childhood social construction essay

Social Constructs of Childhood Essay (Critical Writing)

Introduction.

Childhood is defined as the period preceding adulthood when one is considered a child, and this definition is accompanied by some responsibilities and privileges. Despite childhood generally falling within the aforementioned period, different societies treat those who fall within this category differently, underpinning the theory that childhood is a social construct. Childhood ends at different ages in varying societies, with some labeling the adult age as 18 and others as 21 (Edwards, 2020). Some societies consider childhood as a period when one requires a lot of nurturing as they are considered vulnerable due to their significant newness to the world. Other constructs consider childhood as a period when one should be exposed to all things in the world for their education and growth, so that they interact with things in their environment effectively. The various constructs of childhood illustrate the varied views society has on childhood and shows that childhood is not a mere notion of age. Childhood is defined and affected by different tenets, with each sector of society offering invaluable input on what childhood is and offering contributions that enrich the period.

Childhood at a global scale is defined by international organizations such as the UN, which has an organ that defines the legal age and the accompanying rights and responsibilities. Political factions offer crucial input into what childhood entails, and the focus of political campaigns is usually based on what politicians can do for children when they clinch power (Spyrou, 2019). Historically, the place and needs of children have varied with different societies and periods, depending on the needs of a certain time. Economic conditions sometimes underpin how the community defines childhood, depending on the resources available and how much help is needed to meet societal needs (Chetty et al., 2018). This paper critically analyzes different constructs of childhood offered by the two presentations of this period. The first presentation is a poem that presents a view of children as innocent and clueless humans in need of constant care and protection. The second presentation is an image that depicts children as humans who must learn to become ready for adulthood.

Parental Care

The first presentation of social constructs of childhood is a poem titled ‘Simplicity of Childhood’. The poem by RoseAnn V. Shawiak is present in the appendix section as appendix 1 (Shawiak, 2015). The poem consists of four sentences that describe a child as a young human being in need of constant care and who is exposed to minimal stresses of life, shielded by adults. The first sentence of the poem highlights childhood as a period of gentle love of parental caring. This is a global characteristic of childhood as parents all over the world take responsibility for the welfare of their young ones. UNICEF is the branch of the United Nations that deals with issues affecting children and conducts oversight of how the rights of children are observed in their countries (Bornstein and Rothenberg, 2022). Parental love is displayed to children differently in various societies, based on culture, the needs of those children, and the ability of those parents. Parental care varies based on the period of childhood one is at, as age increases, before one achieves adulthood.

Parental love highlights childhood as a period of vulnerability when a child is incapable of meeting their own needs. The kind of care guardians offer their children entails feeding them during the early years because their bodies are not well developed to feed themselves. Parental care also ensures the financial needs of children are met, including shelter and clothing, alongside other basic needs. Parental care additionally involves directing the steps children take to prevent them from veering from what is right. This involves correcting children whenever they make mistakes to ensure they acquire the right moral standards that make them valuable members of society (Cheah et al., 2019). The morality instilled in children is done following certain community standards generally acceptable amongst all people. The ethics instilled are sometimes derived from religious teachings, including Christianity and Islam. The moral standards instilled are a vital part of parental care as they teach children to adhere to the laws of the land to prevent contravening the authorities.

Simplicity, Purity, and Innocence

In the second sentence, childhood is depicted as a period characterized by simplicity, purity, and innocence. Children are usually born with no knowledge of all the things happening in the world. Newborns are not usually aware of the good or the evil within the world. The depiction of childhood as a period of simplicity elicits children as empty vessels ready to be filled with whatever is in the world (Berry, Vintimilla, and Pacini-Ketchabaw, 2020). Children are also considered inherently innocent and without fault, because they harbor no knowledge to commit atrocities. Even when they commit errors, they are excused because they have no evil intent. They are instead corrected to ensure they acquire the benefits of the lesson and so that they do not repeat the mistake. Children have no sophistication, and the complications of the world are gradually instilled into them through teachings in the world. These teachings are lessons picked from the various content these children consume in their environment.

Children are gradually corrupted in the world when they encounter the difficulties characteristic of life. Their innocence is initially preserved by their parents and guardians by teaching them kindness and goodness. The parents also teach these children to respect the laws prescribed in different environments to ensure these children do not encounter the negative effects of contravening these laws (Garlen, 2018). An accurate illustration of the purity and innocence assumed characteristic of childhood is when these humans commit mistakes. Adults usually associate their errors with their age and lack of experience or knowledge while punishing adults for the same. However, this kind of treatment only lasts as long as society considers them children and stops with advanced age. A popular component of character building with the advancement of age is to ridicule adults committing mistakes and not behave as though they were children. Children are also considered simple due to the nature of their demands and the minimal complications associated with their expression.

Filled with Play

The life of a child is also described in the third sentence as one associated with play. The popular phrase ‘child’s play’ illustrates the limited seriousness of a child’s life and the fun associated with this stage of living. Play is a crucial stage of development that allows children to interact with the things around them and learn new things. Child play sometimes occurs at a personal level, with children engaging their toys alone (Sutapa et al., 2021). Other times, play is with other children, where they meet and share the joy in games and enable each other to grow. The poem illustrates this by providing play with dolls, sisters, and brothers as examples. Adults, on the other hand, are required to deal with everything else within the environment and life in general, allowing children the freedom to have fun. In various cultures, the importance of play for children is emphasized as their adults provide various infrastructures and mechanisms for this.

Play enables children to imitate the various situations within their environment, increasing their familiarity with the new world. Play with dolls of various sizes and different sexes, for example, enables children to visualize the variety available concerning people. Childhood as a period filled with play is highlighted in some communities that allow children to share space during their early years (Dankiw et al., 2020). This is the essence of the daycare centers that have continued to become popular the world over, enabling children to play with others. Play generally evolves with the growth of children, enabling them to become more physical with the increase in age. Engagement in sports such as football, athletics, and wrestling is a popular characteristic of later childhood (Haga, 2021). Play enables children to create friendships, become competitive, and develop their physical faculties. Play as a construct of childhood also enables children to become players within teams, underpinning the importance of teamwork and coordination.

Family Love and Embrace

The fourth sentence of the poem highlights the place of family in the stage of childhood and illustrates the need for love and embrace in the growth of children. Childhood is a stage that ought to be characterized by the closeness only a family can give children. Family is composed of loving parents, and a huge part of the memories children carry to their later years in life is how the family was closely knitted in their early years (Cekaite and Bergnehr, 2018). The poem especially recognizes a mother as a critical component of childhood by highlighting the loving embrace they provide to their families. The role of the family in the stage of childhood is highlighted by society sufficiently and there are mechanisms instituted to ensure children have a family. The measures include adoption services for children who do not have families to ensure they have the blanket of a family that ensures their development is effective. Family offers children identity and provides a soft spot for children to land whenever they have challenges in life.

The lack of a family for some children growing up during these crucial formative years is a cause of dysfunction in adulthood. This represents a major inequality in the system that sets apart different types of adults. While this situation is inevitable for some societal reasons that cause divisions in families and deny some children the opportunity to enjoy affection, there is no denying the disadvantage (Likhar, Baghel, and Patil, 2022). Childhood was originally envisioned within this social construct as a time of vulnerability and protection for children. Society has tried to devise mechanisms that repair the gaps in basic family structure, creating alternatives for these children. These include care homes, orphanages, and adoption services, and these vital infrastructures ensure that children can grow in an environment that accords them love and embrace. These families are mostly artificial constructs meant to replace the natural order of families and may sometimes not serve the purpose due to their limited longevity.

The second presentation of social constructs of childhood is an image of several children by a tree. The image is present in the appendix section of this paper as appendix two (LifeSchool, 2018). The children are pictured playing beside a tree with a stream on the side. One child is hanging on the branch of a tree while the other children watch. Two children are pointing at the child while the other two just watch. The branch the child is hanging on overlies the stream and there is the danger of falling into the river. This illustrates the wild nature of childhood and the societal construct of this stage of life (Bley-Vroman, 2018). Children are born clueless, empty, and without any experience of life, and the period of childhood encompasses exploring various aspects of life and learning. The surroundings of the children pictured are wild, and such environments are associated with massive danger.

The forest is not the only wild environment children are introduced to at birth, as all places are new. The view children have of the world is a place where they are naïve and where they are likely to acquire knowledge slowly (Howitt, Morris, and Colvill, 2020). Children, therefore, conduct various experiments in life, which enable them to understand their varied environments without apprehension of the dangers they are likely to experience.

In the image provided, the one child hanging on the branch is oblivious to all the happenings likely to occur. There is a possibility that the branch may break, and the child falls while hanging on for dear life. Breaking the branch is likely to harm the child’s body, breaking a bone or simply injuring muscles and other body tissues. Additionally, the child is likely to fall into the stream and based on their knowledge of swimming, likely to drown. Drowning is a major marine accident likely to terminate the child’s life. The child does not visualize all these possible scenarios as an adult would and, therefore, continues to hang on the branch, and the depiction of childhood as a wild stage is clear from this scenario.

Experimentation in the Wild

Childhood allows children to make various experiments in life, to enable familiarization with the environment and life in general. The environment also allows children to test their limits through exposure to danger. Some societies believe that shielding children too much from creating memories and living experiences is a negative way of parenting (Samonova et al., 2022). These constructs argue that children learn best through trying new things and deriving vital lessons from these occurrences. The child hanging on the branch is likely to realize their weight is a factor when attempting such experiments in the future through the fatigue experienced and the possibility of a fall if the child is unfortunate. Additionally, the child is likely to learn the dangers of water if they fall, experience the cold, and get saved or swim away in the long run. These are essential lessons children learn through interacting with the various elements of nature within their surroundings.

The lessons accrued are relevant not only for the child hanging on the branch but also for those around to witness the unfolding events. This highlights another vital component of this societal construct where children are poised to learn from the activities of other people, including other children (Vogt et al., 2020). Childhood memories with personal experimentation or peer experimentation are a vital component of adulthood, and the laughter such incidents evoke later is a testament to the importance of this. Some children are lucky to learn in the sight of others while some are not fortunate to have such a surrounding based on their families. Most believers in the construct of childhood as a period that requires experimentation agree an ideal environment should include other children. The learning process is more comprehensive, and the demystification of the wild nature of life is quicker when lessons are not solely derived from personal experiences.

Supervision in the Learning Process

The image only includes the children, and it is possibly accurate to assume that the adult took the photo. This illustrates the importance of personal experiences in the process of educating children and development in childhood for functionality in adulthood. Verbal instruction as a method of learning for children is insufficient in providing all the lessons needed (Samawi et al., 2019). Trying new things ensures that children make observations, as compared to telling them things that rely on the guardian’s experience. Guardians and parents are, however, urged to assume a safe distance while their children interact with the environment. This ensures that the process of learning does not result in bodily harm or become self-sabotaging, endangering life or health (Murray, 2021). In the image provided, if the adult is responsible for capturing the mage, they might dash and rescue the child before they drown. This is an intervention that does not interrupt the learning process and grants the child a chance to gain more lessons through the preservation of life.

A contemporary issue with childhood development is the change in the family unit and the consequence of these changes in the instruction of children. Scholars insist on the importance of both parents in the education of children, yet there are more single-parent families at this age (Ray, Choi, and Jackson, 2021). For many reasons in life, and customized causes in different families, the unit has disintegrated and the customary nuclear family faces threats (Rollè et al., 2019). The mother, by being the nurturer, is always the primary source of instruction for children. There are situations where the mothers are absent and the fathers have been forced to provide the primary instruction. The other types of families in the modern age include ones with adopted children, where both parents belong to either the male or female sex. This has complicated the customary means of enlightening children, invoking the need for these families to adapt differently.

Lifetime Lessons

This construct enables the visualization of childhood as a preparatory stage for adulthood, enabling children to acquire skills and knowledge that prepare them for various roles in later life. Children are usually set on a path that enables them to assume various responsibilities in later life. Childhood offers children the choice to pick whatever interests them career-wise and equips them with the skills for certain jobs. The educational system, for example, is one largely focused on producing adults who can become professionals in various fields, continually serving their communities (Zelkowitz et al., 2021). In addition to the knowledge for certain jobs, the education system teaches children the soft skills necessary to serve their communities diligently. Children also learn how to behave when at certain positions in life to ensure they display dignity and focus.

Early childhood lessons at home additionally teach children how they are expected to behave within a marriage setting. Boys acquire lessons from their fathers about how to become dads and husbands to their wives, while girls learn how to become mothers and wives to their husbands. These lessons are underpinned by the societal division of roles and the expectations of each gender by the community. It is a largely accepted fact within the scholarly community that boys grow up to become a reflection of their fathers and the same is true of girls (Milman et al., 2018). This illustrates the vitality of childhood as a learning stage and a preparatory phase for children to acquire knowledge and skills for future roles.

In conclusion, society constructs childhood differently and offers various standards for this stage. The rights of children and their responsibilities are a crucial component of this phase, agreed upon by various stakeholders. The first representation provided in this paper is a poem that offers an in-depth understanding of societal views of childhood. The poem demystifies childhood as a stage filled with happiness and parental care. Additionally, childhood is a stage of simplicity, purity, and innocence, and one without many responsibilities but instead filled with play. The place of family, and especially mothers in the early stage of life, is invaluable and well-illustrated in the poem. The second presentation is an image of children playing, and vital lessons are drawn from this photo. Childhood islinked to the wild and experimentation is highlighted as a crucial method of learning and acquiring new knowledge. Supervision in the learning process is important and the ideation of childhood as a preparatory stage for adulthood is essential.

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Social Constructs of Childhood." August 7, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/social-constructs-of-childhood/.

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