Children through the ages

1. Children being seen and not heard

The view that children should be ‘seen and not heard’ and ‘speak when spoken to’ is one in which children are assumed to be inferior to adults and not given (or expected to have) a role in determining aspects of their lives. Changes in British society over the past 20 years have led to changes in the way in which we see children and their abilities.
This has been echoed by social changes internationally and legislation that addresses children and young people across the world. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) has had a significant impact on the experiences of children and young people. In the four nations of the UK, the role of the Children’s Commissioner has been instrumental in addressing the UNCRC at national level.


2. The role of risk and parental authority

It is evident that there have been many changes to the role of parents in children and young people’s lives from the view of parenting which was common in Victorian Britain. The Victorian father was solely responsible for his children and there were no external interventions into family life – what went on behind closed doors remained the responsibility of the family. Fathers were seen to have absolute control over the family.
Modern-day parents have lost a sense of authority over their children. The recent introduction of ‘parenting orders’ is an example of how parental authority has been seen to be ineffective and in need of state intervention. Parenting orders hold parents legally responsible when their child are found guilty of criminal behaviour, and they require parents to take part in parent support.


3. The modern view that children should not be part of the adult world of work

The Victorian working class child is working in a factory. Academics such as Nik Rose (1999) have argued that the way in which we understand childhood today has arisen out of Victorian European society. The view at the time was that children had similar abilities to adults and therefore in working class families where adults worked for a living, children did so too. In an increasingly industrialised society such as Victorian Britain, children performed jobs that adults were unable to do (because of their physical size), such as sweeping chimneys and retying threads under weaving machines. Victorian philanthropists worked to change views of children to ones that we would be more familiar with today – children not having the same skills as adults and so in need of protection and education. The call for compulsory schooling for all children was based on this view, or construction, of childhood.
In today’s society there is legislation which determines when young people can legally begin to undertake paid work and the amount of work they can do. Jobs such as newspaper deliveries and babysitting are common jobs for young people beginning paid work (Crafter et al., 2009; Leonard, 2004). The expectation is that young people can begin to take on some developmentally appropriate jobs which teach them about work but do not interfere with school.

4. New technologies and children's lives

The rapid development of technology and increasing access to it now shapes the lives of many children and young people in the UK. Social networking and mobile phone technology have increased children’s and young people’s opportunities to engage with each other. There is some research evidence of the benefits of this for children and young people. For example, children and young people are using online discussion forums to engage with others who may share a similar concern, as on the Teenage Cancer Trust website.
However, there is also concern that new technologies and new methods of communication have allowed new forms of bullying and possibly have been used as a resource for encouraging psychologically and physically damaging behaviour such as self-harm and ‘pro-ana’ websites.
The impact of new technologies is profoundly changing children’s and young people’s lives and impacting upon parents and practitioners’ support of them.

5.The 'invention' of teenagers

Most societies in the world today differentiate between childhood and adulthood, and many have some kind of transition between these two stages of life. This has been marked by age – for example, in the UK adulthood is assumed to be achieved at 16 years old for some activities (such as the ability to give consent to sexual activity) and at 18 years old for others (such as voting). The move to adulthood can also be marked by biology and the advent of puberty. In many cultures around the world, there are rites of passage for young people to enter the adult community.
In Western societies such as the UK, changes in society after the second world war, particularly in relation to consumerism and a rise of disposable income, led to a newly identified group of young people – ‘teenagers’. Since that time, teenagers have evoked complex responses from society in general – as a source of new ideas and energy in areas such as fashion and music; as a source of concern and a sense of ‘moral panic’ about teenagers; as out of control and a threat to society through criminal activity, sexual behaviour and drink/alcohol consumption.