Assess the view that the modern family has become child centred.

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Assess the view that the modern family has become child centred.

In this essay I shall evaluate and the view that the modern family has become more child centred, I shall include childhood in the past compared to childhood now, the rights of children and the expenses now compared to the past.

Jane Pilcher (1995) said that the most important feature of the modern idea of childhood is separateness, this is emphasised in many ways e.g. through laws saying what children can or can’t do, another example would be through the way they are dressed, toys, food, books leisure activities etc. related to this is the idea of childhood as the ‘golden age’ of happiness and innocence, innocence could be referred to as being vulnerable and so must be protected from all the dangers from the adult world. So with this idea of separation and vulnerability many people would say that the modern family is child centred as extra precautions will be taken to make sure that the ‘vulnerable’ children are safe and sound, furthermore as the law has drawn a clear line of what children are allowed to do what they are required to do and what they are prohibited to do- this has had an impact on how the modern family is becoming more child centred than in the past as children are being portrayed as vulnerable and in need of protection, however many people would disagree and say that even though there is separation between children and adults it doesn’t mean that the modern family has become child centred, it just means there are more precautions which are being taken to ensure safety for children.

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A historian Philippe Aries (1960) argued that in the Middle Ages (10th to 13th century) childhood didn’t exist, children were not seen as having a different ‘nature’ or need from adults. In relation to this Edward Shorter (1975) argues that the high death rate encouraged indifference and neglect towards infants and it was likely that a parent would give a newly born the name of a dead sibling this shows that the modern gamily is child centred. Aries also argues that the idea of childhood came about in the late 13th century onwards, he describes the 20th century as ‘the century of the children’. ...

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