From the 16th century to the 18th, the ways of thinking has changed dramatically, and along with that is the strategies to raise children the best and most effective way to ensure that they have a bright future. The major social and intellectual movements like the Reformation, Absolutism, and the Enlightenment dramatically influenced how parents thought they should raise their children. Some of the topics that saw the most change between periods were the ways to interact with and treat children, roles of family members inside the home, and the best way to punish a child. Raising the new leaders is an extremely vital task, which is seen a momentous change over the almost 300 year period. The ways that parents interacted and loved their children …show more content…
Document 4 states that in 1607 King Henry IV of France said to the caretaker of his son Louis that she should whip him whenever necessary and that he, the father, did not want to hear about it. King Henry said he learned from past experience that being whipped helped him, so the same should be done for his son. King Henry represented fully Absolutism coming from arguably the most powerful absolutist state in Europe. Absolutism is based on one ruler with little say in government from anyone else. This is shown when King Henry wants Louis to be whipped without asking him as he was using the same tactics he used for citizens. He was effectively putting the problems away by giving his son no way to speak up. This point of view is skewed, however as King Henry is a strict absolutist and believes in giving no say people. On the contrary, Document 5 by the Duchess of Newcastle described her upbringing in a much different way. She said that her parents did not use whips or physical punishment, but used reason to correct their children. This was most likely due to her growing up in the enlightenment where the use of reason and thinking were extremely popular. Punishment is still a very opinionated topic today because of how important it is to raising a