“Historians of childhood have debated whether a concept of the child, as an individual with unique needs as opposed to a miniature adult, actually existed.”
This quote from Patricia Demers’s From Instruction to Delight: An Anthology of Children’s Literature to 1850 really struck me the first time I read it. So much so that I read it out loud to my boyfriend (then had him read it to himself when he didn’t hear me the first time). It makes sense, however, that there may not have originally been any idea of what we would consider childhood. Children for the longest time were “miniature adults”, as we talked about last week. They started out working right away and the stories began as a way to learn about the world around them.
Stories moved into a more education based eventually teaching what we would see as things of importance: the alphabet, math, sciences, etc to children and nowadays books are usually entertainment based for children. However, since children are becoming more adult-like ever maybe our stories should be returned to our original fairytale format: teaching children how to survival in the way of the world.
More and more of our youth are returning to how society used to be or acting as adult as they feel possible: sex and pregnancies at pre-teen years, becoming violent, doing drugs, drinking alcohol etc. We can see this through multiple examples from the internet, like Millie. Are we returning to our past where children had no childhood? Is childhood becoming unneeded or even perhaps, unwanted?
If this is the case, will our youth’s stories and readings return to their original fairy tale state?
We already know that several countries never had childhood for their youths, because the children still work immediately or must fight to survive in a harsh world. Does this mean their stories and literature are still much different from ours? Admittedly, I would love to learn more about it myself. Below are some articles are today’s childhood or the lack of it.
Articles:
Childhood in Britain ‘ruined by lack of outdoor play and aggressive advertising’
Children with no childhood
Theories of Childhood
Children Without Childhood
It is an interesting point that you make saying that children may be losing part of their childhood because they are exposed to so many mature subject matters in the world today. In someways I believe this to be true. In our society we prefer children to stay innocent and we want to protect them from the dangers of the world. But at the same time, at least here in America, there seems to be an extension of the teen years far into the twenties. There is an extended adolescence where one isn't ready to grow up and be what is considered a productive adult in society.
ReplyDeleteOh, I definitely agree with the extended adolescence. The current generation is farther "behind" compared to previous ones, but I also wonder if there's a tie between a lack of childhood and this extended adolescence. We're in this awkward time of a social changing of roles or extension/shortening of roles (older people are working longer, marriages and children are coming later, younger generations don't enter the "real" world as early as they used too) and I'm not sure if any one really knows how our world will be changing.
DeleteThank you for linking to these articles! I hadn't given much thought to the ideas we've discussed outside of a Western context. Childhood as a concept is an idea that requires a certain amount of privilege, and we forget sometimes that not all of the world has equal access to that level of privilege. "Milk For Babes" doesn't seem so shocking in the context of child soldiers.
ReplyDeleteSince we hadn't talked or seen much in our readings past Western context is exactly why I got so interested in the childhood literature in other areas of the world or the possible lack there of.
DeleteThat's an interesting point about regressing childhoods. With violence so widespread, you could almost raise the argument that society is, in certain ways (although only in certain ways) returning to that original fairy tale context. This also might be the reason why so many high school/college age children continue to watch TV shows and so forth technically intended for children. I wonder if this is an attempt to return to an innocence they feel was robbed of them by our society? I hope this doesn't come off as alarmist or anything, but entertainment nowadays is certainly on the cynical side of the fence, so I do wonder.
ReplyDeleteIt could be construed as an attempt for a return to innocence and in some cases, I'm very sure it is, but it's not always the case. The Great Mouse Detective is just damn good remake of Sherlock Holmes.
DeleteI think we have to be careful not to fall into the trap of "those kids today!" Every generation frets about this, but it seems that the status of childhood has been plateaued for some time now. The Charleston didn't do it, nor miniskirts, nor MTV -- it's hard to have perspective on our own time, which is admittedly one of enormous & enormously rapid changes in information technology & the social landscape -- but I still don't believe we've reverted back to a time of 'miniature adults.' If anything, our strong emotional responses to this sense that young people might be growing up "too quickly" is symptomatic of the fact that we still regard this period as a sacred time, and one set apart from other phases of life.
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't think that we'll ever revert fully back to the full "miniature adult" stage, but being from a generation that spent way too much time learning on my own way too early about sex and other adult subjects (and being told by my peers that I should have learned it in Second grade), I do think that children do need some form of adulthood in their childhoods. Especially when taking in the fact that children are having sex at younger ages, facing suicide earlier, etc. We need a new genre of children's books at least to help teach children like the fairy tales: Adult lessons in stories.
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