The Evolving Value of Children

From the eighteenth century to the present day the view of children has changed. It has been stated that "Many of the attitudes we hold concerning children and their special importance and needs were inconceivable only 300 years ago."(Steward). The idea that children were dependent, special, and could learn originated in the eighteenth century. Before the 1750's life for a child was quite different compared with the lives of children in the later centuries. In the past there was a high mortality rate. Parents were discouraged to become attached to the child. This teaching led parents to believe that their children had little value. Since they had little value, this reflected in the treatment of children.

The treatment of children by their parents was harsh. When a child was born, it was taken and swaddled. Swaddling was a process in which the child was wrapped tightly in bandages. "Swaddling was often so complicated it took up to two hours to dress an infant" (deMause 37). It was so tight that sometimes the process cracked the ribs of the infant. The blood circulated through the body poorly. The face of the child sometimes turned purple. It was noted that they rarely cried also. However, it was popular. As Greenleaf (29) noted "Many mothers liked it because it decreased the baby's demand for her attention" Swaddling caused the children to require little attention towards them. Swaddling was a reflection of how parents didn't want to grow close to the child. If the family were wealthy, the child was sent to the wet nurse. This lady, not the mother, breast fed the child. Because wealthy women did not breast feed their children, the child could be gone for almost three years.

Children's education was not that important to adults in the eighteenth century either. The wealthiest families usually hired tutors for their children. They mostly taught them Latin or Greek. They were taught Latin because it was the language of the Catholic church. In England, aristocratic children went to grammar school at the age of six or seven. If the child was royalty, their education began when they were three or four. School was very strict. They didn't expect them to learn much from school. People thought that they couldn't learn at all. It showed that they didn't value their children.

Girls in the eighteenth century rarely received an education. They were taught mostly how to care for the house and the children. If the family was aristocratic, the girls got an education, but not as good compared to the boys. Some girls learned arts, sewing, or even weaving. Some peasants were lucky to get some type of education. Peasants mostly learned at Sunday School.

The motto of parents was "Spare the rod and spoil the child." This scripture was in every parent and teacher's heart. They were taught that when they were children, so consequently and did it to their own. This did not just effect the peasants or middle class children, but royalty also. The discipline was so bad that bruises were formed, and there was sometimes blood shed from the lashes. Parents were taught that if they did not discipline their children; then they did not love them. This form of discipline was viewed as a form of love.

The view of children in the eighteenth century was changed thanks to a man named Jean Jacques Rousseau. "Rousseau was a man of surprising genius" (qtd. Boyd I). He helped children by opening the eyes of many adults. He showed them that their children were able to learn and have value. He wrote a book in 1762 called Emile that changed the minds of many parents. It was a story about a boy named Emile and his tutor. It explained the importance of youth and the joy of learning. Although Rousseau wrote a book on teaching, he himself failed as a teacher. "I once made sufficient trial of that calling to have assured myself that I am not suited to it" (Crocker 129). However he did have an influence on others. Many people attempted to follow the pattern of teaching in Rousseau's book.

Rousseau had ideas that in the beginning outraged people, mainly the French. He suggested moms breast feed their own children. Also, he suggested people should not swaddle their children. He suggested parents or teachers should not strike the children. He endorsed education for everyone. Education helped develop the mind. Although, he did not want people to teach science. He believed a children should discover it by themselves. Rousseau encouraged the parent to challenge the child's curiosity.

In Germany, education for children became important. The view of children changed. These people endorsed Rousseau's new book and were interested in improving their way of educating children. They wanted to teach modern languages. They did not want to teach Latin, Greek, or concentrate on the Bible. Teachers wanted to teach science and math. School in the past was the teacher teaching and the child listening. Now, they wanted the children to ask questions. "No more dictation and rote learning, but free discussion between masters and pupils. Questions and answers to put some life into the class" (qtd. Brunschwig 26).

Later in the 1800's people started to receive these thoughts. People started to value their children. It had effected the way of educating children. There were books that were created mainly for children. Nursery rhymes and even the alphabet was published for children to read.

Closer to the end of the nineteenth century, mothers started to breast feed their own children. Even though English mothers claimed it was a hard concept to do, swaddling children ended by the end of the century, also. It has been noted "Many mothers threw away swaddling bands and took to suckling infants who only a year or so earlier they would have sent straight to a wet nurse." (Greenleaf 64).

Later in the century there were new discoveries. The medicine got better. There were less famines. Farmers were producing food faster. People were receiving better nutritional meals. Children started to live longer because of these discoveries. The infant mortality rate decreased greatly. Parents started to treasure their children more.As the years went by, the view of children changed. In the twentieth century, children were looked as dependant individuals. These little people were opened to new and exciting things. When a child was born, it was not wrapped in swaddling bandages anymore. They were wrapped in a warm blanket.

In the early 1900's, doctors published that nursing had many benefits. They found out that breast feeding from the mother was good for the child. The child received more antibodies from the milk. Also, some studies showed that the child was least likely to get infections. There were many more benefits from breast feeding for the child and mother.

Education became even more important. There were laws created to insure that almost every child received an education in almost every country. Leach was quoted saying "Education seems the key." (155) It showed education had become important.

Clearly, the view of children has changed. In the beginning, they were seen as mature adults, but slowly that idea changed. Rousseau and others came up with ideas that opened the minds of many. Parents started to treasure their children even more. They looked at them as young open minded people. These ideas that children are delicate, special, and could learn originated in the eighteenth century.

• Boyd, William. Emile for Today. London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1956.
• Brunschwig, Henri. Enlightenment and Romanticism in Eighteenth Century Prussia. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1974.
• Crocker, Lester G. Jean Jacques Rousseau The Quest 1712-1758. New York: The Macmillian Company, 1968.
• deMause, Lloyd. The History of Childhood. New York: The Psychohistory Press, 1974.
• Greenleaf, Barbara Kaye. Children Through the Ages a History of Childhood. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1978.
• Leach, Penelope. Children First. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1994.
• Steward, James."The Child Learns: Academic, Religious, and Moral Education." The New Child British Art and the Origin of Modern Childhood, 1730-1830(1995)
• http://www.uampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibits/newchild/ 29 Dec. 1998

This webpage was created by J.S. on 5/26/99 for History and Thought of Western Man, Rich East High School, Park Forest, IL.