-
427 BCE
PLATON
It is in Greece that the concept of liberal education and "integral" development of the person (body-mind) was born. Some philosophers express the need for education to adapt to human nature. Plutarch: On the education of children; Plato: Republic; Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics]. -
400 BCE
ANCIENT AGE
The parents were the owners of the children, they considered them as burden and as yokes. Children inspired in adults fears, phobias and fantasies. Parents could dispose of their children for change or use according to their interest. -
374 BCE
Infanticide
Sealing children in walls, foundations of buildings, and bridges to strengthen the structure was common, Yet even the opposition to infanticide by the Church Fathers often seemed to be based more on their concern for the parent’s soul than with the child’s life. -
354 BCE
Saint Agustine (354-430)
The generalization of the existence of childhood as a hindrance is coined from the confessions of St. Augustine (354-430), whose theology refers to man being born of sin, that is why the child is the living image. -
476
MIDDLE AGES
In the two millennia from antiquity to the 17th century, children were mostly seen as imperfect adults. Children were expected to help out at home with tasks suited to their age and development. In 1960 one of the first historians of childhood, Philippe Ariès, declared that in medieval Europe the idea of childhood did not exist. -
700
Abandoment - Christianity
The most extreme and oldest form of abandonment is the outright sale of children. The church tried for centuries to stamp out child sale. Another abandonment practice was the use of children as political hostages and security for debts.
For the people of the Middle Ages they were nothing more than a temporary nuisance, a captus mind whose only effective remedy for its restoration is the passage of time. -
1400
Renaissance
Many of the classic ideas about early childhood education resurface. There is a boom in observations of children that reveal a new interest in children. Comenius (1592-1670), who insists that both boys and girls should be educated, and on the role of the mother as the first educator. -
Jacques Stella
The subject of children being frightened by masks is a favorite of artists from the Roman frescos to the prints of Jacques Stella (1657), but since these early traumatic events -
Ilustration
On the one hand, children are unprotected, as has always been the case, they lack rights and must submit to the unilateral decisions of adults, while on the other, children reach a previously unthinkable visibility and begin to be observed as human beings. worthy of interest, if only to entertain adults. -
John Locke - Tabula Rasa
Locke (1632-1704) insists on the importance of experience and habits, proposing a vision of the newborn as tabula rasa or blank slate, where the experience will leave its mark... That is, the child is not born good or bad but everything he gets to do and be will depend on his experiences -
Industrial Revolution
Poor young children working endured some of the harshest conditions. Factories employing children were often very dangerous places leading to injuries and even deaths.
The emergence of the bourgeoisie drastically reduces the need for child labor and, therefore, many children no longer have to go to work and have "too many hours of leisure" left to occupy with some activity. The need to educate them becomes a primary objective. -
Rousseau - Émile ou de l´éducation
Émile ou de l´éducation (1762) contains a series of basic principles on how to educate children, and it becomes a very fashionable book in French high society. Among his most influential and well-known ideas is that the child is good by nature. -
First World War
Children were particularly impacted by the war through disruption to home life and to schooling, absent parents, and deaths of family and family friends. -
Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child
The Declaration states that all people must recognize the right of children to have the necessary means for their development, to receive special help in times of need, to have priority in relief activities, to enjoy economic freedom and protection against exploitation, and to access an education that instils a social conscience and a sense of duty. -
Second World War
Children of all ages could get involved in the war effort. Older boys and girls joined the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. They supported Air Raid Precautions by acting as messengers or fire-watchers. Younger children helped salvage war materials, raised money for munitions or knitted comforts for troops. -
United Nations - UNICEF
The United Nations General Assembly creates the International Emergency Fund for Children, UNICEF, focused on children around the world. -
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The United Nations General Assembly approves the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose article 25 entitles mothers and children to “special care and assistance”, as well as “social protection”. -
Sigmund Freud
Freud emphasized the importance of early childhood experiences in shaping our personality and behavior.
Psychosexual development is a central element of the psychoanalytic sexual drive theory. Freud believed that personality developed through a series of childhood stages in which pleasure seeking energies from the id became focused on certain erogenous areas. -
ILO'S MINIMUM AGE CONVENTION 138
The minimum age for admission to any type of employment or work which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to jeopardise the health, safety or morals of young persons shall not be less than 18 years. -
Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in States of Emergency or Armed Conflict.
In 1974 the UN General Assembly adopted a Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergencies and Armed Conflict. This declaration condemns attacks and bombing on ci- vilian populations and prohibits persecution, imprisonment, torture and all forms of degrading violence against women and children. -
Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor
The International Labor Organization approves the Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, which requires the immediate prohibition and elimination of any form of work that may harm the health, safety or morals of children. UNICEF has collaborated since 1996 with the International Labor Organization, promoting the ratification of international labor standards and policies related to child labour. -
Nowadays
In modern society childhood is seen as a particular period of life that human beings have to undergo. It is separate from the other periods of life and has some special needs that must be fulfilled. Modern society has designed codes of ethics and laws that deal with this period of life.