Childhood in Medieval England was determined by both social and biological factors. According to common law, childhood ranged from the birth of a child until he or she reached the age of 12. At this point, the child was seen as capable and competent to understand his or her actions, thus rendering them responsible for them. According to canon law, girls could marry at the age of 12 and boys at the age of 14.
In Medieval England the first year of life was one of the most dangerous, with as many as 50 percent of children succumbing to fatal illness. During this year the child was cared for and nursed, either by parents (if the family belonged to the peasant class) or (perhaps) by a wet nurse if the child belonged to a noble class.
At age seven play was still an important part of the child's life; however, as the child's ability to learn and fulfil family duties grew, so did their responsibility to contribute. [1] If circumstances allowed, seven was the age of entrance into formal education. Peasant and urban children took up responsibilities around the house.
By age 12, the child began to take on a more serious role in family duties. Although according to canon law at the age of twelve girls could marry, this was relatively uncommon unless the child was an heiress or belonged to a family of noble birth. Peasant children at this age stayed at home and continued to learn and develop domestic skills and husbandry. Urban children moved out of their homes and into the homes of their employer, or master (depending on their future roles as servants or apprentices). Noble boys learned skills in arms, and noble girls learned to run households. The end of childhood and entrance into adolescence was marked by leaving home and moving to the house of the employer (or master), entering a university or into church service.
A child is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of child generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority. Children generally have fewer rights and responsibilities than adults. They are classed as unable to make serious decisions.
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. It continues through adolescence. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual or spiritual event, as practiced by many societies. In the past, and in some societies today, such a change is associated with the age of sexual maturity (puberty), especially menarche and spermarche. In others, it is associated with an age of religious responsibility. Particularly in western societies, modern legal conventions which stipulate points in late adolescence or early adulthood are the focus of the transition. In either case, many cultures retain ceremonies to confirm the coming of age, and coming-of-age stories are a well established sub genre in literature, film industry and even comics.
Genpuku (元服) is a Japanese coming-of-age ceremony which dates back to Japan's classical Nara Period (710–794 AD).[1] This ceremony marked the transition from child to adult status and the assumption of adult responsibilities. The age of participation varied throughout history and depended on factors such as sex, political climate, and social status. Most participants were aristocratic children between the ages of 10 and 20, and most descriptions of genpuku focus on the male ceremony rather than the female ceremony due to the exclusion of women from politically important court positions and warrior status. Important changes in clothing and hairstyle typically denoted this transition, for both men and women. Youth and children were often synonymous, and a period of adolescence was not often present throughout the periods in which traditional genpuku flourished. The etymology of the word, which is atypical, reflects the major points of genpuku ceremonial format; in this case gen (元) means "head" and fuku (服) means "wearing". The ceremony is also known as kakan (加冠), uikōburi (初冠), kanrei (冠礼), shufuku (首服), and hatsu-motoyui (初元結).
Marriageable age is the general age, as a legal age or as the minimum age subject to parental, religious or other forms of social approval, at which a person is legitimately allowed for marriage. Age and other prerequisites to marriage vary between jurisdictions, but in the vast majority of jurisdictions, the marriage age as a right is set at the age of majority. Nevertheless, most jurisdictions allow marriage at a younger age with parental or judicial approval, and some also allow adolescents to marry if the female is pregnant. The age of marriage is most commonly 18 years old, but there are variations, some higher and some lower. The marriageable age should not be confused with the age of majority or the age of consent, though they may be the same in many places.
Child marriage is a marriage or similar union, formal or informal, between a child under a certain age – typically age 18 – and an adult or another child. The vast majority of child marriages are between a girl and a man, and are rooted in gender inequality.
A page or page boy is traditionally a young male attendant or servant, but may also have been used for a messenger at the service of a nobleman.
The history of education extends at least as far back as the first written records recovered from ancient civilizations. Historical studies have included virtually every nation.
Sociology of the family is a subfield of the subject of sociology, in which researchers and academics study family structure as a social institution and unit of socialization from various sociological perspectives. It can be seen as an example of patterned social relations and group dynamics.
Gross motor skills are the abilities usually acquired during childhood as part of a child's motor learning. By the time they reach two years of age, almost all children are able to stand up, walk and run, walk up stairs, etc. These skills are built upon, improved and better controlled throughout early childhood, and continue in refinement throughout most of the individual's years of development into adulthood. These gross movements come from large muscle groups and whole body movement. These skills develop in a head-to-toe order. The children will typically learn head control, trunk stability, and then standing up and walking. It is shown that children exposed to outdoor play time activities will develop better gross motor skills.
The role of the children in ancient Mayan civilization was first and foremost to help their elders. Once children turned five or six they were expected to contribute to the family and community. They were treated as young adults and received more responsibilities as they grew older.
Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in primary schools, elementary schools, or first schools and middle schools, depending on the location.
The medieval household was, like modern households, the center of family life for all classes of European society. Yet in contrast to the household of today, it consisted of many more individuals than the nuclear family. From the household of the king to the humblest peasant dwelling, more or less distant relatives and varying numbers of servants and dependents would cohabit with the master of the house and his immediate family. The structure of the medieval household was largely dissolved by the advent of privacy in early modern Europe.
Milk kinship, formed during nursing by a non-biological mother, was a form of fostering allegiance with fellow community members. This particular form of kinship did not exclude particular groups, such that class and other hierarchal systems did not matter in terms of milk kinship participation.
The Pojulu tribe is of the savanna lands in the White Nile Valley, in the Equatoria region of South Sudan. They are Nilotic people and part of the Karo people — which also includes Bari, Mundari, Kakwa, Kuku, and Nyangwara.
Women in the Middle Ages in Europe occupied a number of different social roles. Women held the positions of wife, mother, peasant, artisan, and nun, as well as some important leadership roles, such as abbess or queen regnant. The very concept of woman changed in a number of ways during the Middle Ages, and several forces influenced women's roles during their period.
The history of childhood has been a topic of interest in social history since the highly influential book Centuries of Childhood, published by French historian Philippe Ariès in 1960. He argued "childhood" as a concept was created by modern society. Ariès studied paintings, gravestones, furniture, and school records. He found before the 17th-century, children were represented as mini-adults.
The family in early modern Scotland includes all aspects of kinship and family life, between the Renaissance and the Reformation of the sixteenth century and the beginnings of industrialisation and the end of the Jacobite risings in the mid-eighteenth century in Scotland.
Childhood in early modern Scotland includes all aspects of the lives of children, from birth to adulthood, between the early sixteenth century and the mid-eighteenth century. This period corresponds to the early modern period in Europe, beginning with the Renaissance and Reformation and ending with the beginning of industrialisation and the Enlightenment in the mid-eighteenth century.
In Viking Age Scandinavia, boys were legally considered to be adults at age 16. But before they reached adulthood, they had a childhood spent learning the skills they would need to be successful. Viking children were primarily raised by their mothers, although sometimes Viking boys lived with another family for a period of time as a foster child. This was meant to forge bonds between the two families and entitled the boy to help from his foster family, as well as his birth family. It also bound him to them and they often remained close through the life of the boy.
Courtship and marriage in Tudor England (1485–1603) marked the legal rite of passage for individuals as it was considered the transition from youth to adulthood.