How have children's roles changed throughout history?

Answer 1

The concepts of childhood and adolescence are relatively recent, dating from the second half of 18th century. Obviously, all societies have recognized a period of physical depedence up to about age 8-11. However, the notion of an extended period between that age and adulthood is fairly new. Before that, children aged, say 12 or 13, generally worked like adults, read the same books as adults, dressed like adults - and were (often) punished as adults. This is something of a simplification, as they didn't have the same rights as adults and there were some exceptions; nevertheless, it is a useful starting point. Literature written specifically for children only started to appear in the late 1770s, for example and if one looks at paintings from before about 1770 it is striking that young children dressed in the same way as adults. Until the 1950s there was no music aimed specifically at teenagers and arguably there were no specifically teenage clothing styles, either. Until well into the twentieth century the great majority of kids left school at age 14 and went straight into paid employment. In some cases they went into appreticeships, but essentially their formal education was over. The classic work on the subject is Phillippe Aries, Centuries of Childhood which first appeared in French in 1960. It has been translated into English and makes very interesting reading. Joncey