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1895 BCE
Legal child sale in Babylonia
One of the most extreme and oldest form of abandonment was the outright sale of children. Child sale was legal in Babylonian times, established since 1895 BC to 539 BC. -
Period: 800 BCE to 300
Antiquity and Childhood
Antiquity is full of devices and practices un-known to later times, including shackles for the feet, handcuffs, gags,etc and the child in antiquity lived his earliest years in an atmosphere of sexual abuse, often being used sexually by older men.Infanticide was also a regular practice of antiquity, (of both legitimate and illegitimate children) and available statistics for antiquity show large surpluses of boys over girls. Child sale was also common. -
374
Infanticide became a crime in Roma
Killing an infant, especially girls, was still common and It was not until the fourth century that a real change was apparent.
In 374 AD, Valentinian I mandated the rearing of all children; However, offenders were rarely if ever prosecuted. -
787
The first asylum solely for abandoned infants
During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church provided refuge to those in need, establishing orphanages, hospitals, and homes for the blind and the aged. In 787 A. D., Datheus, archbishop of Milan, founded the first asylum for abandoned infants. Conditions at such institutions were custodial at best, and most children did not survive. -
1140
Beat and punish children
There were a wide variety of punishments for children and "horsing” a student was one of them, these Roman (Herculaneum) and Medieval (1140 A.D.) school scenes (watch the image above) illustrate one popular position for beating schoolchildren in this age.
There were also other ways of punishment. Horrible Ways Parents Used To Punish Kids- Punishment in the past: Video -
1391
Sex ratios show the extent of the killing of legitimate girls
It was usually denied by medievalists,the existence of infanticide since it is not evident in church records and other quantitative sources. But sex ratios of 156 to 100 (c. 801 AD.) and 172 to 100 (1391 A.D.) are an indication of the extent of the killing of legitimate girls (It increased) then the real rate of infanticide could have been substantial in the Middle Ages. -
1405
Try to set limits for treatment of children
In 1405, Giovanni Dominici, (writing) tried to set some limits to the convenient “innocence” of childhood; he said:
-Children after the age of three years shouldn't be allowed to see nude adults.
-They should sleep clothed with a nightshirt reaching below the knee.
-They should take care as much as possible that they may not remain uncovered.
-Let not the mother nor the father, much less any other person, touch him. -
1500
Swaddling as a way to control children
The reasons given for swaddling are: the baby has to be tied up or it will tear its ears off, scratch its eyes out, break its legs, or touch its genitals.The literature in the 16th and 17th century, plus a study of the art of the period (watch the image above), suggest a pattern of total swaddling in those centuries for between one to 4 months; then the arms were left free and the body and legs remained swaddled for between 6-9 months.The English led the way in ending swaddling. -
Masked figures to frighten children
One of the favorite subjects of artists from the Roman frescos to the prints of Jacques Stella (1657) was the use of masked figures to frighten children, this kind of idea goes back to antiquity. -
Period: to
Eighteenth Century and Childhood
-Baptism was used to exorcism of the Devil (by crying).
-There was high incidence of infanticide in every country in Europe.
-Children spent his earliest years with a wet-nurse, under the care of other servants, and in school, so the time with their parents was minimal
-Swaddling in England and America was on its way out by the end of this century.
-It was saw the biggest decrease of beating children but shutting them up in the dark became popular.
-Punishment for touching its own genitals. -
Foundling Hospital
Thomas Coram opened his Foundling Hospital in London, England in 1741 because he couldn’t bear to see the dying babies lying in the gutters and rotting on the dung-heaps of London. London's Forgotten Children: Thomas Coram and the Foundling Hospital - Dame Gillian Pugh: Watch Video -
Period: to
Nineteenth Century and Childhood
-Illegitimate children continued regularly to be killed in the 19th century.
-In many areas, child sale continued sporadically into modern times, not being outlawed in Russia for instance, until this century.
-The informal abandoning of young children occurred quite often right up to the 19th century
-Swaddling was out in France and Germany by the 19th century
-It was not until the 19th century that whipping began to go out of style in most of Europe and America, continuing longest in Germany -
The first examining Infanticide through history
In 1916, Payne was the first to examine and describe the wide extent of infanticide and brutality toward children in the past, particularly in antiquity. -
Declaration of the Rights of the Child
In 1924, Save the Children's founder, Eglantyne Jebb, wrote the Declaration of the rights of the child (also known as Geneva Declaration) to promote their rights. It was adopted by the League of Nations, and then adopted in an extended form by the United Nations in 1959. -
Methods Anti-Masturbation assaulting children's genitals died out
Little boys were closely watched for signs of masturbation, and in order to "cure" them some methods as surgical intervention in 1850-1879 and in restraint devices in 1880-1904 were used. By 1925, these methods had almost completely died out, after two centuries of brutal and totally unnecessary assault on children’s genitals. -
UNICEF
In 1946, the International Children’s Emergency Fund (ICEF) was created to provide help to children affected by World War II. Nowadays is known as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) "to save children’s lives, to defend their rights, and to help them fulfil their potential, from early childhood through adolescence. And we never give up." Official UNICEF's website -
Psychoanalytic book of childhood
The Angel Makers is a book written by Gordon Rattray Taylor, is a psychoanalytic reading of childhood and personality in late eighteenth-century England. -
Psychiatric comparison of child mistreatment in the past and present
"The Emotionally Disturbed Child-Then and Now" is a Louise Despert’s psychiatric comparison of child mistreatment in the past and present surveys the range of emotional attitudes toward children since antiquity, expressing her growing horror as she uncovers a story of unremitting "heartlessness and cruelty". -
Book centered on the diary of the childhood of Louis XIII
"Parents and Children in History" is a book, whose author is David Hunt and it is centered mostly on the unique seventeenth-century document, Heroard’s diary of the childhood of Louis XIII, but does so with psychological sensitivity and awareness of the psychohistorical implications of his findings. -
Convention on the Rights of the Child
It is a human rights treaty signed in November 20th-1989 which sets out the rights of children.Recognizing child as every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.Established their rights recognizing the importance of international co-operation for improving the living conditions of children in every country. Convention on the Rights of the Child Document
