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The child's right to live was a more or less arbitrary decision of the parents since they were considered as their property and they were the ones who had the power to dispose of the child's life. Another common practice was to maintain a passive attitude towards the children, which often also led to death. In this case, parents resolve their children's anxieties with death. This decision is socially justified and is a common practice that is well regarded. -
The idea of childhood gets combined with education. Aristotle, as a philosopher, thought education was meant to make "free men" so he decided to segment it. With this segmentation, children were expected to adopt particular behaviors and experience formation in many ways.
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In ancient Rome, children were not considered human until they could walk and talk. Though Romans loved their kids immensely, they believed children were born soft and weak, so it was the parents' duty to mold them into adults. They often engaged in such practices as corporal punishment, immobilizing newborn infants on wooden planks to ensure proper growth, and routinely bathing the young in cold water as to not soften them with the feel of warm water. -
The child is conceived as a homunculus (miniature man): there is no evolution, no qualitative changes, but change from a lower to a higher, adult state (Thomas Aquinas). All this is reflected in this sentence: "Only time can cure of childhood, and from its imperfections". Therefore, the child must be educated to be "reformed". Educating and nurturing imply physical care, discipline, obedience, and love of God but there is no reference to the need for love for good child development. -
The child is no longer treated as a free person because they have all his knowledge and his life given to God giving all the power to the church. At this time, the only thing worst than being a child was death itself. Children were considered as perverse creatures and there was nothing good about childhood. So they were constantly underestimated, underrated, and mistreated. The only valuable thing about them was their workforce. -
Many of the classic ideas about early childhood education resurface. There is a boom in observations of children that reveal a new interest in child development. For example, Erasmus (De Pueris, 1530) expresses a certain interest in the nature of children Luis Vives (1492-1540) also expresses his interest in the evolution of the child, in individual differences, in the education of "abnormal" children, and for the need to ADAPT education to different cases and levels. -
An important change in the conceptions of human nature and, consequently, of the child, comes from the empiricist current in philosophy. Locke (1632-1704) insists on the importance of experience and habits, proposing a vision of the newborn as a tabula rasa or blank slate, where experience leaves its traces. That is to say, the child is not born good or bad, but everything he or she becomes will depend on his or her experiences. -
During this time, the big industries considered children, since they were five, as creatures able to work in light but the extended journey thus they hired them as their workforce. Parents, in need, had no other choice but to agree. -
With the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of the bourgeoisie, the need for child labor decreased drastically and, therefore, many children no longer have to go to work and have to occupy with some activity. Hence, the need to get them into school becomes a primary objective. On the other hand, changes in social life (the emergence of cities) and family life (life in the home and changes in its distribution) promote greater contact between children and their families. -
Among his most influential and well-known ideas is that the child is naturally good. Against the medieval perspective of the child as a homunculus, Rousseau argues that he is a being with his own characteristics, who follows a physical, intellectual, moral development... and summarizes these ideas in the phrase: The little man is not simply a little man. For Rousseau, education should be compulsory and should include women. -
The child is conceived as innocent, without evil or sexuality. For this reason, they are thought of as fragile and defenseless and must be protected from the deviance of adults. Contrary to the medieval, modern childhood thus generated excellent children as a receptacle for adult projections in search of an ideal of perfection, no longer divine but human. The generational transmission thus goes, in modernity, from "enlightened" adults to children "to be formed" for the future. -
On November 20 of this year, the UN approves the Children's Rights. Children were considered social individuals who had rights. So it was a priority to the government to guarantee they're well-being. Children have, among many other things, the right to equality, without distinction as to race, religion, or nationality, the right to have special protection, to a name and a nationality, to adequate food, shelter, and medical care, and to education. -
In the 21st Century, children are conceived as the future of society, therefore child laws were created in order to guarantee their well-being and provide them with a healthy environment where they can properly grow. These laws also make sure the parents provide their children with proper education and company.