Notions and Opinions Concerning Childhood: Analytical Essay

This essay will provide what notions of childhood are considered to be and how everyone opinion of childhood differs. It will give a brief history of how children were regarded from the middles ages until present day. Some policies of safeguarding children leading to what some would say, excessive safeguarding of children, not giving them the freedom to develop naturally, without assessments and fear of failure at such a young age. The governments use of Piaget’s Theory of cognitive development to create the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage), to monitor children from birth. This leads to the way in which we now see children as becoming, constantly supervising and trying to keep up with the norms of society in how to parent and teach, including issues of gender and how this can be very problematic to the child and their future mental health. The end of this essay will bring about the notion of the being child, treating children as an individuals, who have thoughts and ideas worth imprinting on the world. Concluding with my thoughts on the notions presented.

Notions of childhood have differed through periods of time and from person to person. Every person has a different view on what the idea of childhood is, drawn from their own memories of childhood and the time period they grew up in (McDowall Clark, 2016). People think they know what childhood is because they were all children once but actually they are looking backwards through adult lenses which can cloud their judgement.

The concept of childhood can be formed and socially constructed through various perspectives and can vary depending on class, ethnicity, gender, country, culture and many other influential factors of the society lived in. Not all societies in the world have the same concept of childhood, which proves that childhood is neither universal nor natural (Creasy and Corby, 2019) . The concept of childhood emerged during the 17th and 18th centuries (McDowall Clark, 2016) with theorist beginning to take an interest in child development and so began studying children.

Childhood today can be considered to be the learning and developing of children with opportunities to play, be imaginative whilst also being innocent, safe and protected. A time of playing and having fun. However, due to the media and the anxieties of parents worries of adverse risk, adults feel the need to protect children from the worries of the world (Gill, 2007). Moreover, the government can reinforce the notion children are vulnerable, implementing more and more safeguarding legislation, this can go against the wishes of children.

Childhood could be seen from two perspectives: the sociological approach (why childhood is different for everyone), and the psychological approach (how children are the same, or should be) (McDowall Clark, 2016).

It is important to consider themes which influence notions of childhood. Such as play, whether this be guided (supervised/adult led) or free (unsupervised/child led). During the middle ages, up to the 17 century, play was an important part of children’s everyday life, a time of freedom and spontaneity (Frost, 2010). It was a social activity, children generally played with other children, engaging in games, sports and pranks (Cunningham, 2006) not unlike children today, but unlike today, children had free play with no or hardly any adult supervision.

Children were paid very little attention by adults, sometimes considered invisible. They were seen as little underdeveloped people, not treated any different from adults, having jobs/working, wearing the same clothes and not needing any extra concern because of their age (McDowall Clark, 2016). Play was not considered necessary from an adults perspective at this time.

From 17th century there have been numerous laws come into practice to help ensure the rights and safeguarding of children are forefront. From 1600 to 1899, the government enforced eight legislative requirements, from 1900 to 1999, seven legislative requirements were enforced, however, from 2000 to the present (only twenty years), seven legislative requirements were enforced (Virtual College, 2017). This shows the significant improvements that are being made to the safeguarding of children.

Play in early years settings; nurseries, childminders, preschools and school reception classes have given way to the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage). This is brought into effect by the government to ensure care, learning and development of children from 0 – 5. All early years practitioners must follow the EYFS. Schools and early years providers in England have to give observational assessments to all children age 2-3 years and 5 years (Department for Education and Learning, 2015). These government policies could be seen as taking the play away from children as more organised play is now used to try and ensure children are developing in the areas needed to make them prepared for school.

There are seven areas of learning: communication and language; physical development; personal, social and emotional development; literacy; mathematics; understanding the world and expressive arts and design. Although children will generally be taught the seven areas through play, it is mostly supervised play (Department for Education and Learning, 2015). It could be said that the governments Every Child Matters agenda, safety first, stops children from having the opportunities for developmental and experimental play (Gill, 2007).

Moreover, the Education system is gradually adding more pressures on primary school children, for example, the introduction of SATs (Standard Assessment Tests) now being taken in year 2 and year 6 (Department for Education and Learning, 2019). The pressures are also on the schools themselves as they are having to compete with other schools. In doing so, schools have begun reducing the time children have to play at school, concentrating on having more time for academic studies to produce better grades. The school league tables measure school performance and publish their findings showing the statistical information for all schools. There have been suggestions that schools push children into favouring particular subjects over others to make the school look better, rather than expanding their education.