these kids and we live in suburban a suburban area of Dallas
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] these kids do not have the aunts and uncles the cousins you know that built-in kind of security you know
[speaker001:] why because we're a more mobile society
[speaker002:] yeah I think so
[speaker001:] uh people are just moving out getting jobs and our families on
[speaker002:] you know of course you have lots and lots of moms working
[speaker001:] that's that's a big problem because at least I I see that up here when when I was growing up and going to school uh people never locked their doors and uh you know you had family that was
[speaker002:] that's right
[speaker001:] generally in the area most people kind of stayed put you know very few moved away
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] so there's kind of a nucleus of cohesion there
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] that you could rely on you know if you were ready to just you know
[speaker001:] yeah I think the whole country back then was naive
[speaker002:] strangle your parents you kind of had course there's just a different uh just different feeling as to who who's in control I don't think we ever talked about children's rights
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know we didn't talk about women's rights you know we sure didn't talk about kids' rights
[speaker001:] yeah right and and right children have children have responsibility but I think the the biggest thing now is that uh information is is passed on a lot quicker with with TV and radio and uh
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] uh children are under a lot more pressure because from their peers than than it used to be
[speaker002:] well you know I can remember as a teenager
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] you know we would get things fashion wise you know we always consider considered Dallas the third coast you know I mean you know feel very uh um
[speaker001:] yes right yeah
[speaker002:] always felt like we were on the edge of of new trends and you know I had a lot of uh friends and in
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] Wyoming and Utah and Colorado because that's where my parents were from
[speaker001:] uh
[speaker002:] and we would go there they were always seeing movies that had been here six months before and they were wearing clothes and saying lingo using new lingo that
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] we heard way before and so we always felt you know a little you know kind of thumb your nose and
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] but now that's not so you know if those those those parts of the country aren't behind you know they're getting the movies if not you know
[speaker001:] that's right
[speaker002:] right at the same time they're getting them you know six weeks later it's not you know not so
[speaker001:] yeah yeah um
[speaker002:] and yet I think I think we're really evolving right now I you know the seventies and eighties were so uh get all you can cause you may not be here tomorrow and money hungry I think we're seeing some comeback to family um
[speaker001:] yeah I think I yeah it's uh a family unit yes um but you can't trust anybody anymore
[speaker002:] it's it's a different family unit though
[speaker001:] yes it is
[speaker002:] you know it's not the same that we traditionally thought of
[speaker001:] no it it goes back I guess way way back peo ple had a lot of children and they and they they were kind of uh they most of them were on farms I guess or they worked in factories at least in the east you know my father my grandfather and his father before him always worked at this place so then I would work at this place
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] um out in the rural areas we were always farmers or was always going to be farmers so you had a lot of children they kind of money didn't seem to be important back then
[speaker002:] when we uh moved to this particular town this a suburb of Dallas ten years ago there was still a lot lot of agriculture of of land that was used for agricultural purposes and that is just you know every year just a little bit more a little bit more slips away
[speaker001:] so  yeah but with a uh excuse me with a uh run by families or or were the younger children going out into the world and then they were bringing in
[speaker002:] I don't know um
[speaker001:] you know labor is to to take care of the crops
[speaker002:] I think probably main a lot of it was you know contract labor um
[speaker001:] because the kids wanted something more I guess
[speaker002:] yeah the kids want something more there's a great deal of respect in this area for agriculture and for the foundation that it has given this particular community and we still have a couple of very viable families who are you know make large contributions time money you know emotionally to the community and preservation preservation of its heritage but we don't uh
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know but but even their concerns are becoming more diversified
[speaker001:] yeah I I your
[speaker002:] but you know one thing that and this is just totally off the wall but it's another uh another element as we see the encroachment of of progress on just the ecosystem ecosystem when we moved here and the the fields were mowed every summer we would have this massive influx of crickets
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] from the fields into our homes you know just I mean crickets so thick you couldn't walk without stepping on them
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] and course that then brought different birds that didn't normally come to our area and I don't know what all other effects on the ecosystem because that's not my bailiwick but see we don't have that anymore
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] so you wonder what other little
[speaker001:] man's changed it
[speaker002:] uh-huh I was reading in uh I think it was the Reader's Digest just earlier in the week about