Nursery World - Work and play

For thousands of years, history was mainly 'his-story'. We know little about women's daily lives, still less about children's. Fashions and views changed over time and place, but there were some fairly common traditions before 1700. After a short infancy, children joined in adults' work and leisure.

After a short infancy, children joined in adults' work and leisure.

Philippe Aries, therefore, considered that childhood is quite a recent invention; certainly modern is the idea that 'children' spend 16, 18 or even 25 years of learning, before they become 'adults' and start their own career and set up their own household. The view that children's innocence must be protected from 'adult' knowledge and entertainment is also fairly new.

In the middle ages, English upper-class children, especially boys, were generally sent to live with another great family at around the age of seven years. Boys became pages, then squires at 14 years and knights at 21.

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