Nursery World - The evolution of childhood

By Priscilla Alderson, professor of childhood studies in the Institute of Education's Social Science Research Unit Childhood is an institution with established laws and formal customs. It is often thought of as a biological and inevitable stage of life. It is, however, a social stage, lasting around seven to 12 years in some societies or up to the mid-20s for some young adults in modern Western societies. About 150 years ago, after a short infancy (infant meaning 'without speech'), working-class children were very much treated as adults. They had few rights or possessions, heavy workloads, little leisure, and the anxieties and hardships of poverty. Childhood has since gradually been subdivided into babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers and so on, including adolescents.

About 150 years ago, after a short infancy (infant meaning 'without speech'), working-class children were very much treated as adults. They had few rights or possessions, heavy workloads, little leisure, and the anxieties and hardships of poverty. Childhood has since gradually been subdivided into babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers and so on, including adolescents.

Childhood is a set of ideas about what children are and ought to be like, and how they should behave and relate to adults. Children are so confined today that it is often assumed that they cannot - and should not - take an active part in their communities. Less than a century ago their lives were far more closely woven in 'adult' society, and still are today in the poorer majority world. Children aged four or five would go alone on errands across a busy city, use public transport, shop and barter, or ramble in the countryside. Today, millions of young children help their parents by working in homes, farms and streets. In Britain today, thousands of children aged from three upwards help to care for a sick or disabled relative.

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