Examine the reasons for changes in the position of children in the family and in society
Examine the reasons for changes in the position of children in the family and in society
There is no doubt that through the last decade, the meaning of childhood, or mere existence of it in society has changed dramatically. The three key changes to people’s childhoods has been through laws surrounding them, schooling and the welfare state regulations and protection for them. These have all contributed to children from early in the 20th century to be economic assets, admiring to their parents and independent turned into nowadays’ children being economically dependent on their parents with society focused around them.
It cannot be argued that without the legal changes to children’s working laws, childhood would not be what it is today. Getting young children out of work to earn a living for their family meant that they have more time to play, make friends and build relationships with their families. Many people were for the abolishment of child labour including the sociologist, who called for "Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form" in his . After the First World War, the amount of children working in places such as factories was very low and nowadays is non-existent. So the position of children in society has changed from a strong working force to support the nation to being dependent people being looked after through their families. Also to the family, with no children working, their position in the family was to be looked after, cared and nurtured for as they are spending more time at home. Once children were not in the work houses, compulsory schooling was introduced in 1948 as a human right and this changed the position of children in families and society even more so.