Modern Latchkey Children

In many ways the childhood of modern latchkey children and the Roman children growing up thousands of years ago share a few key important similarities. One of the most basic similarities is the family structure; many of these children are growing up in essentially single parent households. Looking beyond this commonality it is interesting to note how similar the outcomes are despite the separation of culture, time, and identity. Another major similarity is fact that in both societies the children are left alone for extended amounts of time without adult care or guidance (Vandivere, Tout, Zaslow, & Calkins, 2003; Aldrete, 2004). By contrast there are also many key differences that separate latchkey and roman children’s childhood more …show more content…
Arguably the practice of child exposure was not a cruel one but instead helped create stronger young adults that were self-reliant and ready to face the difficulties of constantly moving barrack lifestyles with few possessions of adulthood (Harris, 1994; Aldrete, 2013). Where as the exposure latchkey children faced was often completely different in nature. The exposure of latchkey children could arguably still be considered systematic but its ultimate goal was not to create self-sufficient 12 and 15 year olds. Instead the reason for latchkey children’s self care was to enable the modern parents to work and provide for their children. Similarly both groups faced dangers related to caring for ones self at a young age, including higher levels of exploitation and dangerous situations that could’ve been preventable with the help of an …show more content…
However the views of societies does not always translate into how children are actually being raised. This is often true for the children raised by parents with few resources since their parents might not be able to provide their child with what society deems as crucial for child’s development. A key example of this for latchkey children would be after school childcare since often their parents are not able to afford a babysitter, daycare or nanny. Society’s view in recent decades is that after school childcare and children not being without adult supervision for long periods of time as a crucial element for a child’s development. Society’s view during Roman times with very different, the viewed the time a child’s spent caring for oneself as critical for the child’s development. However, for latchkey children growing up in a variety of settings it is often important to consider the parent’s methods or ability to care for their child since societal rules are not strictly followed, as was the case with Roman children. However this is not to say that the pressures of society did not change how parents cared for their children, but instead was a driving factor that caused parents to be away from home. It is important to note but the reasons behind children self-caring in modern decades was often out of necessity and did not always lead to violence. While for Roman children a goal of self-care