The child: From Anonymity to Individuality

1. The child:From Anonymity to Individuality How did children become a certain concern in family during 17th century? How did state of children change?

2. What made people pay more attention to their children? • Individuality relieved from family • Medical advances improved survival • Modern nuclear family appeared New attitude toward children: 1. Privatization of children by parents • Public education of the young

3. { Before individuality developed:Naturalistic view of life and time } 1. It was natural to follow the rhythm of Mother Earth in the agricultural world 2. Children belonged to the whole extended family, no special status 3. “Individual branches might come and go; but the family tree endures.”

4. { My body is mine }→ wrested from family by individual • 17 and 18 century, increasingly, the body was seen as the property of individual, divorced from demands of the family • Self-interest rises upon family concern

5. “I will not let her die!” →concern about survival of children. • Mostly involved New Renaissance elites (wealthy urban families) • Development of medical science • Promote virtue of prevention

6. New Attitude toward Childhood:Reasons • Nuclear family began to emerge in 15 century • The appearance of cities • less space in the cities to sacrifice to the dead • the relation to Mother Earth became more distant

7. { The Use of Wet Nurses } • Increasingly ok to use wet nurses so that middle- to upper-class women could be freed from child-rearing • More women from the countryside join the service of wet nurses

8. Parents, Children, and Education Indulgence fosters weakness. Public school- Repressing elemental instincts Training the mind while meeting the needs of an ever more exuberant individualism. It became necessary to turn to outsider to impart to children the knowledge.

9. Public Models, Private Uses Church and state also played important role in changing the status of children The new attitude toward children was embodied in legislation concerning education. The elaboration of ideological models