As a result, if you were a parent during the Elizabethan period, you rigorously adhered to established gender roles in your marriage and regarded your children as tiny adults. The 1600s produced many wonderful things, one of which was the concept of childhood! Parents wanted their children to grow up to be responsible members of society, so they taught them how to read and write by age 7 or 8. If you were lucky enough to have both your parents live into their 80's, 90's or even 100's, you might still find them helping out with chores or giving advice. In fact, according to research done at Rutgers University, traditional father roles lasted an average of 30 years while mother roles lasted only 20 years. After these lengths of time, most fathers were still working and mothers were still taking care of home duties. However, some couples did trade jobs over time. For example, if a man had money saved up, he might take on the role of housekeeper for a few months until his wife got back into shape physically. Then she would go to work as a secretary or accountant while he spent his days cleaning houses or shopping for goods on sale. Such flexible arrangements were common because lotteries and birth rates were high, so families needed all the help they could get. In conclusion, parenting during the Elizabethan era was based on tradition and expectation.