The Importance Of Childhood

There are various discourses of childhood that help us understand how childhood is viewed and how children themselves are seen. It is important to also look outside the system world and look towards the life worlds as it gives a more realistic view of various childhoods and shows how diverse the concept of childhood is because children do not share the same experiences. Regardless if you are looking at the system or life world the notions of rights, opportunities and capabilities are often discussed. These notions aids us in understanding childhood, however they can often obstruct us as well.

The purpose of this assignment is to examine if childhood has changed in the past 40 to 50 years. For the assignment I interviewed a 9 year old African American female and a 54 year old African American female. During my interview I found out that childhood has changed tremendously. Morals and values have been subsided due to priorities. Then on the contrary stress has taken a dramatic rise due to more children being raised in a single-parent home. In this paper I covered these basic areas: family history, school, friends, and extra-curricular activities.

Children model their own behaviour on others and if adults can effectively communicate and exchange age or developmental appropriate information with children this can encourage them to behave in acceptable ways. Frustration at their own inability to communicate effectively can lead to behavioural problems.

Learning obedience is an important part of early child development. Obedience is the main tool parents use to train their children. Through obedience your child will use things he or she needs later in adulthood that force obedience upon a child will soon create resentment within their children, which will eventually lead to rebellion.

Childhood is a time when a person grows not only physically, but intellectually and emotionally. As a child develops they become more independent and able to do thing for themselves without relying on adults for help. Childhood is a time where language is developed and younger children learn through play, it is also a time when personalities develop and discipline is learnt.

Throughout the history of childhood development poor social and economic conditions contributed to the many hardships and poor treatment of children. During the early Middle Ages the "paternalist" family concept evolved and the father had authority and control over family matters including the welfare and safety of his wife and children. Discipline was severe, young children both poor and wealthy were subjected to strict rules and regulations and often beaten if disobedient. Children took on the responsibilities of adults at an early age, sharing in the work of siblings and parents. Girls from affluent families were educated at home and married in their teens. Some males were educated at a monastery and others became apprentices to

childhood are different. The culture that the child sees on a daily basis, their peers, and their

In the book, The Disappearance of Childhood, Postman’s overall claim is that childhood is disappearing because children are able to get access to information about adult secrets.

Childhood is usually understood as a set of experiences and behaviours, gained in the early stages of the human existence, considered as the preparation for the adult world. However, the history of childhood is a very complex topic and it has become a very influential area of study in recent years. In 1962, the ‘Centuries of Childhood’ by Philippe Ariés introduced the idea that childhood was a new creation developed in recent centuries and as a concept it was believed to be nonexistent before the seventeenth century. This concept means that there was no awareness of the process of childhood. In several studies of the medieval period, Ariés noticed that childhood was not acknowledged or even attempted to be portrayed during this period. For

Through looking on different cultures it seems that childhood is definitely a social construction. But a better way of trying to find out if it is or not is through looking back in time. Until the end of the Middle Ages, children in the West were often seen as miniature versions of adult. Their clothes and their bodily proportions were the same as those of adults. The main reason why they were classed as ‘miniature adults’ was because they were expected to participate in all aspects of social life alongside their parents. Special protection and treatment did not exist at this time. Children could be punished and frequently were, for social transgressions with the same severity that adults were.

The cause of changing conception of childhood could entirely be the contribution of environmental pressures of the current age. One prominent factor of a changing conception could be the steady decline of child mortality. In the times of less technological advancement, child mortality was high. “The infant who was too fragile as yet to take part in the life of adult simply did not count.”(Aries, 1960, p125) As Aries summarises from Moliere. As stated above, with child mortality so high, the need for detachment presented itself as a decent coping mechanism. It was acknowledged by the community that “little one(s) did not count” (Aries, 1960, p125). It could be argued that the detachment from children is due to the presumption of eventual death of the child in its early years which, therefore, caused a lack of childhood for many children. Guo Jujing also touches heavily on the topic of child mortality through his folk text, “Twenty-four filial explemars”. In chapter 13, the story is of a poor family in China whom struggles to find enough food to keep the family going. “Poor as we are, we cannot properly provide for mother, and yet our son is sharing her food. Why not bury this son before mother starves to death? It is easier to have another son, but one can never have another mother.” Many cultures across the world value sons highly and for the son to request that his child, who is a boy to be buried, illustrates a sacrifice which he feels somewhat indifferent to. Filial

Children learn and develop interpersonal and social skills based on their experiences by what worked in the past. Young babies may scream to let their parents know they are hungry, a baby learns that when it screams it gets fed and therefore continues with this behavior. Screaming for food becomes less acceptable the older you get once some simple language has been learned it is more acceptable to ask for food. Later, with the right encouragement, children will learn that using sentences including the word “please” to ask for food maybe their best strategy for success. Interpersonal skills, however, go far beyond social niceties such as being polite and civil. As children develop communication skills so their interpersonal and social

Childhood is simply the time between infancy and adulthood, the time when we are developing, learning and are dependent on someone to guide us and help us through life. Richard Mills’ (2000, p.8) research shows many views, such as is “childhood a state of powerlessness and adaptation to a lack of power (as Waksler maintains, 1991:69)?” “...Or dependency (Shipman, 1972: 13)? Can it not simply be regarded as a period of biological, intellectual, and social development; as a time for the ‘accumulation of experience’ (Wadsworth, 1991:13)? Leading to self-definition (19991: 12)?” Or does it have a whole different meaning all together?

I enjoyed reading your perspective on how personalities come to be. Although I agree when you say that childhood experiences affect children drastically at times, I think the results of our childhood do not change our personalities, surface traits, in drastic ways. I'm sure you've noticed that the kids you work with are not robots with monotonous personalities. I assume of course that underneath their personality disorders, they each act differently; with some possibly acting the same. We are each born with different personality traits and due to this, I believe that our personalities influence how we cope and grow through our experiences, not so much the other way around. Cross-cultural research, from over 56 countries, has

In modern day society nothing is more precious than childhood. It is a time full of innocence, love, light and freedom with little to no worries. Childhood has not always been described as this, full of hope and dreams and aspirations, the time to just have fun and not to worry about the future, or wealth. Before the 1800s, childhood was not a thing and children were just seen as miniature adults, with no value, other than to carry on families. It was not until after the 1800s were childhood become a national phenomenon. Childhood is set to be this time were its all play and no work, where your parents or guardian is supposed to take care of you, but what about the children that do not have this luxury? Although childhood is a modern day universal subject recognized, not all children get to live their lives the way they are “meant to”. The problem is dormant within certain societies for many reasons. One is the concept of developed and developing countries and their debt crisis, and another is western and non -Western ideals. With these battling each other, it is hard to communicate which one is right versus which one is wrong. When it comes to children and work, is it wrong? Is it ok? Should it be outlawed? Through universal and critical approaches, it will be shown that although child labour is against the UNCRC, it is crucial for children in some parts of the world to have this active role. Through critical debates child labour would be further developed and questioned