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5000 BCE
5000 BC: Ancient Egypt
According to Kagheim, men should educate their children to be obedient. This is a belief we still maintain but the concept of obedience itself has changed a lot since then. -
3000 BCE
3000 BC: Mesopotamia
In Ancient Mesopotamia parents would raise children different depending on the gender: boys were taught to learn a craft or job, whilst girls were taught about household ways. Sadly, having differential education is a costum some cultures still preserve. -
2000 BCE
2000 BC: Ancient Egypt
According to Merikare, the last pharaoh of the Tenth dynasty of Egypt, children were the successors of their parents. That means that they should follow the same path as their parents, e.g., the son of a servant should continue to be a servant. I think this is not considered as valid nowadays and most parents encourage their kids to persue the career they want. -
1800 BCE
1800 BC: Ancient Greece
In Sparta, if a child was born sick or "defective", he/she would be killed at birth or abandoned on a mountain. Female babies would be abandoned more often than male babies, because parents would have to pay a dowry to get their daughters married. Babies frequently died just a few days after birth, so there was generally a waiting period of about a week before a child was named. -
1800 BCE
1800 BC: Ancient Greece
Toddlers of poor families would have to help in the farms since a very young age. Education was also different between boys and girls. When girls reached puberty they were already considered as adults and, as such, fit to marriage. After getting married they were expected to have a child and a lot of them would die during labor. -
800 BCE
800 BC: Ancient Rome
The sons and daughters of well to do Romans went to "Ludus" (primary schoo) at the age of 7. They would learn to read, write and do simple arithmetic. Girls left at the age of 12 or 13 and only boys went to secondary school where they would learn geometry, history, literature and oratory. Boys could marry at 14 while girls tended to get married from 12 onwards. Kids couldn't talk back to an elder Roman or to family members, they could get thrown out their house if they did. -
500
500 - 1500: Middle Age
From a young age, children were expected to help out at home. Both parents and teachers were allowed to beat children in an attempt to correct their behaviour. Nowadays teachers are not allowed to scold or beat children and it is considered abuse even if it comes from parents. Children with deformities were cared for and enabled to grow up. Fatal accidents were taken seriously by the authorities, and involved a coroner’s inquest, like sudden deaths of adults. -
1200
1200: Incas
Inca children were treated harshly to toughen them. They were severely punished if they misbehaved. A freezing bath in a mountain's stream was one of the first things an Inca baby would experience Some Inca parents sacrificed their children to their gods. Mummified corpses of sacrificed children from 15th-century retain traces of alcohol and drugs, often with lurid titles describing the children as "stoned" and "drunk" before dying. Children were seen as of no relevance in Inca society. -
1400
1400: Aztecs
Aztec children were treated very harshly. If they misbehaved they could have cactus spines pushed into their skin or they were held over a fire containing chilies and were forced to inhale the smoke. Both, boys and girls, went to schools. They were taught separately. Boys learned jobs like farming and fishing from their fathers and girls learned skills like cooking and weaving from their mothers. -
1500
1500: Modern Era
Luther, Calvin, and Simons insisted upon the obligation of children to respect, obey, and assist their parents. Parents had a corresponding duty to love, nurture, and discipline their children. Corporal punishment was acceptable in moderation but extreme abuse, neglect, and overindulgence were all seen as threats to children. Calvin wrote, "Unless men regard their children as the gift of God, they are careless and reluctant in providing for their support" -
1700: French Revolution
During French Revolution, it was thought that intense inculcation of civic morality and virtue in schools was necessary. Children were encouraged to be patient, kind, and obedient of military discipline. For the first time, childhood was considered as a time of innocence, when children were to be nurtured and educated. -
Childhood Nowadays
Nowadays there are laws that protect children's rights. Children are considered social subjects with feelings, with social and moral capabilities, as well as a subjects with special needs. Education has become mandatory for both, girls and boys, and its equal for both. Due to machism, it is still believed in some cultures that girls shouldn't be allowed to do certain things, therefore gender roles still exist.
