the history of childhood paradigm shifts in western childhood adapted from:
TRANSCRIPT
The History
of Childhood
Paradigm Shifts in Western Childhood
Adapted from: http://faculty.csusb.edu/alafaye
Children in the Middle Ages: 500-1450 (Europe)
• Infancy is the only period of “childhood.”
• Once a child is able to eat, sleep, dress, and act independently, they are expected to enter adult society.
•Lower class children worked on the family property. Upper class children were apprentices/courtiers.
Children in the Middle Ages: 500-1450 (Europe)
• Young people take on the work of an adult as they are able.
• Children are acculturated, not educated.
• Children dressed and acted as adults.
Children in the Renaissance: 1400-1550 (Europe)
• Infancy is “childhood.”
• More and more noble children are tutored before they become courtiers.
• Children’s “games” are preparation for adulthood with serious consequences.
• Children are “workers” in all classes.
• Lower classes work at home. Upper class children are sent off.
• Children dressed and acted as adults with few exceptions.
• Apprenticeship Leagues begin.
Children in the Renaissance: 1400-1550 (Europe)
Children in the Reformation1500-1650 (Europe)
• Infancy is “childhood.”
• Age of Reason is established.
• Religious education is essential.
• Children are still seen as workers. Their role depends on their class.
• The work ethic is established.
• Children are still seen as little adults.
• Grammar schools begin.
Children in the Reformation1500-1650 (Europe)
Catherine of Aragon
Martin Luther
Children in the Enlightenment: 1650- 1790 (Europe)
• Children are seen as a blank slate (Locke 1690s).
• Children learn through experience.
• Proper experience equals education.
• Children still seen as workers in the lower class. Upper class children can still be apprenticed/courtiers.
• Noble children are pretty toys.
• Children dressed and acted as adults.
• Beginning of children’s literature for entertainment (1740s Newbery).
Children in the Enlightenment: 1650- 1790 (Europe)
Children in the Industrial Revolution: 1790-1850 ( US)
• Children are seen as a blank slate.
• Upper class children stay with their families.
• Children learn through experience.
• Massive urbanization and colonization.
• Children as laborers is essential to lower class families in farming and industry.
• National school systems begin.
• Growth of children’s literature occurs.
Children in the Industrial Revolution: 1790-1850 ( US)
• Immigration increases.
• Children are “innocent” (Pastoral).
• Children’s toys and clothing boom.
Children in the Industrial Revolution: 1790-1850 ( US)
Children in the Gilded Age: 1850 -1918 (United States)
• Education is mandatory.
• First children’s room appears in a library (1890).
• New laws protect children.
• This is the Golden Era of children’s literature (1860s-1930s).
• The middle class grows.
• Child services grow.
• Children are seen as “innocent.”
• Massive immigration/assimilation occurs.
• Adolescence is a separate stage.
Children in the Gilded Age: 1850 -1918 (United States)
