Childhood in history

Children were thrown into rivers, flung into dung-heaps and cess trenches, “potted” in jars to starve to death

1 BCE

Any child that was not perfect in shape and size, or cried too little or too much, or was otherwise not worthy Rearing, was generally killed. Beyond this, the first-born was usually allowed to live, especially if it was a boy. The result was a large imbalance of males over females which was typical of the West until well into the Middle Ages, when the killing of legitimate children was probably much reduced.