Changes in law were one reason for changes in the position of children since industrialisation. There were many laws passed to improve children’s living standards. Child-care tax allowance was introduced for families to receive money from the government for having children. Also the law was made prohibiting the marriages of children under 12. The welfare view that children are vulnerable and need protection forms the basis of social policy towards children in UK today .e.g. The Children Act of 1989 states ‘when a court determines any question with respect to the upbringing of a child...the child’s welfare shall be the court’s paramount consideration’. Ed Balls is children’s government Minister. His principal focus is to ensure that every child gets the best possible start of life, that they are safe and healthy, that they secure the highest standards of achievements.
In the 19th century, it was a patriarchal unit, where father/husband was the head of the family. He would often have little involvement in the care of his children and children might see relatively little to their parents and generally children had low status in the family and were expected ‘to be seen and not heard’. However now in 21st century the amount of time parents spend with their children has more than doubled since the 1960s and children’s welfare is seen as the major family priority.
Children gradually became separated from adults. In the early years of industrial revolution children labour was widespread, children and adults work side by side. Throughout 19th century, a series of factory acts banned the employment of children in mines and factories. End of the 19th century, elementary state education was compulsory in most European countries, therefore all children would attend school rather than being used as a work force. Children were now physically separated from adult settings and had a separate legal status. These changes occur earlier in richer families than the in working class families because upper and middle class could afford to educate their children unlike the working class. Working class still need their children to work in order to support their family.
One of the reasons for change in the position of children is that as suggest by Philippe Aries children are different from adults. As a result they have special need. Because of this they require treatment, training and guidance. This is very different from the Middle Ages when the ‘the child became natural companion of the adult’. However Aries has been criticised for overstating his case. In certain respect, children in medieval Europe were seen as different from adults. However by the 21st century, adults were becoming more like children. Both were in a continual state of becoming, both were defining and redefining their identities, both were unstable and incomplete. This growing similarity between adults and children is leading to a new social construction of childhood. According to sociologist Nick.Lee (2001) childhood has become more complex and ambiguous. Children are independent on their parents, but in another sense they are independent. Growing similarity between adult and children are seen increasingly as being in their own right. They have own rights, just like adult member of society. According to Neil Postman (1983), he argues that the mass media and television in particular, have brought the adult world into the lives of children. Secrecy has been wiped out by television. As a result, the boundaries between the worlds of children and adults are breaking down. However he has been criticised and has been said that TV and the media in general have brought adult priorities and concerned into the lives of children, but childhood is a long way from disappearing.
The move to a more child-centred society has assisted in this restriction of family size, as smaller families mean parents can spend more money and time on and with one child. The welfare state provides a wide range of benefits designed to help parents care for their children properly. Social workers, e.g. have an extensive range of powers to intervene in families on behalf of children. Despite this growth of child-centeredness, we need to be aware of the way that children are rapidly becoming exposed to range of experiences that they share with adults. This may be eroding the cultural divisions. On the other hand, the rapid pace of technological and social change often means that children are more up to date than their parents are. This may create barrier between parents and children.
In conclusion, position of children has been changed for many reasons. Although the status of children in the family has improved this century in Britain, child-centeredness doesn’t mean all children are well looked after. Abuse and neglect are all too common experiences for some children.
