Reflect on how historical, political and ideological influence have had an impact on how ‘childhood has evolved throughout history.

Section 2.
“Childhood – The period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth.”
(www.thedevilsdictionary.com)
Over the last 200 years childhood has change radically. I look at my own children and wonder how they would have survived the suffering and distress children in the early 19th century endured in fact, I wondered if I would have.

Child labour was a common practice in the early part of the 19th century, children worked long hours in factories and because they were small they often had the most dangerous jobs, like climbing into jammed machines or scrambling up narrow factory chimneys. Children as young as 6 could be working 10 – 14 hour days.

The industrial revolution saw many hundreds of people leave the country side in search of paid work in the towns and cities. This influx of people, more people than jobs available, created ‘slum type’ areas full of disease crime and poverty. In desperation parents sent their children to work or quite simply abandoned the child as she was too expensive to keep. Robert Owen, a wealthy mill owner strived to improve the lives of poor children. Owen refused to employ children in his New Lanark mill and offered them an education instead, so determined in his ideals, he took his views to parliament and managed to convince MPs that children employed in factories needed protection and that a new law was necessary. In 1816 the Factory Act was passed and children under nine were no longer allowed to work in cotton mills. Today there are very stringent laws governing Child employment. Some examples are listed below.
Children may not work: * in any industrial setting such as a factory or industrial site * during school hours * for