However, this innocence means that children are seen as vulnerable and in need of protection from dangers of the adult world. Children’s lives, as a result of this, are lived largely in the confinement of the family and education, where adults provide for them. Similarly, unlike adults, children mainly lead lives of leisure and play and cannot partake in paid work. Cultural differences have an impact on people’s views of childhood. Ruth Benedict argued that children from Less Economically Developed Countries and non-industrial societies are treated differently from modern, Western children: they take responsibility from a younger age.
U136/1.1.2. Evaluate the relationship between theoretical perspectives and early years curriculum models. There have been and will to come be many theorists opinions that have helped shape changes in childcare. In medieval times children were often sent out to work at a very early age and childhood was not valued or cherished as it is today. Children from poor families were expected to earn a living as soon as possible and children from noble families were schooled.
Sociologists say that childhood socially constructed (which means that it is created and defined by society). They say that the position children have in society is not permanently fixed, it changes over time. This is obvious by looking at how childhood is seen in other cultures and the past. It is accepted in our society now that childhood should be a special time of life, children are seen as being different from adults so should be treated differently because they are physically and psychologically immature and are not able to be dependent. So they are seen to need a lengthy period of time where they are nurtured and socialised before they are seen as responsible adults in society.
In this type of environment children were continuously exposed to the adult world. Some children whose families are in the lower class were farmed out to middle class families to work as servants. However, during the 19th century European societies were rapidly industrializing and new attitudes towards children developed in conjunction with the new economic system. Children were no longer needed to work alongside adults and there was a new concern that all children received some education. The social construction of childhood is a phenomenon of the 20th century.
Cultural deprivation means when children are deprived from things what they need. This can include the lack of values and support they get from their parents, which can influence on socialisation skills. It can be argued that due to lack of family structure, social cultural and soft skills pupils are less likely to underachieve. Cultural deprivation is a theory that many working-class children are inadequately socialised and therefore lack the ‘right’ culture appropriate for a successful education. Many people argue that development is vital in the younger years in the child’s life, and the ability to solve problems and apply ideas help in the long-term.
Whether it was to try to help their parents make more money, or to feed themselves, they would work. Some of the problems the workers would have were the lack of time and of money. They worked under very poor conditions, and did not have many privileges. Incidents like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had major effects on the way the escapes in buildings were designed. Anyways all these incidents, made a difference, the government
However, after the report came out, the government took charge of being the agency for the children as it introduced compulsory education and set a minimum working age for the children. I would say that gender did make a difference in the mines. From the report it has been shown that the boys had to work longer hours than the girls. I came to this decision by looking at the table in the mining report that showed their working hours. (Commission report pg207) From there, I can also deduce that because of their gender, females had to work for a shorter working hours as they had to do housework at their
The distinction between childhood and adulthood is ‘becoming blurred’ due to the ‘growing similarity of adult and children’s clothing and even to cases of children committing ‘adult’ crimes such as murder.’ The fact that adult and children’s clothing has great similarities conveys that children can no longer remain children and are merging into adulthood a lot sooner than their time, as a result of the fact they are not able to dress like children and dress their ages. Secondly the fact the children are committing ‘adult’ crimes such as murder means the mind-set of a children is changing a lot sooner and so their thoughts are now becoming that of an adults. Also when ‘adult’ crimes such as murder are committed, children still need to be trialled and sentenced through the legal system just like an adult would. Leading to there being no distinction between an adult and child, proving the distinction between adulthood and childhood is in fact ‘becoming blurred’. Neil Postman (1994) argues these points and states that the ‘disappearance, lies in the rise and fall print of culture and its replacement by television culture’.
Many changes has taken place throughout the centuries on how children are seen. There are also people who also made the Child and Youth Care possible in history such as Charles Dickens, Gisela Pieper Konopka, Jane Adams, Fritz Redl, Jean Rousseau, to the Medieval mention only but just a few. During and Renaissance times and the Industrialisation period the infant rate was very high. This was due to child neglect and ignorance for child needs. During this period, there was harsh treatment for children and was more severe for children at the age of seven as it was believed that childhood seized at that age (Beukes & Gannon, 1996).
Feminists suggest that socialization within the household can cause inequality in the future as they are treated differently as children, for example; girls are given dolls and play kitchens whereas boys are given trucks and play power tools, etc. Ann Oakley is a feminist who criticises this view of Willmott and Young. She said that within this figure of ‘72%’ that some men only did very little, only having to do as little as one job a week. Ann Oakley suggests the idea that women are more likely to do more tasks and spend more time on household chores than men, thus creating the idea that