Colonial Children

The differences between the colonial era and early America are greatly due to the American Revolution. Children normally were seen as pint sized grownups. However, as the revolution ended, children were seen in a more romantic manner. Children’s play was emphasized and schooling took on a new approach. Education wandered away from religious backing with the rest of society and taught more basic memorization skills. Along with a change in curriculum, children were further separated by age and the cut off age was fourteen. Therefore, youths fifteen or older were predicted to go out and get a job. The revolution caused a change in the work environment as well. Work changed from an age of manual farm labor to industrialized factory work. This revolt …show more content…
These children were seen as little adults. When portrayed in family paintings, the dress of children was characteristic of their adult counterparts along with their formal postures. There was also little time or acceptance given to children’s play. Colonial era toys were expensive and mainly bought by middle class or wealthy white families. Another enforcer of the idea of little adults was that the toys they were playing with looked more like novelty figurines than children toys. The main focus in colonial children’s lives was religion. Children were required to have daily bible readings as well as prayer. Now at the turn of the revolution, about all of these values changed. Households became smaller as families had fewer children. This lowered the death rate and therefore caused the teaching of preparing for death to dissipate. Economic times were changing and children were seen as expensive and no longer were an economic asset. Children’s appearances also changed. In paintings after the revolution, families were seen in a less formal light. Children would be in more age appropriate clothing, playing with each other. Connections of …show more content…
During colonial times, education started at home then later was transferred toward schools to ensure children were learning. Due to their main societal focus, many school teachings were religious based. Although both genders were encouraged to learn to read, for the main focus of being able to read the bible, only fathers and boys were allowed to learn to write. It was seen that mothers and girls did not need this skill since their role was to be in the household. School was an important part of colonial children lives, but it was considered second in line after their work. These thought processes changed along with the revolution. In early America, school was considered a child’s main focus. Children were learning mainly memorization of basic skills and it was now public to everyone. Children were separated by age because there was an understanding that children above the age fourteen should be working. Another change in the school system was that women were currently the majority of the teachers. This occurred in time with industrialization as more men moved into factories. Along with these factors, women were cheaper to employ than