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Period: 2000 BCE to 1 BCE
Infanticide
It was a critical period for children were considered as beings without souls, so they weren’t considered as human beings. If parents had problems with their children, they could end up murdering them, for reasons like malformations of being a girl. -
1500 BCE
Dangerous Practices
Children were feed every kind of hazardous things. Milk from goats and cows directly from the udder, or even they sucked from it. Opium and liquor were given to infants to stop them from crying. -
1000 BCE
Sexual Abuse
Children lived in an atmosphere of sexual abuse, older men took advantage. Boy brothels flourished in every city, there were contracts for the use of a rent-a-boy service in Athens. Although homosexuality was prohibited, men kept slave boys to abuse, so that even free-born children saw their fathers sleeping with boys. There were attempts to reduce these practices by new law, but little was able to be done. -
1 BCE
Sacrifice
It was very common to sacrifice children due to religious beliefs. No matter the religion, they offered their children to their god, in order to get miracles. However the Egyptians forbade infanticide. -
300
St. Agustine
“Give me other mothers and I will give you another world”
This quote described the point of view of many thinkers and philosophers for around fifteen centuries. -
Period: 300 to Aug 28, 1300
Abandonment
Children were rejected by their families and sent off from them. Other people were responsible for their education, or they used them as servants or slaves. Many of these arrangements were made in order to clear parent’s debts.
In other cultures, it was common to leave the child alone in a forest, exposing him to cold, hunger and wild animals. It was another form of infanticide, but in a more cruel way. -
Aug 27, 1000
Visigothic Code
To prevent from parents abandoning their children, medieval laws were created. For example the Visigothic Code in Spain. -
Period: Aug 27, 1300 to
Ambivalence
Children began to develop humane connections with their parents, but it is considered that they should be raised and molded according to what they parents thought fit. Nowadays this perception still remains in some families, being a dangerous thing for children. -
Hygene
Children were related to feces; many times they were called nicknames accorgin to this. For example: ecreme, merde, merdeux. Children were given suppositories, enemas, and oral purges in sickness and in health. Authorities said babies should be purged before each nursing to prevent the mixture of feces and milk. -
Period: to
Intrusion
Parents become closer to their children, however they try to control them with mind games. Pedagogy rose during this period and it becomes common that children and their parents have bad relations and many encounters and problems.
Toilet training began in this period of time in the earliest month of childhood. -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
He divided the child's development into 3 stages. The first is until the age 12, where emotions and impulses are guides. Next until age 16, reason starts to develop. At last, it is the development into adulthood. -
Period: to
Socialization
Parents focused on teaching their children how to socialize and adapt in an effective way to society. Parents were really interested in their children’s wellbeing in a constant matter, not occasionally despite before. -
Freud
He changed the way people thought about parent-child relations. He discovered the importance of childhood during a person’s life, and how it affected other periods of life like adulthood. Many problems can be related to significant events during childhood. -
Declaration of the Rights of the Child
It was the first attempt to ensure children rights as human beings. It had 5 statements that included feeding, development, priority, protection against labor exploitation, and talents. -
Period: to
Help
Children are now considered as beings that are able to understand what is good for their lives. Parents have now the role of being there for them and guide them through their development. With this guidance, they will be able to develop to the fullest the abilities. -
Rights of the Child Convention
On the 20th of November of 1989, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child was signed in the United Nations. It includes civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children.
