European Experience

1. European Experience 1200-1500 • Children were miniature versions of adults. • Dressed and looked like small adults • Participated in all areas of adult life • Expected to work in whatever capacity they could • Many died in childhood – almost expendable because the next child in line would take over • Seen by some as the possession of their fathers and could be killed, abandoned, or even sold into slavery • Often beaten for misdeeds • No formal education – learned family trade or worked for other families for food and lodging

2. 1500-1800 • Spread of Christianity • Children seen as having souls; should be protected and instructed in the “right way” • Infants in images were cherubic (angels)and often shown in arms of mother to mimic Mary and Jesus • Still depicted in adult clothing • More likely to be seen playing games and activities like play

4. 1800-1900 • Children of upper classes – schooling, private tutoring, religious training • Children of poorer classes – no formal education, worked with adults • Many became factory workers • Valued for their size – small bodies and fingers could fit under machines where they set up yarns for weaving and carpet making, or cleaned oil fittings in industrial workspaces • Orphaned, abandoned and poor children were often rounded up and used as chimney sweeps to climb up the inside of a chimney

10. Late 1800-1900 • Industrial era – children became idle as were many others working in factories • Children able to have better life – educational chances increased – this would get them off the streets • By the end of the 1800s, most children in Britain and Europe attended school, and compulsory education was promoted in many countries

11. Parenting & Child Care in the Past Parenting – new concept; before called Child Rearing What did Canada look like? Rural Majority of families lived on farms Women – housework pumping water, laundry, sewing, weaving, knitting, food prep & preservation, tending chickens • Job – to feed, clothe, care for, and guide children • Often taken for granted and considered a part of life and family function • Large families and harsh conditions and religious values led families to use strict discipline and physical punishment to make children behave • Belief that raising a child was a parent’s business • Parents learned how to parent from their own parents • Experts were family, friends, community members • Children had to “mind” or obey parents and other adults • speak when spoken to • Girls were taught skills for women • Boys were taught skills for men • Girls as young as 10 if no place in their home would work as mothers helpers in other homes to gain food and lodging or money for their families • Treatment of child labourers was poor – long hours, punishments, hard work, heavy lifting or challenging tasks

12. Post WW2 – Women In The Workforce • 1950’s families needed 2 incomes to support themselves • Children more frequently cared for in formal child care settings, outside the home • Increased need for child care workers and beginning of formalized training for this role Children in Canada Today • Children do not work crazy hours • More time for play than family chores • By law must attend school from age 4-16 • Many expected to complete post secondary education • Achieve adult status later – usually in 20s if not later • Marry later, spend more time with age peers, have children later • Are exposed to many adult experiences early • Have more distress than 20-30 years ago

13. 1800’s – 1900s Changes in Perspective & Learning Introduction of Women’s Magazines – provided advice for women in how to raise their children – one problem – articles were written by men • This made parenting a public concern Innovations in Science: increased knowledge about disease and illness prevention and the public health movement was growing • Ontario – first province with health board • Focus on sanitation and hygiene and how families can ensure this in their homes. Human waste management and cleanliness became public topic of discussion. • Vaccinations became available (smallpox) • Education now offered about disease and hygiene • Quarantines for those with illness practiced to prevent epidemics • Books written to teach and guide parents in all above topics became popular

14. Adelaide Hoodless – first woman in Ontario to teach domestic science to women in schools • Domestic science – study of how to feed, clothe and protect families from disease.

15. Advice for Parents (from Experts) • Focused around instructing parents how to “manage” children • Theorists – Late 1800’s and early 1900’s • Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory relating adult behaviour to early childhood experience led to experts who provided education to parents about child rearing. • Parents now understood their role in improving the quality of life for children • Now socially acceptable to provide guidance and use it for own purposes

16. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Viennese doctor • The mind is broken into two levels: Conscious and Unconscious • Conscious -everything that we are aware of • Unconscious - feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of our conscious awareness • The way parents dealt with children's basic sexual and aggressive desires determined how personalities developed and whether or not they would end up well-adjusted adults. • Multiple stages of child sexual development: • Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, & Genital. • Oedipus/Electra Complex

17. Pye Henry Chavasse1810-1879 • Book about “managing children” published 1880 • Mothers have the task of raising children • “mothers have the most to do with the making or marring of the man” Discussed: • Infancy – hygiene, Ablution, Managementof Naval, Vaccination, Dentition, Diet, Exercise, Sleep, Bladder and Bowels, Ailments and disease • Childhood-Sameas above, Education, Amusements Warm Baths, Warm External Applicatons • Boyhood “Boys and girls cannot be too particular in keeping their feet warm and dry, as cold wet feet are one of the most frequent exciting causes of bronchitis, of sore throats, and of consumption”. • Girlhood

18. Kathy Lynn began in 1978-present • Canadian Parenting Expert • Author and Columnist in Today ‘s Parent Magazine, and Parenting Today Follows principals of P.U.R.E. Parenting. • P — is a parenting plan • U — is unconditional love • R — is respect for your child as he is right now • E — is encouragement • wants parents to have access to as much information as possible on the many forms child raising can take so they can provide the best help for their child and choose the child-raising strategies that will work best for them • “Children who are thrust into a pre-school or a Kindergarten environment before they’re ready, have a negative start to their schooling. This can translate into hating school throughout the elementary and secondary years.”

19. 1900 Children’s book: A Day in the Zoo: Realistic Pictures of the Birds, Beasts, And Fishes: A Stand Up Toy book. London: H. Grevel & Co. Transforming Performers: with surprise pictures Dean and Son Publishers 1874