How has the concept of childhood changed though history?
Children have been apart of history as long as human beings have existed, however Prior to modern day notion of childhood, Children and childhood appears to be something that traditional historians have never considered, one of the many reasons that became of interest was due to the idea that childhood was a social construction. However the traditional view for a long time is that children were essentially little adults and the most famous proponent of this theory was a French historian named Philippe Aries he wrote a controversial book called the centuries of childhood. His view was that the crucial point in the construction or invention of childhood is something that happened, especially in the 18th and the early nineteenth century, however since 1985 and 1990 there have been a vast amount of theories which have criticised Aries concepts on childhood. Aries tapped into a common belief about the middle ages, which is if the Middle Ages generally was different than it must have been different in terms of children too, so they must not have loved their children and they must not have taken good care of them.
Thus taking us to the centre of the argument, being that people in the middle ages and early modern Europe had a lot of children as a sort of self defence mechanism to not invest as much in their children because they knew that half of their children would die before they reached adolescents or adulthood . For example the naming practices used, often when one child would die, the subsequent child would be given the same name as the previous one. On the other hand a number of sources have been become available through out a number of years that teach that suggest the deep emotional anguish that parents suffered at the death of their children. Although this is a speculative argument it is important to remember that in many societies during the middle Ages children were needed as they played an important role in maintaining the economy as they made up a percentage of the workforce. Aries argument demonstrates that the social construction of childhood was different in the Middle Ages than it is now. Thus this piece will be focusing on how the concept of childhood has changed through out time, by critically reviewing existing literature on the history of childhood. The main focus areas will be addressed in a chronological order. By focusing on five themes (1) Childhood from the 11th to 16th century (2) The effects of law reforms from the 11th century to the 21st century on the concept of childhood (3) childhood in the 18th century (4) Childhood in the 19th century and (5) childhood in the 20th century. My aim is to demonstrate that the notion and construction of children had changed through the ages.
For 30 years historians have for the most part accepted the view articulated by Philippe Aries (1960) in his influential book centuries of childhood, the middle ages had no concept of childhood. Aries based his argument on several factors; the absence of visual representation of children, claiming that when they appeared it was as miniature adults, the high infant mortality rate which he said led parents to develop a defence mechanism against emotional involvement with their children, the evidence of child abandonment and infanticide and the absence of that sentimentalisation of children that was a feature of later ages. Many Historians have supported Aries concept of the non existence of childhood in the medieval period, for example in his book on the ‘making of the modern family’ Edward Shorter (1977) referred to the medieval ages as the ‘bad old days’ he argues that children only started to become important during the early modern days. Shorter’s idea is accepted and supported in Lawrence Stone’s (1977) book focusing on the ‘family, sex and marriage in England from 1500 to 1800, which used quantitative methods in order to study family life. Shorter and Stone’s support of Aries concepts of childhood in medieval ages amplifies the notion that childrens experiences through out history has improved dramatically since the middle ages to the present day.
Lloyd deMause (1974) also adopted Aries’s concept of child abandonment and infanticide by depicting the changes and the differences that occurred from the abandonment era to the twentieth century, where parents sought to be helpful to their child. In suggesting that there has been progress in the concepts of childhood from medieval ages to present day, deMause, Stone and Shorter have supported Aries’s concepts on the indifference that existed between children and adults in the medieval period. However these writers including Aries failed to take into consideration the effects of gender differences on the way in which boys and girls were raised, neither did they look at local or national differences. Thus many historians have recently begun to question aspects of the hypothesis proposed by Aries for example In childhood in the middle ages Shulamith Shahar (1990) demonstrates that everyone of the premises of Aries argument is wrong, by stating that people in the middle ages were fully aware of the difference between adulthood and childhood, additionally Shahar shows that medieval parents provided both material resources and emotional support to their children.
Contrary to Aries proposed factors, Shahar viewed childhood in medieval times as being divided in to different categories; the first stages being infancy, early childhood up until the age of seven. The second stage proposed by Shahar being ages thirteen to fourteen. By the same token John Boswell (1988) in ‘the kindness of strangers’ places an entirely new interpretation on the well established tradition of child abandonment in the middles ages. Boswell concluded that many families resorted to this practice in order to limit family sizes when they were unable to use other methods, thus it is not possible to argue that the size of the family influenced the abandonment of the child. This supports Linda Pollock’s (1983) idea that Aries fails to give an accurate account of the typical family structure in the medieval period. Additionally Pollock argues that historians who have supported Aries’s hypothesis have failed to investigate the actual conception of childhood in the medieval ages. Historians who have supported the idea that childhood did not exist in the middle period, have argued as mentioned above that children were portrayed through art as little adults, and that unlike in modern day where specific language can be used in order to define and describe the notion of childhood, such language did not exist Thus labels such as boy or girl was applied to everyone regardless of their age, this shows that childhood only started to be defined in the early modern period.
James Schultz ( 1991) claims in medieval adolescence that Aries’s concepts on childhood in medieval ages was accurate, thus disproving Shahar (1990), Boswell (1988) and Pollock (1983) criticisms on Aries’s concept of childhood. The middle ages was also a period which saw Europe becoming more and more engrossed in the education of children in order to aid the transition into adulthood. This has been demonstrated through various literatures, which has enabled historians to gain a better understanding of the expectations the medieval society had for the children. For example in survivors and surrogates Mary McLaughlin(2004) used the work of Historian Bartholomaus Anglicus in order to find out if the detailed focus on child care in medieval period was proof that people in medieval period cared about childhood. It is now clear that not only were there many pictures of children as children in the middle ages but perhaps more importantly there is abundant evidence that they were viewed as children and were loved as children. On the other hand deMause used Anglicus ideas on wrapping babies to highlight the level of cruelty towards children in medieval period.
Another aspect that influenced the conception of childhood through out history, especially during the early modern period was the gendered differences in the upbringing of children as mentioned above, for example in her thesis which focused on early modern girlhood and the production of femininity Jennifer Higginbotham (2007) found that the terms girl and boy became more widely used than the terms male and female, this showed that childhood in early modern times was no longer been viewed as a stage which involved the differing experiences of boys and girls. Thus Higginbotham criticises Aries statement boys were seen as the first to have specialised childhoods, he fails to mention the fact that this did not mean that females were completely excluded from the notion of childhood. However the change in the vocabulary of childhood meant demonstrated the fact that there was a pressing need to have language which will clearly show the biological sex of female children. The importance of gender in the creation of childhood is not always taken into consideration, in Shakespeare and childhood Kate Chedgzoy (2011) manages to show that the appearance of children in early modern period was more prevalent than first thought, which has enabled historians to not only look at the theoretical aspects of childhood but also at empirical evidence that shows that children had a voice and also had roles to play in the early modern period.
However the voice and role of children in early medieval period did not show the connection between their roles and parent hood thus the bond between parent and child was not evident, for example as mentioned above Aries stated that parents avoided to get emotionally attached to their offspring’s however Stone argued that this was because many mothers lacked maternal instincts especially in middle class families where parents avoided intimacy with their children. In her contribution in Gender and early modern constructions of childhood, Carole Levin 2011) looked at parents, children, and responses to death in dream structures in early modern England, Levin proposes that the way in which dreams were viewed has paved the way for us to better understand the important issues that arose in the early modern period for example Levin’s study suggested that the dreams instilled fear of losing in their child in parents due to the high mortality rate. This shows the strong bond parents had with their children, regardless of the nature of the feelings. In the context of France, Marie Rutkoski argues against the increase of available literature on childhood in the sixteenth century (Rutkoski cited in Yavneh and Miller 2011) Rutkoski states that texts from writers such as Francois Rabelais which demonstrates a fascination with childhood, is a form of mockery to those who have attempted to understand the childhood phenomenon through out history. On the other hand Jane Coachman does not only look at childrens upbringing in the sixteenth century but she also looks at the existing bond between a child and their parent and also their extended family such as grandparents. (Coachman, cited in Yavneh and Miller 2011). Education was a crucial aspect in the upbringing of children in the early modern period, as demonstrated by Kathryn Moncrief’s who endeavoured to find a correlation between the education of girls in the early modern period and the disruption of practices and ideas surrounding childhood in this period. Moncrief states that the education of girls during this period was focused on preparing them for their future roles as housewives and mothers (Moncrief, 2013) this supports the notion that boys quality of education in this period was better than girls. Contrary to Moncrief’s ideas, Caroline Bricks essay on “producing girls in Mary ward convent schools” looks at how education in convent schools constructed today’s concept of modern girls, as it was a time where young girls where in between the stages of childhood and marriage ( Bricks, cited in Yavneh and Miller 2011: 11).
John Locke (1632-1734) and Jean- Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) looks at the education of children in the 18th century, Locke looks at the belief in Tabula rasa, which is the idea that from birth the human mind has no ideas, almost like a clean slate waiting to be written on. Stating that it is important to give children a time to play or work. Similarly Rousseau states that it is better for children to be educated as it allows them to be guided by their own reasoning rather than social norms (Locke, 1632-1734 and Rousseau 1712-1778, cited in Gianoustos, 2006). Locke and Rousseau is useful in the understanding of the history of childhood as it provides differing views on the state of children when born and they provide an overview of methods that should be used in educating them. This paved the way for individualism in modern age, which has contributed greatly to the education of children in present day. However Locke and Rousseau differ in that they clash in the nature nurture debate. These differing concepts on childhood education shows that notions on childhood in the early modern period, was a world away from childhood in the medieval period, thus the idea of childhood only began to emerge in the early modern day period although there has been differing views which have supported which has supported Aries’s concepts of childhood in medieval history, many other scholars have also provided a counter argument disputing Aries concepts, as outlined above.
The changes in the concept of childhood can be depicted through childrens rights under the law prior to the sixteenth century till present day, however the most important laws which have shaped childhood the rights of children. For example the 1633 Act of parliament of Scotland set the principles for free education (Kaplin and Lee, 2013), however it was not until the 18th century that school attendance was made compulsory, under the Elementary education act 1870 ( Parliament, n.d). The 16th century saw the emergence of the 1601 poor law, which was introduced in order to help the poor, this law subsequently saw children being put out for apprentices (Victorian Web, n.d). This shows that importance started to be given to the education of children since the beginning of the 16th century; however other factors affecting childhood only started to be taken into consideration from the 1700. For example the penitentiary act introduced in 1779 saw the change from death penalties to imprisonment (The National Archives, n.d) , however claims have been made that children were being forcefully striped in prisons. This influenced the introduction of the league for penal reform which has since then launched campaigns on children in prison and also providing advice and support to children in prison to date (Howard League, n.d). This does not address the death penalties during this period, as it leaves one to wonder if children were subject to the death penalties.
On the other hand, child labour was only fully addressed in 1802 the first act which was enacted in order to limit the amount of working hours for children, the introduction of this act meant that more and more children could avoid exploitation. Prior to being widely known as the factory acts, the health and morals of apprentices act sought to improve the conditions under which children were working under as a result of poverty (Parliament, n.d). The 20th century also saw the emergence of more laws which are related to the rights of children in the United Kingdom. For example in 1889 as a result of campaigns carried out by the NSPCC, the prevention of cruelty to childrens act was introduced, this protected children from abuse under the law (NSPCC, n.d). By the same token the 21st century has also contributed greatly to the conception of childhood in modern society for example in the 2000 act the care standards act was introduced in order to insure that adequate care of children in care homes was provided, however this was only enacted in 2002 (Care Standards Act, 2000, c.14). On the other hand 2003 saw the emergence of the age of consent for sexual activities, this was reduced from 18 to 16, the act states that if a child is under the age of 16, the adult involved is committing an offence (Sexual offences Act 2003, c.42) This is contrary to the protection of childrens act of 1978 which sees a child as a person who is under the age of 18 rather than 16 (Protection of children Act 1978, c.37). This makes it possible to argue that the concept of childhood is being recycled as children in medieval times were at liberty to get involve in sexual activities, however the evolution of childhood saw the consent age raised to 18, being taken back down to 16, suggest children are once again losing that innocence. These Acts have shown a pattern in the law from pre 16th century to the 21st century, for example prior to the 16th century, children were not regarded as children as demonstrated by Aries, however through out history the social construction of childhood has changed and it is possible to argue that childhood as a social phenomenon has evolved. Thus society has left a period whereby child was adult and entered into a phase of a child centred society.
To conclude, themes relating to the change in the concept of childhood through out history has been addressed in this piece, themes such as (1)children in the medieval ages from the 11th to the 17th century (2)the effects of law reforms from the 11th century to the 21st century on the concept of childhood (3) childhood in the 18th century (4) childhood in the 19th century (5) Childhood in the 20th century, were addressed through reviewing and analysing the different views of scholars who have contributed to this field, and thus they have contributed to our understanding of the changing concept of childhood through history. What is striking about people in the Middle Ages is not how different they were from us in modern day, but how similar. Medieval people had a clear concept of childhood, they understood children, child care and child psychology, they expected children to go through a process of growth and development and indeed medieval children did develop psychologically, physically, sexually and socially as much as they do today. The close knit affectionate family cherishing its children and the neglectful and selfish family brutalizing its children existed side by side as much as they do now. If anything it is the present which is eroding childhood, forcing children to become mini adults before their time, and depriving them of a vital stage in their development. The views of Shahar and Boswell on Aries concept of childhood suggest that is that if historians have a fault it is that they may rely to exclusively on their inevitably fragmentary and partial sources and sometimes forget such timeless constraints as human nature, common sense and universal biological impulses. Thus suggesting that if historians took all these variables into account than the outcome of their studies on the history of the concept of childhood, would be regarded as being high in validity; however these studies have enabled us to understand the changes that have occurred on the concept of childhood through the ages.

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