Editing Child (section)

== History ==
{{main|History of childhood}}
[[File:Su Han Ch'en 001.jpg|upright|thumb|''Playing Children'', by [[Song dynasty]] [[Chinese art]]ist Su Hanchen, c. 1150 AD.]]
During the European [[Renaissance]], artistic depictions of children increased dramatically, which did not have much effect on the social attitude toward children, however.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Pollock LA |title=Forgotten children : parent-child relations from 1500 to 1900|date=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-25009-2 |oclc=255923951}}</ref>

The French historian [[Philippe Ariès]] argued that during the 1600s, the concept of childhood began to emerge in Europe,<ref>{{cite book | title = Centuries of Childhood | vauthors = Ariès P | date = 1960| title-link = Centuries of Childhood | author-link = Philippe Ariès }}</ref> however other historians like [[Nicholas Orme]] have challenged this view and argued that childhood has been seen as a separate stage since at least the medieval period.<ref>{{cite book | title = Medieval Children |last1=Orme |first1=Nicholas |date=2001 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-08541-9}}</ref> Adults saw children as separate beings, innocent and in need of protection and training by the adults around them. The English philosopher [[John Locke]] was particularly influential in defining this new attitude towards children, especially with regard to his theory of the [[tabula rasa]], which considered the mind at birth to be a "blank slate". A corollary of this doctrine was that the mind of the child was born blank, and that it was the duty of the parents to imbue the child with correct notions. During the early period of [[capitalism]], the rise of a large, commercial middle class, mainly in the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] countries of the [[Dutch Republic]]<!--This was the Dutch political entity during this period.--> and [[England]], brought about a new family ideology centred around the upbringing of children. [[Puritanism]] stressed the importance of individual salvation and concern for the spiritual welfare of children.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Fox VC | title = Poor Children's Rights in Early Modern England. | journal = The Journal of Psychohistory | date = April 1996 | volume = 23 | issue = 3 | pages = 286–306 | url = https://www.proquest.com/openview/20f04350242eb7f2342f8b8bb8326d76/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1816657 }}</ref>

[[File:Fig 1 Sir Joshua Reynolds The Age of Innocence. Painted circa 1788. Frame contemporary with picture. From Houghton, 2005, 24.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''[[The Age of Innocence (painting)|The Age of Innocence]]'' {{Circa|1785}}/8. Reynolds emphasized the natural grace of children in his paintings.]]

The modern notion of childhood with its own autonomy and goals began to emerge during the 18th-century [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and the [[Romanticism|Romantic period]] that followed it.<ref name="cohen"/><ref name="reeves"/> [[Jean Jacques Rousseau]] formulated the romantic attitude towards children in his famous 1762 novel ''[[Emile: or, On Education]]''. Building on the ideas of [[John Locke]] and other 17th-century thinkers, Jean-Jaques Rousseau described childhood as a brief period of sanctuary before people encounter the perils and hardships of adulthood.<ref name="cohen">{{cite book | vauthors = Cohen D |title= The development of play |date=1993 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-1-134-86782-0 |edition=2nd | page = 20 }}</ref> Sir [[Joshua Reynolds]]' extensive children portraiture demonstrated the new enlightened attitudes toward young children. His 1788 painting ''[[The Age of Innocence (painting)|The Age of Innocence]]'' emphasizes the innocence and natural grace of the posing child and soon became a public favourite.<ref name=postle>[[Martin Postle|Postle, Martin]]. (2005) "''The Age of Innocence''" Child Portraiture in Georgian Art and Society", in ''Pictures of Innocence: Portraits of Children from Hogarth to Lawrence''. Bath: [[Holburne Museum of Art]], pp. 7–8. {{ISBN|0903679094}}</ref>

[[File:Princesses leopoldina isabel and friend (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Brazilian princesses [[Princess Leopoldina of Brazil|Leopoldina]] (left) and [[Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil|Isabel]] (center) with an unidentified friend, c. 1860.]]

The idea of childhood as a locus of divinity, purity, and innocence is further expounded upon in [[William Wordsworth]]'s "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood", the imagery of which he "fashioned from a complex mix of pastoral aesthetics, pantheistic views of divinity, and an idea of spiritual purity based on an Edenic notion of pastoral innocence infused with Neoplatonic notions of reincarnation".<ref name="reeves">{{cite book | vauthors = Reeves M |chapter='A Prospect of Flowers', Concepts of Childhood and Female Youth in Seventeenth-Century British Culture | veditors = Cohen ES, Reeves M |title=The Youth of Early Modern Women |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |year=2018 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv8pzd5z |jstor=j.ctv8pzd5z |access-date=11 February 2018 |chapter-url=http://www.oapen.org/viewer/web/viewer.html?file=http://www.oapen.org/document/1004126 |page=40 |isbn=978-90-485-3498-2 |s2cid=189343394 }}</ref> This Romantic conception of childhood, historian Margaret Reeves suggests, has a longer history than generally recognized, with its roots traceable to similarly imaginative constructions of childhood circulating, for example, in the neo-platonic poetry of seventeenth-century metaphysical poet [[Henry Vaughan]] (e.g., "The Retreate", 1650; "Childe-hood", 1655). Such views contrasted with the stridently didactic, Calvinist views of infant depravity.{{sfnp|Reeves|2018|pp=41–42}}

[[File:Vazken Andréassian HoMenEtMen-Sgaoudagan doghantsk Konstantinobolis 1918.jpg|thumb|upright|Armenian scouts in 1918]]

With the onset of [[Industrial Revolution|industrialisation]] in England in 1760, the divergence between high-minded romantic ideals of childhood and the reality of the growing magnitude of child exploitation in the workplace, became increasingly apparent. By the late 18th century, British children were specially employed in factories and mines and as [[chimney sweep]]s,<ref name = "Del_Col_1930">{{cite book | vauthors = Del Col L | chapter = The Life of the Industrial Worker in Ninteenth-Century &#91;sic&#93; England — Evidence Given Before the Sadler Committee (1831–1832) | veditors = Scott JF, Baltzly A | title = Readings in European History  | date = September 1930 | publisher = Appleton-Century-Crofts | url = http://www.victorianweb.org/history/workers1.html }}</ref> often working long hours in dangerous jobs for low pay.<ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Daniels B | url = http://www.hiddenlives.org.uk/articles/poverty.html | title = Poverty and Families in the Victorian Era | work =  hiddenlives.org }}</ref> As the century wore on, the contradiction between the conditions on the ground for poor children and the middle-class notion of childhood as a time of simplicity and innocence led to the first campaigns for the imposition of legal protection for children.

British reformers attacked [[child labor]] from the 1830s onward, bolstered by the horrific descriptions of London street life by [[Charles Dickens]].<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Malkovich A |title=Charles Dickens and the Victorian child : romanticizing and socializing the imperfect child |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-135-07425-8}}</ref> The campaign eventually led to the [[Factory Acts]], which mitigated the exploitation of children at the workplace<ref name = "Del_Col_1930" /><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors =  | title = The Factory and Workshop Act, 1901 | journal = British Medical Journal | volume = 2 | issue = 2139 | pages = 1871–1872 | date = December 1901 | pmid = 20759953 | pmc = 2507680 | doi = 10.1136/bmj.2.2139.1871 | issn = 0959-8138 }}</ref>

=== Modern concepts of childhood ===
[[File:Fountain Fun.jpg|thumb|Children play in a fountain in a summer evening, [[Davis, California]].]]
[[File:A moment in the garden.jpg|thumb|An old man and his granddaughter in [[Turkey]].]]
[[File:Nepalese-children-with-cats.jpg|thumb|[[People of Nepal|Nepalese]] children playing with [[cat]]s.]]
[[File:Harari Girls, Ethiopia (8261348010).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Harari people|Harari]] girls in Ethiopia.]]

The modern attitude to children emerged by the late 19th century; the Victorian middle and upper classes emphasized the role of the family and the sanctity of the child – an attitude that has remained dominant in Western societies ever since.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Jordan TE |title=Victorian child savers and their culture : a thematic evaluation |date=1998 |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]] |location=[[Lewiston, New York]] | oclc = 39465039 |isbn=978-0-7734-8289-0}}</ref> The genre of [[children's literature]] took off, with a proliferation of humorous, child-oriented books attuned to the child's imagination. [[Lewis Carroll]]'s fantasy ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'', published in 1865 in England, was a landmark in the genre; regarded as the first "English masterpiece written for children", its publication opened the "First Golden Age" of children's literature.

The latter half of the 19th century saw the introduction of compulsory state schooling of children across Europe, which decisively removed children from the workplace into schools.<ref>Sagarra, Eda. (1977). ''A Social History of Germany 1648–1914'', pp. 275–84</ref><ref>Weber, Eugen. (1976). ''Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1914'', pp. 303–38</ref>

The market economy of the 19th century enabled the concept of childhood as a time of fun, happiness, and imagination. Factory-made dolls and doll houses delighted the girls and organized sports and activities were played by the boys.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Chudacoff HP |title=Children at Play: An American History |date=2007 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-1665-6}}</ref>
The [[Boy Scout]]s was founded by Sir [[Robert Baden-Powell]] in 1908,<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Woolgar B, La Riviere S | year = 2002| title = Why Brownsea? The Beginnings of Scouting | publisher = Brownsea Island Scout and Guide Management Committee }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hillcourt |first1=William |title=Baden-Powell; the two lives of a hero |date=1964 |publisher=Putnam |location=New York |isbn=978-0839535942 |url=https://archive.org/details/badenpowelltwoli0000unse/mode/2up?q=brownsea |oclc =1338723}}</ref> which provided young boys with outdoor activities aiming at developing character, citizenship, and personal fitness qualities.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Boehmer E | title=Notes to 2004 edition of Scouting for Boys|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=[[Oxford]]}}</ref>

In the 20th century, [[Philippe Ariès]], a French historian specializing in [[medieval history]], suggested that childhood was not a natural phenomenon, but a creation of society in his 1960 book ''[[Centuries of Childhood]]''. In 1961 he published a study of paintings, gravestones, furniture, and school records, finding that before the 17th century, children were represented as mini-adults.

In 1966, the American philosopher [[George Boas]] published the book ''The Cult of Childhood''. Since then, historians have increasingly researched childhood in past times.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Ulbricht J |date=November 2005|title=J.C. Holz Revisited: From Modernism to Visual Culture|journal=Art Education|volume=58|issue=6|pages=12–17|doi=10.1080/00043125.2005.11651564|s2cid=190482412|issn=0004-3125}}</ref>

In 2006, [[Hugh Cunningham (historian)|Hugh Cunningham]] published the book ''Invention of Childhood'', looking at British childhood from the year 1000, the [[Middle Ages]], to what he refers to as the Post War Period of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Cunningham H | date = July 2016 |chapter=The Growth of Leisure in the Early Industrial Revolution, c. 1780–c. 1840 | title = Leisure in the Industrial Revolution |pages=15–56 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315637679-2 |isbn=978-1-315-63767-9 }}</ref>

Childhood evolves and changes as lifestyles change and adult expectations alter. In the modern era, many adults believe that children should not have any worries or work, as life should be happy and trouble-free. Childhood is seen as a mixture of simplicity, innocence, happiness, fun, imagination, and wonder. It is thought of as a time of playing, learning, socializing, exploring, and worrying in a world without much adult interference.<ref name="cohen"/><ref name="reeves"/>

A "loss of innocence" is a common concept, and is often seen as an integral part of [[coming of age]]. It is usually thought of as an experience or period in a child's life that widens their awareness of evil, pain or the world around them. This theme is demonstrated in the novels ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'' and ''[[Lord of the Flies]]''. The fictional character [[Peter Pan]] was the embodiment of a childhood that never ends.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bloom |first1=Harold |title=Major themes in Lord of the Flies |url=https://1.cdn.edl.io/DCZIfXm4z8XvzcRiCqTQbpSIBE3zLa6rhs0IuJCTkigqTLD9.pdf |archive-date=11 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211194237/https://1.cdn.edl.io/DCZIfXm4z8XvzcRiCqTQbpSIBE3zLa6rhs0IuJCTkigqTLD9.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Barrie, J. M. ''Peter Pan''. Hodder & Stoughton, 1928, Act V, Scene 2.</ref>