Contrary to deMause’s negative remarks about the horrible state of childhood, by the fourteenth century there were manuals offering advice on many aspects of child care, including advice about health, feeding, and the kinds of games to play with children (Berk, 2008). And in her book “Forgotten Children,” Linda Pollack (1983) uses a different kind of research (she scoured diaries, autobiographies and related sources) to conclude that well before the enlightenment of the 18th and 19th centuries nearly all children were wanted by their parents, parents were concerned about the milestones of developmental stages, and they also showed great anxiety about the illness or death of a child. Pollack also finds that there was probably far less abuse
