The first colonists in Massachusetts had to learn to live through bitterly cold winters. Some families lived in caves their first winter until a proper house could be built. Building was a community affair, because the need for a warm house designed to withstand cold and snow was so important. Families would band together to help one another build homes from rough-hewn timber with chimneys for the fireplaces that warmed the occupants.
Massachusetts set up a compulsory public education system in 1642. This made it against the law for parents to keep their children out of school. Parents supported the school by supporting the teacher by whatever means they could. A family might have given the teacher firewood or food, or performed necessary chores. Children were taught to read from primers and the Bible and were often subjected to corporal punishment. Colonial Massachusetts families still taught their children life skills at home, such as hunting and farming for boys and sewing and cooking for girls.
The average family in colonial Massachusetts had nine members. A household generally included more than one generation, and often had children from prior marriages that ended in the death of one parent. Family in those times in that area often included extended family, such as aunts and cousins. With a scarcity of supplies and the need to stay warm and fed, families took care of each other as best they could.
The mortality rate for children in colonial Massachusetts was between 10 and 30 percent in the first year of life. Less than two thirds of children born during this time and place lived past the age of 10. The prevailing Puritan view insisted that those children who did survive were the products of original sin and needed to have their wills broken. Discipline was harsh and swift. The law called for execution of children older than sixteen who were rebellious.