HISTORY 2275
MID-TERM
ERICA WILLIAMS
3-19-13

Aries and DeMause make the assessment that children in the Middle Ages were not as important as the adults and were often overlooked. DeMause says the adults usually had three reactions to their children, which were projective reaction, reversal reaction, and empathetic reaction. Very rarely did the adults use the empathic reaction. In fact, according to DeMause’s article children were looked to as adults. So when children did what seem to be harmful or dangerous, their parents blamed them for knowing better or assumed they meant to do it on purpose. Aries states that the only difference between a child and an adult was their size. Both scholars have strong opinions about the significance of childhood in the middle ages. However, I believe they simply have a different understanding and may have only been looking at specific events or families, which may have slightly clouded their view or overall opinion. I understand that there may have been times that parents were not as cautious as some other parents and may even provoked dangerous outcomes for their children at times, but I do not believe it was all intentional. Children were taken care of differently during the Middle Ages than they are now in the twenty first century. Children were raised to help their families and work as soon as they could walk and talk. Parents during those times did not believe children should be shielded from work or hard labor. Perhaps today we are overly cautious about our infants, in which parents of the Middle Ages would say we are coddling too much and could also cause great effects on the childhood. Due to their surroundings, some being deprived of resources and wise man to give them advice on parenting, one had to learn on their own. They may have faced several of recurring accidents and/or infant mortality, but that does not prove that children were disregarded or mistreated. Today we face the same careless acts and accidents, but because times have changed, children deaths differ. Still, that does not mean all parents ignored their children. Woman have always been nurturing of their babies in one way or another, even if it was not them nurturing their child themselves. Wealthy families had wet nurses who took care of their children while they were sick or simply doing other tasks. Often times the wet nurse would have an assistant to help the mother and the nurse to feed and rock the baby. Swaddling and breast feeding were very prevalent in the Middle Ages. Breast feeding was commonly practiced and wet nurses were popular in royal families. As for swaddling, the children were securely tied into their clothing. Parents knew that babies needed proper care and rather or not they were the ones hands on with their child they made sure someone was so the child did not go overlooked or ignored. Furthermore children were bathed, soothed, and even allowed play dates to help stimulate their cognitive growth. They understood the significance in child play and made sure to incorporate that time into their schedule. Very similar to today’s children, Middle Age children were given naps and schedules to abide by as well. Although many people were not very literate, there were still some religious beliefs and practices that may have played a small part in some childhoods. A lot of the “how-to’s” on parenting came from the bible and religious writer’s like Giles of Rome. There were not many books or teachers to learn the advantages and disadvantages of certain parenting styles, so it was mostly learned from trial and error or readings from the biblical times. To those who did partake in the religious aspect of life believed that baptisms were very important. It was almost a ritual to baptize a child while still an infant so he or she could immediately be a Christian and protected from the sins of their ungodly world. They also feared that if the child was not baptized before his or her death, Jesus would not redeem them of their sins. To this minority group, children were like fallen angels and God’s blessing to them, so they should be treated with love and gratitude. Also, it was popular for these families to have photos of baby Jesus and Mary present in their homes. It was a positive resemblance of what families wanted to portray. There are a lot of families that hold the same beliefs and are very protective over their child. So if children were not important to these families of the Middle Ages they would not have been concerned about their child’s soul or well-being and where they may happen to them if they were ever out of their care. One issue for parents of the twenty first century is possibly the habit of showing favoritism to one or more of their children or giving more to their first girl or boy. There very well could have been similar issues roaming about in the Middle Ages too, but to help eliminate sexual preference for the most part children were not distinguished by sex until they reached the adolescent stage. In portraits especially, all infants were dressed very similar. They all wore diapers and coats that fell below their feet. It was not focused around the sex of the child, but typically a sign of submission and/or subordination. Although the type of clothing changed over the years the representation of a child in portraits remained similar. All children wore a certain type of attire to symbolize his or her youth. Moreover, as the children got older values and expectations of each sex were instilled sooner than later. When clothing began to matter more, it was important that every girl growing into a woman remained modest and unnoticed. Compared to some young ladies today, skimpy clothing was not allowed for young girls during the Middle Ages. The boys were taught to be masculine and the protector, so they had an instant superiority over girls they as they grew into adulthood. They dressed in a more mature manner, symbolizing young men. The woman remained in covered clothing to show their innocence, but also slightly fitting to show their womanhood. They were taught to cook and clean, while the men worked alongside their fathers in the field or doing manual labor. The parents of the Middle Ages taught their children responsibilities and the meaning of hard work rather they were wealthy or poor. Like with many parents today, it is all a learning experience. Not one parent or child comes with a handbook. There were mistakes made during the Middle Ages that may have caused fatal accidents or deaths, but we are still facing those challenges today; perhaps even worse. Parents of the Middle Ages raised their children based on the knowledge they had and resources they had access to. They knew that their children needed to be healthy that is why they fed them, clothed them, and bathed them. The wealthy families knew they could not care for the child themselves so they hired nurses to help make sure their child was receiving the best care. Religious parents passed their beliefs unto their child immediately at birth. They may have had several different parenting styles that may or may not been the ideal for another family, but it worked for them and for the most part their children and families remained happy and content. With that being said, I disagree with Aries and DeMause. I do not believe that all children of the Middle Ages were ignored, mistreated, and/or abused as a result of careless parenting. I believe some were uneducated and may have had more trouble raising and understanding their child because it. I will not dismiss the parents that deliberately hurt their children or treated them as if they knew better as infants. Those parents were wrong and should never intentionally hurt their children, but again that does not mean that was every parenting style in the Middle Ages. Some parents in the twenty first century fall victim to child abuse and neglect, but that does not mean children of the twenty first children were ignore, beaten, or abused. That just simply means some parents should not have had the opportunity to be a parent. I believe it was easy for Aries and DeMause to look a recurring events during a particular time and blame it on the parenting or conclude that children were unimportant, but when I looked at all the facts and see that there were positive outcomes, I disagreed with their assessment.