FREE ESSAY ON CHILDREN IN SOCIETY

CHILDREN IN SOCIETY

Children in society today, as many centuries ago, are shaped by the opinions thrust forth
upon them by the adults they live alongside. Experiences of most children in the 16th
through 18th centuries were shaped by the differing and continuous views of the adults
they were living with in their certain time periods. Adult views and their subsequent
effects on children were all changing in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
centuries. 
In the sixteenth century adults had a pessimistic view of children, and therefore treated
them harshly, while expecting many things out of them. Robert Clever, a Calvinist, whom
was influenced by his religon concerning how children should be treated, points out that
children are born with a "wrong doing heart" and are drawn towards evil (1). This man, of
the upper class points out the lack of trust between the adult and the child, and how
children need to be shown to be good via education, but that until then the child is
evil. Lady Jane Grey recalls upon her experiences in the 1530's as having to be perfect
around adults and having to do things to the utmost standards, or else she would have
physical punishment inflicted upon her. This shows all that was expected of children and
the consequences of their failure to achieve this ideal set forth by the adults. Lastly,
in the sixteenth centuries, the pessimistic view of children resulted in their harsh
treatment because, as Bartholomew Batty pointed out in 1581 how parents beat their
children, inflicting discipline in violent ways, which shows the violent and harsh
disciplinary actions put forth on the children during this time. Because of the negative
thought towards children in the sixteenth century, they were treated violently and
punished harshly.
In the seventeenth century, more positive adult views towards children at the time
emerged, and less seemed to be expected of children, as they were given more room for
error than in earlier times. As Anglican minister John Earle says, concerning children,
he thinks that children are a blank notebook and that as they live, things the child sees
is added to that notebook, and he is saying how children are not born evil, as previously
thought in the sixteenth century, but rather children do not know of evil, so they are
therefore good before they know of anything that may happen to be evil. Mothers were also
encouraged at this time to breast feed their children on their own, rather than hire a
nurse to do their work for them, as described in the regrets of Elizabeth Clinton in
1622. This view shows caring for the children and their need for their mothers and people
around them. Lastly, Sir George Savile emphasizes the need for love shown towards the
children. He says that if love and kindness is shown towards the child, that he or she
will in turn respect his or her elder. Sir George Savile believes that children should
get all that they want, and if they don't that they should be let down in a slow and easy
manner. This shows the lack of expectations for the child to cope with things he or she
cannot have, and the emphasis on caring and loving a child. In the seventeenth century an
emergence of more positive views toward children came to be, along with less expected of
the children than in the sixteenth century.
The eighteenth century shows similarities to both centuries leading up to it. This
century combines the sixteenth century expectations from the children, with the
seventeenth century optimism towards children. The adults in the eighteenth century
viewed children as good, but in need of guidance, and with that guidance, children are
able to do many things. In 1721 an Anglican rector wrote about a child that the child is
very happy and delightful to be around, and thus was given responsibilities. Giving
children responsibilities shows that children are being respected in society at this
time. Along with the higher expectations of the children, in documents 6 and 7, mothers
are called upon to breast-feed their children. This is also giving duties to the parents
for the welfare of their children. As with the times, knowledge is growing in the
eighteenth century as William Buchan M.D. points out in document 9 that the previous
swaddling of children thought to make them better in the sixteenth century, is bad for
the children possibly damaging their organs. Discipline is still prevalent in the 18th
century, though it is not of the violent sort. As in the Letter of Sir Philip Francis in
1774, concerning the making his son a gentleman shows the belief that children can do
things, but also the belief in punishment, of the kind such as taking away of privileges.
All of these documents show the trend of expectation with positiveness in eighteenth
century Europe.