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The impact on children’s culture of anime, manga, video games and trading cards of Pokemon

Japan’s popular culture industry is very vigorous in recent years. The popular culture consists of anime, manga, video games and trading cards. These media have a great impact on children’s culture in Japan and also other countries. Pokemon is a very successful case. Pokemon first appeared in the game of the Nintendo’s Game Boy, and then quickly diversified into manga, anime, movies, trading cards and toys in those years, and Pokemon phenomenon is appeared in Japan in 1996. These products revolved mainly around children and youths and had impacts on them. This essay will examine the impact of Japanese popular media culture on children’s culture using Pokemon as an example. The impacts which will discuss in this essay are effects on children’s literacy, the social effects, effects of addiction and violence. I will use two case studies to argue some effects on children’s literacy. Data have been collected from two articles. The author of the articles was a primary school teacher and she collected data from the classes she was teaching. Besides children’s literacy, there are many impacts in other aspects. Furthermore, negative impacts are much more than positive impacts. This will be discussed at the end of the essay, also the future of children’s culture under the influence of Japanese popular culture.

The anime Pokemon is diversified from its video game. This anime talks about Satoshi, a 10 years old boy, and his friends travels the world catching Pokemon and battling Pokemon trainers. This is the primary source of the essay.

Allison, A. 2004. ‘Cuteness as Japan’s Millennial Product’. In: Tobin, J. Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokemon. Durham: Duke University Press: 34-52

Anne Allison is a Professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University in the United States, specializing in contemporary Japanese society. Her current research is on the recent popularization of Japanese children’s goods on the global marketplace and how its trends in cuteness, character merchandise, and high-tech play pals are remaking Japan’s place in today’s world of millennial capitalism. In Cuteness as Japan’s Millennial Product, she finds that Pokemon is a successful case of children’s entertainment product with media mixes. Its success follows the previous waves of successful Japanese products which started in the late 1980s, and have impacted childhood consumption around the world. These products impacted children’s lifestyle in new interactive ways. Pokemon is game-based makes it more interactive than a mere anime or movie. This article provides information that supports my arguments, children buy lots of Pokemon-related products other than video games or comics, and Pokemon create or facilitate a common culture among children.

Arthur, L. 2001. ‘Popular Culture and Early Literacy Learning’, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2(3): 295-308

Dr Leonie Arthur is a senior lecturer in early childhood education at the University of Western Sydney. She has taught in long day care, preschool and school and is an active member of a number of peak early childhood organizations, including Early Childhood Australia. She currently works with undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Western Sydney in areas of early childhood curriculum and literacy. This article reports on research findings which indicate that while children’s home and community literacy experiences and texts are increasingly digital and connected to popular media culture experiences and texts in educational settings are predominantly book-based and generally exclude popular media culture. In practice, children’s literacy is affect by television, videos, computers, comics, trading cards and magazines rather than children’s books. It also examines the role of popular media culture in children’s lives. This article provides support for my arguments which related to children’s literacy and violence: media restricts children’s creativity and promotes violence.

Buckingham, D. and Green, J.S. 2003. ‘Structure, Agency, and Pedagogy in Children’s Media Culture’. Culture and Society 25(3): 379-399

David Buckingham is the Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media at the Institute of Education, London University. His research is on children’s and young people’s interactions with television and electronic media. Julian Sefton-Green is the Head of Media Arts at WAC Performing Arts and Media College, an informal learning centre in North London, England. He has researched and written widely on many aspects of media education and new technologies. The authors point out that Pokemon as a phenomenon is a controlled and calculated commercial strategy aimed manipulatively at the children’s market. They examine some positive and negative effects of the Pokemon phenomenon on children. Pokemon engages children visually through television, video games and as consumers through the range of products available. This article provides information that support my argument, Pokemon create common culture among children, makes children spend lots of money to collect valuable trading cards and children bully others to grab their cards.

Ito, M. 2006. ‘Japanese Media Mixes and Amateur Cultural Exchange’. In: Buckingham, D. and Willett, R. Digital Generation: Children, Young People, and New Media. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 49-66

Mizuko Ito is a Japanese cultural anthropologist who is an Associate Researcher at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of California, Irvine. Her main professional interest is the use of media technology. She has explored the ways in which digital media are changing relationships, identities, and communities. She sees “the move toward new media as an interaction between long-standing and emergent media forms, rather than a shift from old analog to new digital media;” while most of the essay explores the “low-tech media of trading cards and comic books,” The article is about young people’s relationship to media. Ito argues that “these analog media forms are being newly infected through digitally enabled sociality”. She also examines the trading cards activities. This article supports my argument that children play trading cards class whenever they have time and a people as their competitor.

Marsh. J. 2009. ‘Writing and Popular Culture’. In: Beard, R. and Myhill, D. and Riley, J. and Nystrand, M. The SAGE Handbook of Writing Development. London: SAGE Publication Ltd: 313-324

Jackie Marsh is Professor of Education and Head of the School of Education at the University of Sheffield. Her research focuses on the role and nature of popular culture in young children’s literacy development. She has conducted research projects that have explored children?s access to new technologies and their emergent digital literacy skills, knowledge and understanding. This chapter examines the potential role that popular culture can play in writing curriculum in schools. She examines how popular culture affects children and young people’s written texts in classrooms. She considers the adaptation of out-of-school popular cultural writing practices for educational purposes, and explores the way in which these practices are challenging the boundaries of writing as it is instantiated in the curriculum. This article provides information that support my argument, popular culture restricts children’s creativity/

McDonnell, K. 2000. Kid Culture: children and adults and popular culture. Annandale: Pluto Press.

Kathleen McDonnell makes her living writing in a variety of genres, from playwriting to junior fiction to social criticism. Besides her many books, she writes articles and opinion pieces for the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Chatelaine, Maclean”s, and Utne Reader, and also contributes to CBC Radio and Canada AM. Her plays have been produced throughout Canada. She explained that the reason she writes about children: “I find that children’s stories are usually the best medium to express what I want to say; and about because I have a burning interest in kids and their culture, how they think and feel about the world they’re growing up in”. The book explores children and popular culture and help adults better understand the role of popular cultures plays in children’s lives. Kathleen McDonnell offers a balanced and engaging perspective on the power and influence of children’s culture. This book supports my argument that trading cards encourage gambling addiction.

McGray, D. 2002. ‘Japan’s Gross National Cool’. Foreign Policy. June/July 2002: 44-54

Douglas McGray writes about social and political issues, science, and culture for the New Yorker, This American Life, the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, the Los Angeles Times, Wired, and Time. He is a contributing writer of Foreign Policy magazine. He spent the spring of 2001 in Japan as a media fellow of the Japan Society. In Japan’s Gross National Cool, McGray argues Japan’s street culture, from fashion to art to music, has become ever more vibrant and is having an unprecedented influence on the rest of the world. He analyzes “what made Japan a superpower more than just a wealthy country”. He examines the globalization of Japanese culture. This article provides information of how Japanese popular culture affects other countries.

Squire, K. 2003. ‘Video games in education’. International Journal of Intelligent Simulations and Gaming (2) 1.

Dr. Kurt D. Squire is an associate professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Director of the Games, Learning & Society Initiative, and best known for his research into game design for education. The article examines the history of games in educational research, and argues that the cognitive potential of games have been largely ignored by educators. Contemporary developments in gaming, particularly interactive stories, digital authoring tools, and collaborative worlds, suggest powerful new opportunities for educational media. Squire analyzes educational games refers to some checklists ad frameworks. He promotes case studies and design experiments as a research method that doesn’t study isolated variables. He states that there are four concerns of video games, which are encouraging violent or aggressive behavior, employing destructive gender stereotyping, promoting unhealthy attitudes and stifling creative play. This article provides information that support my argument, popular culture restrict children’s creativity and children imitate violence in media.

Willett, R. 2004. ‘The Multiple Identities of Pokemon Fans’. In: Tobin, J. Pikachu’s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokemon. Durham: Duke University Press: 226-240.

Dr Rebekah Willett is a lecturer in Education on the MA in Media, Culture and Communication and the MA in ICT at the Institute of Education. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. She has conducted research on children’s media cultures, focusing on issues of gender, literacy and learning. Willett discusses the multiple identities of Pokemon fans. She uses a cultural studies model to make sense of the “identity work” children do in their story writing. She finds that Pokemon thrives in children’s culture by providing a variety of subject positions for children to adopt as they perform and shift their identities in a variety of context in their daily lives. This article supports my argument, children use too much dialogue and insufficient amount of description when writing story because of popular culture, and children isolate others who do not familiar with Pokemon.

Willett, R. 2005. ‘”Baddies” in the classroom: Media education and narrative writing’. Literacy 39, 3: 142-148.

Dr Rebekah Willett is a lecturer in Education on the MA in Media, Culture and Communication and the MA in ICT at the Institute of Education. She is a member of the Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. She has conducted research on children’s media cultures, focusing on issues of gender, literacy and learning. This article relates findings from a classroom study focusing on children’s media-based story writing. The study examines how children write their own stories under the effects of media, that is, how they consume media and how they produce new media texts. Willett finds that children’s media-based stories make explicit some of implicit knowledge of new media forms. “Baddies” in the classroom: Media education and narrative writing provides information that support my argument, children write too much dialogue and insufficient amount of description, story with unpronounceable names and incomprehensible plots, also unnecessary violence.

Is parenting really significant? Does parenting have a positive impact on a child’s life? One may wonder if his or her parenting style has effectively influenced his or her child’s complete development. This paper probes the effects of parenting styles on a child’s development. A child’s holistic development, specifically psychological (emotional and social) and cognitive (intellect) developments, may be affected by numerous factors. These factors may be biological and environmental, which includes culture, family and more significantly parenting styles. Parenting styles used, though not solitary effects, have an absolute impact on the child’s future. According to Baumrind (1971), there are three parenting styles namely “authoritative (demanding and responsive)”, “authoritarian (demanding and unresponsive)” and “permissive (responsive but undemanding)”. More recently, uninvolved parenting (unresponsive and undemanding) has been recognized as a fourth style. Though each parenting style has varying characteristics, it is crucial for the child to receive both nurture and autonomy in order to obtain adequate development. Parenting styles such as authoritative and uninvolved influence a child’s cognitive and psychological development but authoritative parenting is preferred.

Every child’s cognitive development is impacted by his or her parent’s parenting style. Cognition pertains to the intellectual process by obtaining knowledge. According to Bjorklund (1989), “Cognition involves mental activity of all types. It includes activity that is geared toward acquiring, understanding and modifying information.” (p. 4). According to Piaget, children dynamically assemble knowledge by four stages-sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational-as they control and discover their world. It is necessary for parents to be cognizant of the effects of parenting styles on a child’s cognition. Berk (2009) stated that, “Authoritative child-rearing style-the most successful approach-involves high acceptance and involvement, adaptive control techniques, and appropriate autonomy granting” (p. 569). Authoritative parents are affectionate, attentive and receptive to their offspring’s wants, yet they implement firm, rational control and are usually demanding. They inspire the child’s independence and decision making so that the child will be able to make the right choices in life. They encourage dialogues and joint decision making whenever there is a disagreement between parent and child, thus paying attention to the child’s perspective and providing sensible supervision is necessary.

A child’s cognitive development is optimum for independence and decision making skills when experiencing positive and maximum parental support. Hence, an authoritative parent is said to be highly involved in a child’s development, offering positive and maximum parental support which encourages the development of a personality. A child reared by the authoritative parenting style exhibits “high self-esteem, self control and task persistence” (Berk, 2009). In regards to a child who has high self-esteem, positive values and beliefs are passed on from the parents because of their high participation in the offspring’s life. For example, the importance of these parental beliefs and positive values are adopted from family discussions and family rules and practices. Research has shown that children reared by authoritative parents have great academic success because the parents are extremely involved in all aspects of their lives and particularly, their academic achievements. Authoritative parents will praise their children for striving; help them with the difficulties they face in their school work and encourage them to do their best. Children given this positive and maximum parental support believe they have the competence to succeed in life.

The different areas of a child’s development are interconnected thus influencing one another. Psychological development, defined by Encyclopedia Britannica, refers to the emotional and social competence and operation of one’s life span. Authoritative parents are demanding-have high hopes and expectations for their children. Benson & Hiath (2009) postulates that “Children of authoritative parents exhibit low amount of internalizing behaviour such as depression and anxiety and externalizing behaviour such as antisocial behaviour and substance use” (p. 290). In essence, offspring of these parents are more socially and instrumentally competent than children reared by other parenting styles. Authoritative parents also show interest in their child’s social life. It is important that they know about their child’s whereabouts and the friends he or she keeps. Therefore, the child will be less likely to be antisocial in behaviour because of their high autonomy granting. Similarly, it is important to note that though these parents are involved in the child’s social life, they do not dictate the type of friends the child should keep. Instead, they provide good advice and allow the child to make his or her own decision. Benson & Hiath further states that, “Children of authoritative parents are better equipped to cope with life stresses and less likely to succumb to peer pressure, due to the competencies authoritative parents have instilled” (p. 290). Based on research presented, it can be concluded that authoritative parenting has a positive impact on a child’s complete development.

Additionally, a child’s cognitive and psychological developments are also influenced by uninvolved parenting. Unlike the authoritative parent, Benson & Hiath (2009) believes “the indifferent parent is not dedicated to parenting roles and is disinterested in helping foster optimal development of the child” (p. 283). The uninvolved parent is said to have little or no participation in their child’s development thus the child is likely to have less interest in his or her own development. These parents have either despised their children or probably do not have the time or energy to take care of them because priority is given to their own life problems and stresses instead. In contrast to authoritative parenting, children reared by the uninvolved parenting style display poor emotional control and low self-esteem. Children of these parents are likely to have low self-esteem as well as poor school performance because they feel unappreciated by their parents, due to the parents’ low acceptance and non-involvement in their lives. For example, a parent who is parentally stressed and shows no interest in the child’s academic achievement will not encourage the child to develop academically. As a result the child will become a low achiever because there is no parental guidance and support when he or she gets an assignment and needs parental assistance. Additionally, the child is likely to have difficulties making decisions and expressing views effectively because the uninvolved parents are lacking in the areas decision making and perspective.

Uninvolved parents are undemanding often showing little control. A child who feels neglected by his or her parents is likely to have a deficit in his or her psychological development. The child of an uninvolved parent may have behavioural problem such as antisocial behaviours and substance abuse. This is so because the parent-child relationship is poor and so the child is emotionally detached and withdrawn. Due to the lack of positive guidance (no parental values, beliefs and expectations), the child may be led by the wrong type of friends and as a result find himself or herself in a destructive path. For example, parents who are uninvolved in their child’s social life set no expectations and allow their child to do as he or she pleases; searching for affection and attention in the wrong places. Studies have also shown that uninvolved parenting, unlike authoritative parenting, has a negative impact on a child’s holistic development.

From a biblical perspective, a parent should train up a child in the way he or she should go, so when he is old he or she will not depart from it. Research have concluded that parenting plays a minor role in the development of a child and that the impacts are surpassed by the effects of inheritance and society. Despite such claims it is revealed that parenting styles, though not the only influence, wield great effect on a child’s development. Based on previous studies, authoritative parenting is preferred because it has the most positive influence on a child’s entire development while uninvolved parenting has the most negative impact. Some parents use more than one parenting style in the upbringing of their child; therefore it would be a great idea for uninvolved parents to strive to adapt some values of authoritative parenting to allow the child to develop autonomy, confidence and maturity.

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The aim of this project is to explore the effect of outdoor play on children’s social, emotional and physical development. According to Bruce (2004) play is probably one of the least understood aspects of an early-childhood practitioner’s work (p.135). The conceptualisation of play is shared by many other early childhood practitioners for whom play is considered essential, as an activity promoting learning ………………………(p.135). Outdoor play is a much needed activity in the early childhood. You may have come across a child playing and you are sure he/she is having a fun time. Therefore, play is the building block of a child’s intellectual skills. Through play child develops social, emotional and physical skills. The outdoors according to Letter & Wyver (2008) presents obvious opportunities to move and be active, and for children to discover and engage with the natural environment, as well as the chance for open ended activities such as sand & water play, construction and pretend play.

According to Hutt et al (1989, p.10) “the emotional and social development of pre-school children depends crucially upon play” while Penn (2008) asserts that “to learn about child development is to learn about Piaget” (p.41). As Piaget focused on how children acquire knowledge, he tried to understand how children change the way they think, how babies show intense reactions to external stimuli them (Penn, 2008). Ibid (2008) asserts that it was Piaget who provided a theoretical legitimating of learning through play. In addition, Berk (2009), Keenan (2002) & Bruce (2004) are firm believers that children actively explore their environment and are influential in shaping their own knowledge. They believe that it was through social interaction with more experienced and more knowledgeable members of the society – parents, relatives, teachers, peers etc. that children are able to acquire the knowledge and skills that a culture deems to be important

According to Bruce (2004) there is no clear definition for play. It is still an umbrella world (Ibid, 1991), while other early childhood practitioners defined play as ‘child’s work.’ Play is primary way children express their social nature (Strickland et al, 2003). Ibid (2003) argued that all kids enjoy playing alone some of the time; while some prefer to play with others (social play) much of the time. Play is an integral part of learning. Piaget defined play as “a kind of scientific rehearsal” (Penn, 2008; p.43). While Bitton (2010) stated that play offers a meaningful context for children and that it is only when a situation has meaning and purpose that children can function at a higher level (p.49). Children’s emotions are ways in which they react to situations while social development refers to how they get alone with peers and form relationships (Ashiabi, 2007). Furthermore, emotional and social developments are linked because children’s social interactions are usually emotionally charged (Ibid, 2007).

To clearly explore the role of outdoor play on social, emotional and physical development. Strickland et al (2003) asserts that outdoor play is critical to the social development of 3-4 year old children, and to girls in particular when it comes to building self confidence (p.2). In addition, children learn to be more empathy and less egocentric through play and they develop more skills for coping with conflict while boys tend to engage in more social dramatic outdoor play than indoors; outdoor play allows boys who are more physical to assume leadership roles (Srickland, 2002) and perhaps get more positive affirmation than they do inside. White (2007) confirmed that when given the choice, the outdoors is where most children want to be and playing outdoors is preferable to indoors. In support of this argument, Eustice & Heald (1992) argued that outdoor play is an extension of classroom activities which summarises the beliefs of early year management that children learn best by exploring, investigating and solving problems outdoors (p.7). While Alfano (2010) asserts that playing outdoors is a form of exercise that promotes well-being and wholesome physical developments; and that children are naturally drawn to active play outdoors. One of the obvious benefits of getting kids outside to play is the increased exercise they will be getting as opposed to setting in front of the T.V. or computer.

Most early years scholars have also assert that when children play outdoors they are developing mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically. This view is supported by Johnson et al (2002) that children gain lots of opportunities outside to develop basic social skills and social competencies e.g. running, jumping cycling, hide and seek, sing; sensing, make noise, make mess, crawl, and explore the natural world unchallenged. While Brice (2004) viewed that through play, children develop initiative and are strengthened to face challenges in life (p.134). More so, playing outdoors reduces stress in kids. Children express and work out emotional aspects of everyday experiences through unstructured play (Levesque. 2011). Whilst Strickland (2002) argued that there are also opportunities for emotional development as children test their limit and challenge themselves to try things that may be just at the edge of their reach

Moreover, most theorists found that pretend play outdoors was the most dominant form of play (Bulton, 2002). Perhaps that’s why theorists such as Piaget and Vygotsky assert that pretend play provides children with opportunities to practice grown up and perspective talking (Ashiabi, 2007; p.2002). Also, in pretend play a child is always above his average age (Penn, 2008; p.44) and above their daily behaviour. In addition, Wyver & Little (2008) asserts that play also facilitates language development, creative thinking and problem-solving; and helps children deal with complex and competing emotions.

In view of the above statement, parents should allow their children play with other children because it helps in the emotional and social development. Although social and emotional benefits of outdoor play may not be in clear cut, one benefit from research is that it allows kids to move freely, make noise and self-express themselves in ways that many not be encouraging inside. Outside play encourages logical thinking and the ability to reason through highly interactive activities such as building sand-castles, playing games with friends, playing puzzles with friends etc. Time spent outside with peers helps to create social skills that are needed for great healthy friendship (Brouillette, 2010). While Froebal cited by Bruce (2004) stated that “play is the highest level of learning………………………………………….activities of the child” (p.132). While Siraj-Blatchford et al (2002) cited by Bruce (2004) shows that the richest play is found especially in nursery schools. According to Little & Wyver (2008) the significance of outdoor play as an essential part of every child’s life has also been acknowledged by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 31 supports a child’s right to rest and leisure, and to participate in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child.

There are other reasons why playing outdoor is important for children, according to Stewart (2010) “when children play outside, they are more likely to maintain a healthy weight because they get the chance to burn off extra calories by running, jumping, climbing, riding bikes, yelling etc. which can also lead to better sleep.” Also, the above exercise help children to develop small and large muscles, strengthened bones, increases flexibility, fine and gross motor skills and improves their overall health (Ibid, 2010). In addition, outdoor play is important in early childhood because it helps in the physical development of the child as obesity is a common problem among children today (Pillar, 2010). Therefore, engaging in outdoor play helps in preventing childhood obesity.

More so, Vitamin D is essential for the skin and can only be derived by playing outdoors as it is impossible to get an adequate amount from food and vitamins alone. Getting kids outdoor increases the exposure to sun and their natural production of Vitamin D.

In contrary to the above advantages of outdoor play, White (2007) argued that today it seems that the motivation for children’s outdoor play has declined because global society is very busy in its day-to-day activities and over protected parents. Furthermore, many school age children have too much homework after school, therefore having less time for outdoor play. Whilst those without homework are too busy/lazy watching T.V, playing computer games, or pre-occupied chatting with friends on-line. Lastly, some parents are too busy with work and other activities (watching T.V, Football, cooking) to see to their children’s adequate outdoor play. Some parents are so paranoid that every man outside the street with big glasses/spectacles is a pervert or paedophile waiting to attack or abduct their children as they play outside.

Furthermore, social and environmental factors have greatly impacted on children’s opportunities for outdoors play. Little & Wyver (2008) asserts that where once children may have spent time playing in the street riding bicycle, playing chasing games, and hide & seek etc, increased traffic has made these areas and play opportunities off-limits for children as the changes are far too great. Children are now confined to classroom, backyards or local parks for relatively safe places to play. Also, Ibid (2008) stated that increase demand for housing in many areas, particularly urban areas, is eroding children’s play ground.

Lastly, according to Johnson et al (2005) providing for outdoor play needs for children is a complex and challenging task. A variety of factors must be considered, including the various play needs of young children, supervision, safety etc. while many educators, politicians, and parents believe outdoor play takes time away from academic activities; as a result, recess and physical education in many schools is limited or totally eradicated (Sutterby & Frost, 2002 cited by Johnson et al, 2005).

The definition of Family has become increasingly controversial over the past few decades. Family in the twenty-first century is different to everyone; all families have different structures and functions, beliefs and parental attitudes. The term family refers to a unit consisting of people who are related to each other – either biologically by notions of blood relations, or alternatively by legal means such as by marriage” (Kirby, et al 2000, p45).

The definition of a family has changed a lot over the years; there are several reasons for the definition to change. The view of the typical nuclear family is no longer the norm within society. Nowadays there are more families of divorce, stepfamilies, and extended families, rich and poor families. There is not a single definition for what a family is; people have their own view of what a family is. There are many factors that make families different, such as ethnicity, religion, and economics. Levine (N.D) suggests that families have three basic goals for their children; survival, economic self-sufficiency and self-actualization” (Enrique, et al, 2007).

Family structure and family functioning can affect a childs development in many ways. Family functioning is more significant to a childs development than the structure of the family. Family structure is the way in which a family is set up, for example, single parent families, extended families and nuclear families. Family functioning refers to how family members are emotionally attached, how well they communicate emotions and information and respond to problems (Freistadt and Stohschein. 2012).

Everyone has a different view of what family is and how families should be structured. Some make the assumption that children can only be brought up successfully in a two-parent family structure involving a heterosexual relationship. Others take the perspective that children can function well in any family structure, provided certain basic conditions are met” (Wise, 2003).

The family is a social system endorsed by law and custom to take care of its members needs” (Kepner, 1983). The emotional bondings and relationships between the members of the family, and their responsibility to the family unit hold them together through the changes of transitions and the complicated connections.

Family Systems Theory

Murray Bowen developed the Family Systems Theory, he recognised that the family was an emotional unit and any changes to the family functioning would influence all members of the family. The Family Systems Theory emerged from the General Systems Theory by scholars who found that it had a lot of relevance to families and other social systems. (Morgaine, 2001).

The Family Systems Theory refers to a family as a system in which each member can never be considered in isolation without reference to the roles, responsibilities and behaviours of other members of the family. The family is seen a dynamic unit according to the Family Systems Theory. Changes are constantly occurring and each member of the family takes on new roles and responsibilities, and internal patterns are adopted. The relationships between the individuals in the family unit are mutual and constantly changing.

The family is an example of an ongoing, self-regulating, social system that has certain features – such as its unique structuring of gender and generation – set it apart from other social systems. Each family system has their own structure, the psychobiological characteristics of its individual members, and its sociocultural and historic position in its larger environment” (Broderick, 1993, p37).

The family as a system links all individuals together and understands that things going on in the environment can influence all individuals even if not all of them are actively engaged, for example parents workplace. The Family Systems Theory recognises that small things can impact the family system, for example, the loss of a parent can affect the relationship the child has with the other parent and/or siblings.

According to Bowen each member of the family system has roles and boundaries. Individuals in the system are expected to engage with each other in a certain ways according to their role and their relationship with other members. Within the boundaries of the system, patterns develop as certain family member’s behavior is caused by and causes other family member’s behaviors in predictable ways. Maintaining the same pattern of behaviors within a system may lead to balance in the family system, but also to dysfunction” (GenoPro, 2013).

There are four main principles of the Family Systems Theory; wholeness, integrity of subsystems, circularity of influence and stability and change. Wholeness refers the family as one unit however each member of the family have certain attributes of their own. Integrity of subsystems means that each relationship is a subsystem, for example; mother and father relationship or mother and child relationship or vice versa. Relationships between relationships are also subsystems. Circularity of influences means that the subsystems and relationships depend on each other and if there is a change in one subsystem it has an impact on other systems. Stability and change refers to external influences that can affect the individual or subsystems, for example parents workplace. The wellbeing of the child, therefore, can be conceived of as dependent upon the functioning of elements of the entire family system” (McKeown and Sweeny, 2001, p6).

Family systems are different in all families. Parental attitudes are important in setting up an environment in which their child can flourish. Campion (1985) says that if a child grows up in a stable and loving environment, the child will usually develop a sense of self-respect and self-discipline. The child understands what is expected of him. However it can be argued that a child who has been brought up in a family system where the parents attitudes lack maturity, the child is more likely not to flourish in the environment and not understand what is expected of them, therefore cannot develop a sense of their own competence. (Campion, 1985).

Campion (1985) suggests that children take on the roles, which have a function in their family system. It is believed that if children see themselves as the disobedient one in the family setting, they may carry out their difficult behaviours in school. Likewise a child who is obedient may also carry out this behavior at school.

The Ecological Systems Theory

The Ecological Systems Theory was produced by Bronfenbrenner in 1979.

Bronfenbrenners Ecological Systems Theory states that the environment is reflected in an individuals development. Bronfenbrenners ecological approach refers to layers of environmental influences that impact an individuals development. The interactions with people and the environment are key to development. This theory can apply to individuals at any stage of development.

The theory identifies five environmental systems in which the individual interacts with; microsystem, meosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and chronosystem.

The microsystem refers to each setting, which the individual is an active participant, such as; family, school, community, friends. This layer has the most immediate and earliest influences on the child. The relationships in the microsystem can be bi-directional; this means that the childs behaviours can be influenced by the family or friends and vice versa. The meosystem refers to the relationships between the settings in the microsystem and the individual; an example of this would be the relationship between home and school. The exosystem refers to a setting where an event happens, which affects or is affected by what happens in the setting that the developing individual is in. The child is not an active participant in this layer. The structures in the exosystem can affect a childs development by interacting with the structures in the microsystem, for example; mothers work place can affect the amount of time the mother spends with the child. Although the child is not directly involved with the structures in the exosystem, they do feel the positive and negative impacts that are involved with the interaction between the systems. The Macrosystem refers to the wider social systems, for example; government legislations and economic factors. These things affect the child indirectly however it has an impact on the developing childs life. An example of this could be that the childs family is living in poverty therefore this can cause social exclusion and the child might not have access to school trips or community play areas. The chronosystem refers to how things change over time as it relates to the childs environment. There are various elements within this system that can be internal or external. An internal influence could be the physiological changes that occur while the child gets older. An external influence could the timing of their parents getting a divorce. The older the individual gets might impact how they react to environmental changes and may be able understand how the change will influence them.

External influences

There are a lot of external environmental factors that can influence the family system and the developing child. External influences can have an impact on a childs social, emotional and physical development. The World Health Organization says, “Childhood experiences have lifelong consequences in terms of health, education and economic status” (World Health Organization, 2009).

Media

There are a lot of controversial issues with regard to media and the effect it has on children and families. Most research is concerned on the amount of time children spend engaging with media and the possible effects media has on a childs development and wellbeing. Media can impact the way children understand the world, it can also affect their family life.

Media can have a positive impact on a childs social development, for example if a child is shy, the use of social media, offers children the chance to connect with others and form positive relationships. Some children find social situations intimidating and may find it hard to respond to questions. Diaz et al (N.D) suggests the use of text messages or Facebook, has the potential to allow children to interact with more thought.

Media also poses some negative consequences on the developing child. Many parents worry about their child when they are interacting online, parents do not know who or when their children are interacting with. Media has changed a lot over the years and when some parents where younger they did not have access to things like the Internet. Parents mainly focus on the negative impacts media can have on children’s lives for example, there are stories in papers that state that children have been meeting up with strangers, this can cause distress to the parents. Online risks – being contacted by strangers or seeing inappropriate content – come fourth and fifth in the list of nine worries: one in three parents say they worry about these risks a lot (Livingstone, et al, 2012). There are tools that allow parents to restrict the content that the child might have access to and manage what sites the child uses.

However media can also be used for children to do their homework, this aspect of media is supporting a childs intellectual development. Today, children and teens frequently use home computers and the Internet for their schoolwork, and parents generally believe that computers are an important educational resource” This shows that the use of computers can positively affect the child, the use of computers also teaches the child how to become familiar with the key board, how to write emails, and use word processor. Computers are used in everyday situations; therefore children should have access to them. Parents should encourage children to use computers and show them how to search the Internet to help them develop intellectually and cognitively. If children are doing homework and achieving academically, both the parents and the child will be happy.

Media can influence a childs development. Children can use media to increase their understanding of the world around them, as well as teach positive social behaviors”. This statement shows that children can gain understandings of the world and develop socially by engaging with media such as watching television. Television viewing has been studied in children who are academically gifted, with results suggesting that selective viewing can promote academic abilities” (Pitman, 2008). This shows that TV can influence a childs intellectual development.

Television can have diverse affects on a childs development. Television can be used as a method of teaching, some TV programmes for children have educational values, for example, Sesame Street, can teach children about the alphabet, simple mathematics, culture and kindness. The educational value of Sesame Street, has been shown to improve the reading and learning skills of its viewers” (Canadian Pediatric Society, 2003). Parents should encourage their children to watch educational shows, to enhance their learning and development, parents can spend time with their child whilst watching TV shows, this will help the child develop socially and intellectually, it can also benefit parents knowing what their child is watching.

Television can also be seen as a negative influence. More than 1000 studies confirm that exposure to heavy doses of television violence increases aggressive behaviour, particularly in boys” (Huston et al, 1992). This can affect the family functioning as it can impact the relationships between the child and the family. It can cause stress on the family system, families may be prone to conflict if the child is being aggressive, this could impact the parents and cause stress between the mother and father. Aggressive behavior can impact a childs well-being and social development.

By watching television, the child tends not to engage in play or exercise activities and is more likely to eat unhealthy snacks. This can impact a childs physical development and lifestyle. Television viewing makes a substantial contribution to obesity because prime time commercials promote unhealthy dietary practices” (Canadian Pediatric Society, 2003). Fast food advertisements promote an unhealthy lifestyle, which has negative affects on children and families and can lead to eating disorders or diseases such as diabetes.

Consumerism can influence the family system; consumerism encourages the purchase of goods and services. Children are seen as potential consumers; most children want the new gadgets, toys and designer clothes. This can have a negative affect on the family system as it could cause stress on parents to buy the latest things. This can impact a family financially and emotionally. Parents are working long hours to get money to buy their children the latest toys and gadgets.

Bingham (2011) stated Britain was ranked as the worst country in the industrialised world to be a child. This is due to the rise in consumerism and media available to children.

Media affects the time that families spend together; Bingham (2011) refers to television as a babysitter and children’s bedrooms as media bedsits. Media is taking away the quality time that used to be spent as a family away.

Consumerism causes a lot of pressure on parents, which can lead to conflict between mother and father, and the child. Parents are more concerned about social perceptions then whether or not they can afford to buy new products for the children. Bingham (2011) says that a report shows that a mother was contemplating whether to buy her three year old soon a Nintendo DS, because she was convinced that if she never her son would get bullied. This shows that society has changed so much over the years; it is assumed that parents want their child to have the best things in life rather than spending quality time with their children. Parents will work long hours to provide for their children and put themselves through stress and finance issues just so that their child is not labeled as poor.

Media Advertising has a big impact on children. “Probably the clearest evidence we have that television influences children’s thinking and behavior is the fact that advertisers invest literally billions of dollars trying to influence the perceptions, choices and behaviors of children through advertising” (Clay, 2003). Advertising puts pressure on parents to work longer hours to make money so that they can buy new things for children, children can often become the victim of bullying if they do not have the latest things, this can affect the childs emotional well-being.

Teenagers often have role models that they have seen in the media, for example a celebrity. A role model is a person that sets an example and their behavior is imitated. Role models can influence an individual in various ways. Television can also contribute to eating disorders in teenage girls, who may emulate the thin role models seen on television” (Canadian Pediatric Society, 2003). This is an example of role models having a negative effect on an individual. This will not only impact the teenager it can also cause problems for the family unit. Some teenagers become obsessed with self-image, because they see skinny celebrities in magazines or on TV, this can affect their emotional and physical development. From the teenager having an obsession with being thin, it can cause parents to worry about their childs health and development. This can cause to conflict between the child and parents and can cause stress on both the child and the parents. The childs attitudes and behaviours may change which might have an impact on the family.

Children today are described as the digital generation because children no longer sit at home with parents reading books and playing board games, they are either watching television or playing video games. From a young age children are immersed in media experiences. Media can have a negative impact on a childs life, it can cause children to get distracted from doing homework, or children will begin to spend less time with parents. This can affect the parent-child relationship, as there will be no communication with one another if the child is engaged in a media activity. Overall, children between the ages of two and 18 spend an average of almost five-and-a-half hours a day at home watching television, playing video games, surfing the web or using some other form of media” (Clay, 2003).

Parental employment

Bronfenbrenner acknowledged that there are direct and indirect family related factors that can influence the childs development. A Parents workplace is an external factor that influences a childs life and the family as a system.

Parents have a significant role in shaping their childs future. Mothers and fathers employment affects both the income of the family and the time spent with their child. The early years in a childs life are most important to development, hence the controversial arguments about whether parents employment has an affect on a childs development. Most studies suggest that working mothers affect a childs development more than working fathers. Ermisch & Francesconis study ” The effects of fathers’ employment on the outcomes studied were generally less important than those of mothers’ paid work” (Ermisch & Francesconi, 2001).

Working mothers is a factor that can have both positive and negative affects on a childs development. A positive factor could be that the mother is providing financial security for the child, for example, if the mother has a comfortable salary, it means there is more money for the family, therefore more family holidays, day trips, clothes, a child-minder, etc. However if the mother is working long hours, it might cause more stress on the mother, and less time spent with her child. Evidence from a study about parent employment and time spent with the child shows Although full-time work increased family income, less time for mothers to interact with their families tended to reduce childrens later educational attainments” (Ermisch & Francescon, 2001). This study suggests that children’s achievements are being affected by their parents employment because parents and children are not spending time together.

Parents that work will often put their child into childcare. This can have positive and negative affects on children in the early years. A positive aspect of childcare is that it provides the child with opportunities to form relationships with other children, this will impact on the childs social and emotional development, nurseries also provide enriching opportunities for children to learn and develop. A negative aspect of putting a child in childcare is that is can cause emotional stress on the child, if the child does not like attending nursery is can make parents feel guilty about leaving them and cause emotional stress on the family as a system.

An evaluation of the governments scheme to encourage parents to go back to work found mixed outcomes of the affects nursery has on a child. The study found positive as well as negative effects, however. Children appeared to gain in confidence, but those in daycare for longest were more “antisocial, worried and upset” (Melkle & Ward, 2007). These findings send out mixed emotions about putting children in childcare. The positive affects are that the child forms relationships and gains confidence. However for parents who work long hours and need to put children in childcare full-time might worry about the impact it may have on their child. This may cause some parents to think-twice about going back to work, this can have a negative affect on the families income which will impact the family system and cause problems.

Shaffer (2004) concluded What can be safely concluded is that, where conditions are optimal, children of employed mothers may actually benefit compared with those of non-employed mothers, largely as a result of extra experiences with other adults and with peers in day-care settings.” (Springwood, N.D).

A study carried out by the Institute of Child Health found that working mothers of five-year olds engaged in less active activities and more likely to eat unhealthy. (BBC, 2009). This study suggests that because parents work long hours they do not have time to make healthy meals therefore they make unhealthy snacks because it is the quicker option. There are so many mixed reviews about how parent employment affects a childs development. It seems that everything parents do will affect the child; therefore it is important that families try to balance out the positive and negative outcomes.

Working mothers are put under stress to provide for their family, spend time with their child and ensure that they live healthy lifestyles. Nowadays everything is expensive and parents have no choice but to work, to ensure that they can afford housing, childcare and basic necessities. “With many more mums having no choice but to work these days and with government policy actively encouraging it, it is difficult to know how mums can do better” (BBC, 2009).

Economy

There are numerous economic factors that can affect families and the developing child. The community where families live plays an important part in shaping the their daily lives. The local economic systems differ depending on jobs and services provided by the business sector of the community.

Children’s economic wellbeing is directly related to their families. When families have a low income they are less likely to provide for their childs needs. Parents uniformly identified poverty as the primary barrier to their capacity to provide adequate care for their children… Parents accepted personal responsibility for their economic and parental failings, equating no income with bad parenting. Depression and despair associated with poverty were acknowledged to impair parenting and increase self-doubt about parenting capacity” (Russell, 2008, p. 83).

Failure to meet the economic needs of families can lead to social exclusion and can also cause problems that can affect individuals, families and the community, such as higher crime rates, child abuse and neglect, higher substance abuse.

A disadvantage for families living in a low economic area is social exclusion. Social exclusion affects adults; thus adults that are parents and their children. There are many negative outcomes of social exclusion for the developing child and their family. Social exclusion does not necessarily mean that the family has a low income; families may be socially excluded from society because of job loss, poor housing, and education. Social exclusion affects the whole family unit.

Poverty is another factor that is linked to the economy. It can affect the child socially, educationally and personally. Poverty is the single greatest threat to the well-being of children in the UK” (Sharma, 2005). There are many negative impacts that poverty can have on the family system and the developing child, it can cause stress for parents, and the childs diet and health can suffer. Everyone is entitled to have their basic needs met; however children that are living in poverty go without food, toys and clothes. For poor families, raising a child is not just about struggling to make ends meet; its about struggling to give the child a chance to grow and thrive” (Sharma, 2005). This can cause families to become stressed and depressed, as they feel that they have failed their child. It may also cause conflict in the family.

The socio-economic status of families can affect all aspects of a childs development. Socio-economic status is arguably the single biggest external factor in a childs development as it determines other opportunities, such as access to education” (Patrick, 2012).

The income of a family is likely to influence many aspects of family decisions and behaviours. If parents are unemployed it can impact the family system, parents may argue with one-another which in-turn may impact on the childs wellbeing, it can cause emotional stress on the family as a whole and cause financial stress. Unemployment causes financial hardship which, in turn, causes a deterioration in family relationships” (Broman, et al N.D).

Unemployment will have a major impact on the parents, therefore it will impact their children, for example, parents may struggle to provide children with laptops or books, which can impact on their educational achievements and affect their social life, which may lead to social exclusion.

Government

The government is another external influence that impacts the family system and the developing child; the government is a factor in Bronfenbrenners macrosystem. The government can have positive and negative influences on families. There is a lot of debates about how the government has cut working tax credits, this is can have a negative affect on families.

The government influences parents workplace and in-turn the child. “It is vital that those in power listen to what children and their families are saying about life in the UK. The government needs to make sure parents earn enough to spend fewer hours in work and more time with their children, protect childrens play facilities from spending cuts and consider reforming the laws controlling advertising to children” (Bingham, 2011). The government has proposed that both parents can share up to a years leave to look after their new-born children. Nick Clegg stated The changes will allow fathers to play a greater role in raising their child, help mothers to return to work at a time thats right for them, and create more flexible workplaces to boost the economy” (Department for Business Innovation & skills, 2012). This will affect the family system in a positive way as it allows both parents to share the responsibilities of caring for their child, this allows each parent to bond with their new-born child, and spend more time together as a family.

Although the child is not actively engaged with the political environment, the government can cause distress in a childs life. For example, the government decides if our country should go to war. In some countries there are wars going on this can impact on a childs development and the family system. Firstly war can cause a lot of stress on the community, violence can physically and psychologically scar children. Secondly the childs parent may be part of the army and have to go to war, this can cause stress on the child and breaks in the family system.

The government is in charge of putting new policies and legislations in place in order to make things better for everyone. The government made positive changes to legislations that affect parental leave, the right to flexible working hours, job-sharing, and paternity leave” (Springwood, N.D). The government is in charge of policies in schools. This influences the family because the child is an active participant in the school setting, which means that the parents will have to communicate with the schools, to see how their child is developing. The government has introduced home-school partnerships, to encourage parents and teachers to work together to provide the best quality care for the child.

The government can affect a developing child if they have a disability because they make the policies and legislations. There are legislations in place that impact a disabled childs life and education. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 means that schools must include all children and make reasonable adjustments to provide enriching opportunities for disabled children. (CSIE, 2012).

The government has an affect on economy. There have been new policies introduced recently that state that better-off families will lose some or all of their child benefits. In families were one parent earns ?50,000, they will lose some of their child benefits and parents who earn ?60,000 will have their child benefit withdrawn entirely. David Cameron said that the move was fundamentally fair”(BBC, 2013).

Some families have opted out of receiving child benefits, however some families missed the deadline to opt out and will now have to fill in self-assessed tax forms each year. This causes problems for families, it can cause families to lose income that they have worked hard for which can have emotional affects on the parents. More than a million people are set to be affected by the cut, with the Institute of Fiscal Studies estimating that they would lose an average of ?1,300 a year” (BBC, 2013).

There are a lot of arguments about whether it is fair or not. It could be argued that it is not fair to punish people who have a good career. However some will argue that the better off families should contribute to society.

This change in economy will affect millions of families. It will affect the families overall income and childcare. There are a lot of issues regarding this change.

The prime minister stated “If we don’t raise that… from that group of people – the better off 15% in the country – we would have to find someone else to take it from.” (BBC, 2013).

One mother who will be affected by the child benefit cuts, believes that the cuts are being administered unfairly. I’m a single mother and I work full-time, meaning that I am reliant on childcare. My son has Asperger’s syndrome and getting him the care he needs is costly” (Harris, 2013). This is an example of how the government can affect a family in a negative way and affect the child.

Neighborhood

The neighborhood in which families live in is considered to be an external influence that can impact families lives and children’s development. Changes that occur in the neighborhood can be both positive and negative. A positive impact may be that there are lots of job opportunities in the area, t

A framework was designed and developed and came into action on 13 March 2007 and forced into action by September 2008 and is called as EYFS i.e. Early Years Foundation Stage This framework has revolutionised the learning methods and is a framework for the enhancing learning, care and improving the skills and development of children in all the spheres of life when they are in a age group of 0 to 5 years.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile was the new name for the Foundation Stage Profile from September 2008 with its content remaining as such.

Mainly 6 stages are there in EYFS for Learning and Development. This is equally important and is usually connected to one another. These stages of Learning and Development are collaborated inside the rules listed for EYFS.

The various areas where Development and Learning could be enhanced are:

Development in personal ,social and emotional spheres

Communication

Solving and Reasoning capacity of children

Understanding the surroundings and grasping knowledge from surroundings.

Development enhancing physical strength

Development enhancing creative strength

Most of the review conducted on the Primary Curriculum and other independent Cambridge Primary Review has highlighted the requirement to re-think and remodel the children’s educational experiences provided in English classrooms for students between the age’s group of five and seven.

Recently government initiative has provided new experiences. In early primary years education being adult directed and conducted generally in whole-class groups, in a small place for playing and should be self-initiated learning. This is familiar in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which controls the education of children from birth to five years.

This discontinuous pedagogy has resulted in concerns at levels like national and local levels. This study describes the complete efforts put in by teachers in one English local authority for developing practice in respective classrooms which generally is less formal and more teacher-led and desires more to the requirements and interests children in age group of 0 to 5 years. It explains the reasons for participation of teachers in this project, new difficulties and hurdles faced and the result and understanding for both teachers and children.

Discussion
PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Care is taken for the children’s development with a positive attitudes and good behaviour. Individual attention is given to every child with love and care. For listening and talking, children are provided an opportunity. They share their toys and work together on activities. Children should be praise for their success by rewarding their positive behaviour and good manners. Children must be shared with experiences which will develop positive sense that will help them in interacting with surroundings; giving respect to their teachers and parents; social skills; the attitude which will allow them to gain knowledge. Adults should give children opportunities for interaction with others so that children can grasp positive ideas from society they live in.

When closed relationships are explored it generally leads to the growth of self-assurance thus it leads to promoting sense of belongingness that helps in children to explore the environment surrounding in them in a more secured way.

Children must be encouraged for freely expressing their thoughts and their ideas, their emotions like sadness, frustration, joy and fear and can also develop means of managing new challenges and stressful conditions.

COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Every child should talk to each other in small groups for development of extended vocabulary and better communication skills. They go through the books and rhymes through the tapes and books for re enactment of the plays. They use word games, phonics, alphabets and play all around for the written language. Children there mark marking so that they can improve their hand and eye coordination which will help in writing when they grow older.

Generally children use the language learnt for sharing and expressing their experiences. Their actions represent their thinking and how they react to events which we called as their language of thinking. Children over the time gather understanding about spoken sounds and they learn how to link different sounds and use gained knowledge writing and reading simple words. Young Child is in company of people whom they love and respect and loving relationships for e.g. family group situation, a person on which they have trust. Generally babies respond differently to every sound easily distinguish different sound patterns. Children use voices for making contact and letting people understand what is needed and what their feelings are. Once children develop skills of speaking their foundations for education is built and using the visual signs and finally preparing for reading and writing. They need to be given opportunities for working with others and exposure to resources for enhancing their knowledge like reading and writing.

PROBLEM SOLVING, REASONING AND NUMERACY

As we can see parents and teachers shall support the children for developing their understanding in solving Problem, developing a Reasoning and numerical aptitude using this they can easily find, learn and enjoy and understanding their environment. Children’s mathematical development occurs as they find patterns, make connections and remember relationships through searching out and working on counts and number matching and further sorting of accounts by comparing size, shape and measures. This derived skill is used by children to solve problems, ask new questions and make connections across different areas of Learning and Development. While talking about shapes and quantity, children use their knowledge and experience to develop ideas and to solve mathematical and other problems.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Usually the life of child consists of learning the world that is around an individual. They talk of all things like how different things work and explaining for the reason why a particular thing occurred enjoy cooking and playing with clay. Generally they find all around the experience for natural world with wide range of seasons to hunt mini beasts. Children elaborate further the water, building and sand for construction own world of imagination. Babies and children need opportunities to understand means of life, methods giving correct information developing an attitude which keeps them positive in all condition and have a understanding behaviour for others. Children must be given help so that they can learn how to respect and keep the values of elders and understanding the need to avoid negative attitudes towards others

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Children should be given a very healthy life style including rest, exercise, and eating healthy food. These children shall be given balanced food to encourage them in spending time to outside location daily. Children develop good hygiene practices like washing hands after toilet usage and before meal. Usually good and well being in physical strength allows children to enjoy the positive benefits provided by keeping themselves active and healthy. Babies gain by being active and the development takes place all along the areas thus resulting in gaining in confidence in what they can do and develop a positive sense of well-being.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Creative Development means to explore with art and craft activities which include draw, paint, construct, stick as well as print largely. Children are very imaginative and thus can create their own pretending world. They love being chef working in kitchens, or sometimes working at bench for carpenter role. They love music making along with various instruments, rhymes and songs. Creativity develops children to gain experiences from their own explorations of surroundings, and expressing their feelings using different movements or by making things with the help of different materials existing in surroundings. Creativity helps children in exploring many functions for e.g. materials and media for creating new things which come out as a result. Children’s always react to their surroundings i.e. their experiences of watching, listening, experiences gathered using their sense organs and the manner in which they provide experiences is unique and valuable. Children learn in variety of ways and all have different interests so proper planning should be done for every child. Observation must be taken on baby to plan the best possible learning opportunities.

For all children learning starts from birth. The EYFS is helpful for practitioners to enable right experience of play for children in development of all set of possibilities. It will enable practitioners to find your child’s strengths and areas they want greater help for developing new skills, while for newly born babies this is crucial factor to make one feel comfortable all around it. This can be further aided with key person’s role in settings that result in knowing positive relations of child.

As per EYFS, the place where a child is cared to get an education for the age till five years, it uses similar principles, and is provided with principled approach for development and learning. These babies at inception stage gains a lot by the way of plays and the practitioners treat them in a way to make them learn the plays at stages for support and development of new skill set. All of the arenas are equivalent in importance with number of activities to cover number of areas to divide each of them in various stages and the practitioners can detect the sources for development and better operational activities performance.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology was made to identify how children perceive their experiences of a range of early year’s settings, and to provide information an understanding of the effectiveness and limitations of the EYFS in setting a play-based and participative approach to learning.

The qualitative research design was formed around the four EYFS principles and the related themes and commitments2 (DCSF, 2008a, p9):

A Unique Child (Child Development, Inclusive Practice, Health and Well Being).

Positive Relationship which means respecting teachers and class fellows etc.

Enabling Environment (Observation, Assessment, Planning, Support).

Learning and Development (Active Learning, Areas of Learning and Development).

According to Mosaic approach (Clarke and Moss, 2001) and participatory rural appraisal techniques (O’Kane, 2000), a verity of participative activities with children were designed to correlate with each of these 4 broad themes and to address the 4 commitments within each one.

A sample of 15 case study settings selected from across 4 Local Authorities drawn from 2 government regions in north England. It comprise of 2 children’s centres, 2 reception classes, 3 maintained nursery classes, 2 private nurseries, 1 voluntary sector setting, 1 independent school, one out-of-school setting, 4 childminders and 1 Steiner kindergarten. The sample was selected to include children growing up in urban and rural areas of social advantage and deprivation, and ethnical different communities. Children in both full day-care and sessional care are included. 146 children achieved the aim to represent a vast range of children except in relation to sampling disabled children.

Research activities, based on the EYFS themes, were designed to incorporate a different strategy for promoting talk between researchers and children to explore:

Unique Child – how good early years settings acts to the uniqueness and difference of children.

A Positive Relationships – how children view the importance of their relationships with close ones and with practitioners.

Enabling Environment – how children responds early years settings and the extent to which these provide them with good opportunities.

Learning and Development – It is very important as children’s response and thinking about learning and development in their settings is developed.

To gather knowledge about how well early years settings were responding to the uniqueness and difference of children, a 1 to 1 activity was used, to generate a digital picture book called ‘My Best Day’, which is based on the child’s best day in a setting. Alongside this we collect information about children’s relationship within settings by using an adaptation of a floor based graphical or visual mapping game. To collect information about how children respond the environment of their setting, an adaptation of the Mosaic approach ‘tour’ devised. Finally, to collect information about children’s experiences of learning and development, we used data of children’s learning, and called as ‘Learning Journeys’, which prompts to conversation. Participant experiences were also undertaken with each child or small groups of children.

Presentation of data

In the seven key scales of Personal, Social & Emotional development (PSE) and Communication,

Language and Literacy (CLL):

aˆ? 61.1 percent of girls achieved 6 or more points in every the scales, this compares to 42.8% of boys, a difference of 18.3 % points. This difference has increased since 2008 when it was 17.3 % points.

The chart below provides information about the percentage of pupils and their development in each of these 7 key scales.

Figure below shows details on EYFS conducted in PSE and CLL scales in the year 2009.

24.7 % of boys are classified as being the lowest achieving 20 % of pupils

, this compares to 15.1 % for girls. These percentages have been relatively stable since 2007.

Conclusion

Most of the study suggests for early years practitioners said that: ‘effective early years practitioners will define the time and relevant activities which are useful in a space in daily routine of life to reflect. This daily schedule will be responsible for the well being of children and they will also gain knowledge. This report aims to present proofs of that combination in various early years’ settings from children’s views. Thereby, the aim is also to gain insight into children’s perspectives of their own well-being and learning in those cases.

Studies have shown that children must be encouraged for freely expressing their thoughts and their ideas, their emotions like sadness, frustration, joy and fear and can also develop means of managing new challenges and stressful conditions. Closed relationships were explored it and its learning led to the growth of self-assurance thus it leads to promoting sense of belongingness that helps in children to explore the environment surrounding in them in a more secured way.

Although many of the proofs reported here are set with themes, commitments and guidance in the EYFS, it was also known that there are omissions in the EYFS, in part as a result of emphasis laid on children since the end benefits of a this daily schedule called curriculum generated by adults. The theme of children taking care is one such omission which we have pointed to as evident in children’s clear need to engage with the world around them, to show the know how they have about their surroundings and to maintain a category of types of relationships.

The 6 areas of Learning and Development together enhance and improve their skills, experiences and improve their knowledge as this is a important aspect for children during their growth.

These are presented as different areas which include remembering that the entire tasks link together for children and none of these shall be compartmentalized.

The problem faced by most of the practitioners is to confirm whether the learning of children’s is an output of their individual interests in planning for learning and development takes place.

Babysitters can range in age, tending to be in their pre-teens/teens, ages 11-19, yet it is not uncommon for students in their 20s to take on babysitting as a part-time job. The type of work for babysitters also varies, from watching a sleeping child, to playing games, preparing meals, teaching the child to read, or even driving (if the age is right), depending on the agreed upon terms and determined by parental permission.

In some countries various organizations produce courses for babysitters, mainly focusing on child safety and first aid appropriate for infants and children. These classes or courses can be provided at local hospitals and sometimes even schools. These classes can equip the babysitter with information to keep both the child, or children, and sitter safe in various health and weather scenarios.

[edit] U.S.

In the United States, the circumstances that babysitters face can change quickly. The American Red Cross is currently the most popular form of certification; its curriculum ranges from sleeping to emergencies to encouraging young entrepreneurship. It has been statistically shown that parents are more relaxed with a certified babysitter. [1]

[edit] Word History

The term “baby sitter” first appeared in 1937; the verb form “baby-sit” is first recorded in 1947.[2] The American Heritage College Dictionary notes “One normally would expect the agent noun babysitter with its -er suffix to come from the verb baby-sit, as diver comes from dive, but in fact babysitter is first recorded in 1937, ten years earlier than the first appearance of baby-sit. Thus the verb was derived from the agent noun rather than the other way around, and represents a good example of back-formation.”[3] The use of the word “sit” to abbreviate to refer to a baby-sitter is recorded from 1800[citation needed]. The term may have originated from the action of the caretaker “sitting on” the baby in one room, while the parents were entertaining or busy in another.

[edit] International variations in definition

In British English the term refers only to caring for a child for a few hours, on an informal basis and usually in the evening when the child is asleep for most of the time.[citation needed] In American English the term can include caring for a child for the whole or most of the day, and on a regular or more formal basis, which would be described as childminding in British English.

In the United States, the term is sometimes used when one parent is at home and the other, who would normally be present, is not.

In India a babysitter or nanny is known as an ayah or aya, a person hired on a longer term contract basis to look after a child regardless of the presence of the parents.

The Disadvantages of Baby-Sitting

Baby-sitting is a way to get some extra money in a short time period, but disadvantages are present, such as hours, behavior of children and irregular schedule. This is not a dependable way to earn income because you are at the mercy of families needing a baby-sitter.

On-Demand Sitting

Baby-sitters are needed sporadically. There is no regular schedule and are often called upon last minute. The jobs can occur once and then never again. It all depends on whether the employer ever needs a baby-sitter again and if he was happy with your work with his children.

Uneducated in Child Care

A person who is in need of a baby-sitter may require the sitter to have certain type of experience and certifications, such as CPR, before hiring a baby-sitter. However, typically, baby-sitters do not have an education in child care or several years of experience. This type of person is usually doing it to make a few extra dollars.

Hours

The hours of a baby-sitting job could be at any time during the day. If a baby-sitter limits the hours of her availability, the amount of work is decreased. Also, a baby-sitter needs to be ready for long night hours. Most baby-sitters are needed to watch children at night while the parents take in a movie, dinner or attend a work event.

Behavior of Children

The children that a baby-sitter tends to may appear have angel-like characteristics in front of his parents, but things may change when a sitter is alone with the child. The children may have foul language, tantrums if they don’t get what they want or display meanness because the parents left them with a sitter.

What are the advantages of babysitters?

One of the advantages of using a babysitter is that your baby or child will be one of a small group, and the babysitter can therefore offer plenty of individual attention.

Some babysitters take care of children from several families, and usually have mixed age groups, which closely mirrors family life. This may help your child learn to feel comfortable around older and younger children. It also makes it easier to care for all the children in a family, from babies to school age children. Often, babysitters look after children from babyhood through to secondary school, giving them a great sense of security and continuity.

Many parents like this family-friendly interaction, and sometimes what starts out as a babysitting arrangement becomes a strong friendship that lasts for years.

Taking your child to a babysitter can be the next best thing to your own home. If you’re lucky enough to find a good babysitter close by, so much the better; your child will feel even more at home.

From a practical viewpoint, babysitters can often be more flexible about pick-up and drop-off times. This extra flexibility may mean that you don’t have to organise back-up care as often and is particularly useful if you work shifts. However, like all childcare arrangements, it is important not to take advantage, otherwise you may find that you have to start your childcare search all over again.

What are the disadvantages?

If your babysitter becomes ill or takes a holiday, you may be stumped for back-up childcare. Make sure you ask your babysitter how she deals with situations like this.

Some parents worry that the babysitter’s children will get more attention than their own, which puts them off the arrangement. Even the best babysitters still have to meet the needs of their own families and the other children that they are caring for. However, all aspects of day-to-day life can offer learning opportunities, and good babysitters will ensure that the children in their care are regularly engaged in new activities and experiences.

Making a decision

In common with most childcare choices, there are pros and cons for you to weigh up. But depending on your own perspective, what one person might see as a disadvantage (such as fitting into the babysitter’s daily routine), might be viewed as an advantage by another (lots of learning opportunities in a family environment). The best decision for you will be based on what feels right in your individual circumstances.

Baby-Sitting Duties & Salary

For a great many people, baby-sitting is the first hired work experience in life. Non-professional baby sitters usually range between the ages of 15 and 22. For young people, baby-sitting is usually great non-family related flexible employment that can continue all the way through college. Baby sitters have two duties: to keep the children safe and to provide them with comfort. The rates, however, vary by location and circumstance.

Safety

The No. 1 and most basic of baby-sitter duties is to make sure that the kids are safe; that no physical harm has occurred to them on your watch. Accidents can happen, but it is the sitter’s responsibility to know where the child is at all times. If there are multiple children, it is also the sitter’s duty to make sure that they do not harm each other. Knowing the dangers in a house, especially for the first time can be difficult. It is important to go over all the safety details with the parents before they leave you. Where are all the doors? Are they locked? Do the drawers and kitchen cabinets lock? Are the electrical outlets properly covered? and so on. The best way to keep a child safe is to keep them in your attention at all times. Young children should be followed and monitored closely, older children can have a little more privacy if they desire. If you must drive make sure you have proper car seats. You must also need to know what to do in the case of emergency; where the first aid is, how to do CPR and where to call for help.

Care

Along with safety, a baby sitter’s duty is to provide the children with their basic needs. Usually you will have to feed them, bath them, change diapers or help them with the toilet. The basic needs of children depend on their age; an infant will require full attention at all times even when sleeping.

Entertainment and Comfort

Aside from what a baby sitter has a to do, there are things a babysitter should do. Many children are uneasy about seeing their parents leave, as such a baby sitter needs to comfort them by reassuring the child that their parents will return soon and in the meantime you are going to have a lot of fun together. Children love it when adults play with them; ask to see their favorite toy, or watch their favorite movie, read them a book, play outside if there is a yard, or if the parents permit it, drive to a park or bakery for the afternoon. Baby sitting is made all the more easy when the children like and enjoy the company of their baby sitter. Really good baby sitters can become almost part of the family in some cases.

Salary Rates

The wages for a baby sitter vary drastically depending on the circumstances. The average baby-sitting rate in the United States is between $8 and $10 per hour. Though the average seems low, it is higher than the minimum wage in many states. There are, however, variables. Some inexperienced sitters may earn as low as $5 per hour, or on the extreme opposite experienced sitters in wealthy neighborhoods can earn between $15 and $18 per hour. Usually babysitters can set their own rate depending on the situation; infants should generally add $1 to $2 more to your standard rate, and each additional child added should add $1 as well. If you provide yourself with your own transportation then consider adding between 50 cents and $1 to your salary.

Babysitting Older Children

Babysitting older children generally takes less work than taking care of toddlers or infants. Whereas babies need constant nurture and attention, older children can tend for themselves in a lot of areas. However, there still remains a fair share of work to be done when babysitting older children. Depending on the circumstance, you may be responsible for tasks like driving them to sports practices, helping them with homework, cooking them meals, and making sure their lights are out at bedtime.

Often your babysitting responsibilities will be based on everything from your age to the specific needs of the children. Before beginning to babysit for older children, be sure to inquire as to exactly what the parents expect your responsibilities to be. It can also be helpful to obtain a babysitting checklist from the parents that will guide you with helpful instructions and reminders.

Balancing Babysitter Responsibilities

Taking care of children is rarely an easy task, and handling your responsibilities as a babysitter can sometimes be difficult. For example, if you are babysitting three or more children, or if one or more has special needs, the job can seem overwhelming. That is why it is important to properly balance your babysitting responsibilities so you do not exhaust yourself completely by the end of the evening. Babysitting is work, but it should also be enjoyable. Here’s what you can do to keep your babysitter duties balanced:

Ask the parents to explain their expectations for your babysitting services and derive a clear picture of your specific responsibilities for each child.

Obtain a babysitting checklist from the parents, which will help you keep track of important information and requirements for each child.

If you feel like too much responsibility is being put on you, speak up and tell the parents in a polite manner. Some parents do not realize what a handful their children can be, let alone all the tasks they want you to perform for them or around the house. Letting them know that you are being overwhelmed will cause them to realize they need to give their children more responsibilities of their own or, in some cases, to hire an additional babysitter to help you out.

How to Use a Babysitting Checklist

Babysitting checklists are given to child care providers by parents to give specific instructions, and contact information in case of emergencies.These checklists are important to obtain and utilize as a babysitter because they will detail how your responsibilities should be carried out.

That way, if an issue arises, you will have the information that you need to deal with it. Some items that should be included include where the parents can be reached, the number of someone to call if you cannot get in contact with the parents, the child’s doctor and insurance information, and a signed emergency treatment release for the child.

With this information, you will be prepared for anything that might happen while you are babysitting. Once you are given a babysitting checklist, be sure to keep it with you in a pocket or purse at all times. Read its contents thoroughly before the parents leave, and scan through it several times during the day or evening so that you ensure all of your responsibilities are done properly.

Managing Babysitter Responsibilities

Managing babysitter responsibilities is one of the most important tasks involved in child care. When you agree to provide babysitting for someone’s children, it is imperative that you understand what your responsibilities are and how you should carry them out. Babysitter responsibilities can vary from job to job. Just as children differ, so will the ways in which they need to be taken care of.

In order to have a solid understanding of the responsibilities a parent will want you to uphold, you should first discuss exactly what will be involved in babysitting for them. If they are not upfront with explaining the specific responsibilities for the job, be sure to inquire about them. Some babysitting jobs will simply necessitate watching and playing with the children. Others will include more extensive responsibilities like driving, cooking, changing diapers, cleaning and doing light housework.

It is also helpful to obtain a babysitter checklist from the parents. This checklist will contain, among other things, information that will direct your specific responsibilities, such as how much TV the children are allowed to watch, how to discipline them, and what they can or cannot eat. These instructions will help you understand how to carry out each of your responsibilities so you are not left guessing on your own. With clearly defined expectations and a babysitter checklist from the parents, you will be on your way to managing babysitter responsibilities like an expert.

Responsibilities for Babysitting Young Children

Babysitting young children brings its own set of unique responsibilities. While older children can tend for themselves in a lot of areas, infants and toddlers require constant nurture and attention. Babies must be fed often and, as a result, their diapers must be changed on a frequent basis.

Infants tend to spit up and toddlers make messes wherever they go, so you can expect to spend a significant amount of time cleaning up after them. Infants will also need to be held and comforted often. Young children require naps at certain times, usually specified by the parents, and it is important to make sure they get the rest they need. Most young children cry a lot and it is important to know how to handle such situations when they arise. In order to be fully prepared for babysitting young children, take a class on the subject and speak with parents who have experience. Also, be sure to ask the parents of babies you are considering taking care of what responsibilities they would expect you to have.

Responsibilities of a Babysitter

Babysitter responsibilities vary widely from job to job depending on the age of the children, their specific needs and the particular requirements set by the parents. For younger children, responsibilities may include diaper changes, feeding, and holding; on the other hand, babysitting older children may involve driving them to soccer practice or helping them with their homework.

While some children are nearly self-sufficient, all will have certain needs. This could include anything from fixing them a snack to helping them with a physical disability. Circumstances that may surround the job, such as the parents going away on business or the children wanting to take a trip to the museum, may require you to take on heavier responsibilities such as staying overnight or driving.

Specific expectations of the parents will also determine what you will have to do as a babysitter. For example, some parents want their children in bed at a certain time. In this case, you need to make sure that they change into pajamas and brush their teeth before that time comes. The best way to determine the responsibilities you will have as a babysitter is ask parents directly.

Nanny Vs. Baby-sitting

In-home child care from a professional nanny or an individual doing simple baby-sitting duties offers a parent greater flexibility and control with schedules, compared with day care. Though it may be more costly than day care, a nanny or baby sitter may be the best way to care for children. Ages of the children, the hours needed for care and additional expectations determine if a parent needs just a baby-sitter or a professional nanny.

Parent Expectations

A baby sitter is usually called when the need arises, or she may have regularly scheduled hours to care for children. Typically, the job of a baby sitter is to ensure the safety and comfort of a child while the parents are away for a few hours. A nanny usually is more involved with children for a major part of the day on a regular basis. The Nanny Network website says the responsibility of a nanny is to “partner with the parents to help raise their charges to be responsible, competent young men and women.”

Experience

A baby sitter may be a responsible teen or a trusted adult living in the neighborhood. Teenagers and adults who are serious about working as baby sitters receive training and certification from the American Red Cross. Professional nannies have experience that’s backed up with written references, whether they’re working independently or for an agency.

Household Duties

Household duties are negotiated with either a baby sitter or nanny for additional pay. In either situation, care of the children is considered a priority over chores. Younger children require greater levels of care than school-age children, so expectations about extra duties like laundry and kitchen cleanup must be reasonable.

Child Education

Both the baby sitter and the nanny can be expected to read and play with children or help school-age children with homework. A nanny will take a greater interest in teaching children and may serve as a tutor. Since the goal of the nanny is to raise children to become responsible adults, she will also educate children in manners, etiquette and how to care for themselves.

Child Discipline

Merriam-Webster offers three definitions for discipline: instruction, self-control and punishment. A nanny is involved in all three areas of discipline for the training of children, which may include corporal punishment at the parent’s discretion. Typically, a baby sitter is less involved in the child’s life and merely informs the parents about the child’s behavior.

Rate of Pay

As of July 2010, the hourly rates for baby sitting average $8 to $12 an hour, but can be as little as $4 or more than $18 an hour, according to the Babysitting-Rates website. A number of factors affect the costs of hiring child care providers. Some of the variables are the number of children, the experience of the provider and expected household duties.

In the Los Angeles area, Mirta’s Domestic Agency reports salaries from $250 to $500 for a five-day week for live-in nannies working up to 60 hours, or live-out positions for up to 40 hours per week. “Nannies usually receive one-week paid vacation after a year, plus six paid holidays,” Mirta’s says.

How to Describe Baby-sitting Responsibilities

Although all baby sitters share basic responsibilities, such as caring for children, providing entertaining activities and attending to the needs of the children, different parents and families may have their own expectations of their baby sitters. Help your baby sitter understand what your expectations are and what her responsibilities will be when watching your children by clearly describing her duties. By clearly defining the baby sitter’s role for the person you hire, you will help both yourself, your children and your baby sitter have the best experience possible.

Instructions

1

Schedule a meet and greet with your baby sitter before her first day caring for your children. After giving the baby sitter time to introduce herself to your children, communicate with her about her role as a baby sitter. Discuss simple things such as rate of pay, bedtime routines and television policies first.

2

Communicate with your baby sitter about tasks that you feel she should complete as a part of her job responsibilities. For example, some parents prefer the baby sitter to make lunches and dinners for the children, while other parents prepare meals before leaving. Let her know whether it’s OK to take your children for outings to the park, an ice cream shop or on bike rides.

3

Develop a baby-sitting checklist that your baby sitter can refer to when you are gone, especially if you have a lot of rules and responsibilities for her to abide by. Remember that getting used to another family’s routine may be overwhelming at first, so developing a checklist for your baby sitter of tasks to accomplish while you’re gone can be a huge help.

4

Remind your children about the rules of the house and ask them to remind your baby sitter if any of the rules are broken. For example, make sure that your children understand that they are not to watch television while the baby sitter is over if that is your rule. Ask them to remind her if she turns on the television out of habit.

How to Find a Babysitter Job

Babysitting is a great first job for teenagers. Babysitting is a flexible job that can fit around any schedule involving school work, extracurricular activities, and weekends. Through babysitting, you can learn patience, how to be a responsible role model, and how to handle money. To find a job, show parents of young children that you have the skills and commitment needed to babysit

Instructions

1

Create a resume. Include any babysitting experience you have had as well as the hours you are available. Ask parents if you can use them as references, and ask them for letters of recommendation that indicate your strengths as a babysitter.

2

Ask for referrals. Call family and friends for referrals of parents who are in need of a babysitter, or use a local referral program. Many states have free babysitter referral programs that screen families and teens to find the best fit. Call your local chamber of commerce to find a referral program in your area.

3

Take a CPR course. The American Red Cross provides training classes for all ages. Ask adults in your class if they need a babysitter or if they have any referrals, and hand out your resume. Parents are more likely to hire you when they know you are certified in CPR.

4

Post fliers around your community in grocery stores, churches, businesses and day care centers. Cut seven to 10 strips on the bottom of your fliers that parents can easy tear off and take with them. On each strip write your name, telephone number, and that you’re a babysitter. Get the manager’s approval before hanging up any fliers in a business.

5

Use the Internet. Advertise your babysitting services on your blogs and community pages to tell your friends and their friends you are looking for a job.

This essay will highlight how children’s health and the laws to protect them from being exploited by employers through the introduction of Parliamentary Acts have been effective. It has also been important to discover how taking children out of the workforce impacted on society and how it was able to support them. A further issue to be investigated will be how important it was to rescue children from living rough and trying to support themselves which was taken up by Nonconformists such as Thomas Barnardo and how the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) was founded (Cunningham-2006). Another aim of this assignment is to seek out how children’s health has improved through both Government and other organisations’ intervention. Therefore, what Government Acts were introduced to improve the living standards of the very poor and how they have been updated to deal with the problems of the twenty first century. Another part of trying to improve the lives of all children has been focused on providing all children with an education that would link into them achieving a better standard of living and being able to make a positive contribute to society. This has been a theme of Barnardo’s homes since Victorian times (Rose. J 1987) and is still been seen as a necessary goal in the Government’s green paper ‘Every Child’s Matters’ (2003) and the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS-2007). Therefore this will be the final area discussed in how different historical and sociological views of childhood are linked to the in present day UK.

Cunningham (2006) & Miller et al (2002)research states that Victorian times saw fifty per cent of recorded deaths in children aged five years old and under, the biggest killers being diarrhoea, whooping cough, measles and small pox. In 1840 it became compulsory to be vaccinated against small pox; a vaccination founded in 1790 by Edward Jenner a country doctor working in a practice in Gloucestershire. He had a chance conversation with a milk maid who had contracted cow pox and she told him that folk lore said that if a person had survived cow pox they could not contract small pox. His vaccine was an important discovery as small pox was the biggest killer in Victorian time; in today’s terms it claimed as many lives as cancer or heart disease. During this period ten percent of the population suffered from the disease in rural areas, this rose to twenty percent in towns and cities who contracted the virus and subsequently there was a higher death toll due to overcrowded conditions. The largest group was of children, as one in three died. Jenner’s assertion was “that the cow pox protects the human constitution from the infection of small pox” (Health affairs, 24 No 3 2005) He called it the “Speckled monster” (www.Jenner museum.com-30/12/10). In 1853 an act was passed that made it compulsory that all infants under three months were to have the vaccination. If parents failed to have their children immunised they could be ordered to court where they would be fined, property confiscated and finally imprisoned. However, this did not deter some parents across all classes who continued to battle with the authorities until their children were fourteen years old and did not have to have the vaccination. This was because many parents feared that the conditions in which the procedure was carried out were not sterile. Their fears were well founded as there was evidence that other disease were spread e.g. erysipelas, syphilis and scrofula (Baxby, small pox vaccination). Although Jenner gave this vaccination to the world for free, the doctors charged for this service therefore many poor people, who were amongst the most vulnerable, could not afford it. If doctors had not charged for this vaccination, small pox would have been under control a lot soon than it was. (www.History Learning Site.co.uk-30/12/10).

However, children’s survival rate did increase as they got older although other health factors came to the forefront. Life expectancy was reduced due to the hazard of death at work, from dust in mines, quarries, barns, mills and bakeries alongside many accidents involving using dangerous equipment. In 1842 the mines act (Maybin.J, 2003) was passed so that no child under ten years old or woman were to work underground in mines but this did not stop them from working above ground where the conditions were not much better. Many acts were also passed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century that tried to control the hazardous, and what proved in many cases the fatal occupation of chimney sweeps or “climbing boys” as they were called (Cunningham, H 2006). All these previous acts proved ineffective and it took a court case in 1875 about an eleven year old boy, George Brewster who died when sweeping a flue at Fulbourn Hospital in Cambridge. The post-mortem showed that George had suffocated, his head was congested and he had large levels of black powder in his lungs and windpipe. Lord Shaftesbury then put forward another bill to parliament, this time with success. This ended what the Times newspaper called the worst “public scandals of the Kingdom”. (Strange, K.H, 1982)

Other Acts of Parliament were also passed to try and safeguard children in cotton mills and factories over a period of time e.g. 1802 Health and Morals of Apprentices Act and the Factory Act of 1819 (Maybin,J.2003) but no provision had been ordered for these acts to be enforced. Things did not really improve until 1832 when thousands of children and adults marched to York to listen to speakers calling for a ten hour day act. The outcome of this was the 1833 Royal Commission on the Employment of Children in Factories Act (Maylin, J.2003) which said that no child under nine years of age could work in a factory and it also said that the eight hours older children spent at work had to be matched with eight hours of time spent in school until they were fourteen years old. This was supposed to be implicated by inspectors even thought there were only four for the whole of Britain. However, their work did go some way to put into place regulations that refined a system that progressed through the century. This meant that children spent equal amounts of their time in work and in school until 1918 (Cunningham-2006).

Although these acts gave children more rights they were also the cause of other problems for society and the policy-makers. The poor law amendment act of 1834 (PLAA) was still in place, which was a problem for certain authorities who had to care for the children as the work they were allowed to carry out was getting more difficult to find. However, factory masters in Northern England and the Midlands needed children to work their machines in these remote sites. This led to the London authorities who were in charge of the poor houses, to take these factories’ needs as an opportunity to send cartloads of children to these valleys to work. One boy, Robert Blincoe tells of how 80 girls and boys were promised “Roast beef and plum pudding “,but instead were forced to work 14 hours a day, were regularly beaten and given insufficient food .( Cunningham, H.2006)

Thomas Barnardo became one of the most famous men in shaping children’s history in Victorian Britain. He arrived in London from Ireland in 1866.The city at the time was coping without much success with the effects of the Industrial Revolution. London was over populated had bad housing, poverty, massive unemployment, and an outbreak of cholera had just ripped through the East End of London.3,000 people had died leaving many children without family, homeless and also many were left with terrible injuries sustained from accidents in factories. Barnardo was appalled at the site of these unfortunate children and in 1867 set up a ragged school, so called because of the condition of the children’s clothes, in the East End of London for poor children to receive some basic education. A young boy Jim Jarvis from the mission showed Barnardo round the streets one cold night, children were sleeping on roofs huddled together for warmth. This sight effected Barnardo greatly and he decided to dedicate his time and efforts to helping destitute children. In 1870 Barnardo opened the first home for boys in Stepney Causeway. One evening a boy, John Somers was turned away from the home because it was full. He was found two days later dead from malnutrition and exposure. The home from that day had a sigh which read “No Destitute Child Ever Refused Admission”. Barnardo opened a home for girls in Barkingside which housed 1,500 girls. The aim of these homes was by the time children left they had a skill to help them make their way in the world and make a contribution to society. Boys learnt a craft or trade, girls learnt domestic skills. Barnardo believed that family life was the best for children to be bought up in. He started the first fostering scheme boarding out children to well to do families; he also started a scheme to board out babies born to unmarried mothers. The mothers worked in service nearby so they could still see their off spring. Victorians looked upon poverty, something they had helped to create, as shameful. They believed it came about through vice and laziness. Thomas Barnardo felt that all children, no matter what background they had come from deserved a chance and the best start in life . A philosophy that still inspires the charity today.

Even though Barnardo was seen as a benevolent person there were still those who opposed him and tried to undermine his efforts. He was accused of having liaisons with a prostitute, falsifying photographs by dressing children in ragged clothes and miss using funds. All this was unfounded.(Cambridge University 1998)

In 1946 The Curtis Report was published it was a national report on children “deprived of a normal home life”. Children were acknowledged as the nation’s responsibility. This report was the backbone of the Children’s Act of 1948 which placed local authorities responsible for the care of homeless and those children in need.

Another Act that helped to change history and the plight of children for ever is the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The Reverend George Staite caused a public stir in writing a letter to the Liverpool Mercury dated 1881 in it he asked “Whilst we have a society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, can we not do something to prevent cruelty to children?” This statement summed up the callous way the late Victorian era still treated its children. Social attitudes of Victorian people saw a very distinct line between public and private lives. Lord Shaftesbury, who himself had campaigned successfully for the Mines Act of 1842, warned Reverend Staite against trying to help protect children using the legal system. Shaftesbury said “the evils you state are enormous and indisputable, but they are of so private, internal beyond the reach of legislation”. However by 1884 The London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was born. Lord Shaftesbury was given the post of President and the Reverend Benjamin Waugh and Reverend Edward Rudolf were joint honorary secretaries. Waugh lived in Greenwich in London, and after seeing the high levels of child cruelty in the area, wanted to draw public and government attention to the unnecessary suffering of the children. The London Society lobbed parliament hard and succeeded in changing the law through what was called “Children’s Charters.” These charters reduced the parental powers. The society recognised that most neglect and abuse happened at home. An annual meeting was held in 1889 and the name of the society was changed to the “National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.” Queen Victoria became patron and Waugh the director. In 1889 the society had thirty two branches across the UK. Inspectors were paid by raising funds. They investigated reports of abuse and neglect usually from neighbours. The public had finally got behind this Act and by 1901 the NSPPC had 250 inspectors and had had over 50,000 complaints. The NSPPC continues to uphold the traditions set in place by its founders; it acts as an independent voice of children and young people to this day.(Hendrick,H.2003)

With more children now attending school scientific studies showed that were serious health issues. These studies lead to the 1906 Welfare Act .Until this Act was in place free school meals for children of poor families were suggested but optional so some local authorise did not provide them. By 1914 150,000 children were getting one good meal a day. These studies also paved the way for the 1907Act that meant that all children who attended school were entitled to a free health check. The floor in this Act was that not all children went to school and were still working more times than not to keep their family from poverty.

In 1986 a National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) came into effect in the UK and a similar attitude to that of the Victorians recurred with parents having concerns about links between vaccinations specifically the MMR and neurological problems. Research was headed by Dr Andrew Wakefield at the Royal Free Hospital London. The research suggested that there were links between the MMR vaccination and autism in children. It went on to also make possible links to bowel disease. Two reports in1998 and 1999 looked at the evidence from Dr Wakefield’s team and concluded that firstly there was no evidence to link the MMR to autism or bowel disease and secondly that there was not enough information available to cause concern about the safety of the MMR vaccination. The Department of Health did acknowledge that the final decision was with the parents or guardian of the child but they had no hesitation to advice the use of the MMR vaccine. In 2001 (WHO) the World Health Organisation came out in a report supporting the MMR vaccine (MacLeod-Brudenell 2004).

Even though things have improved for children from Victorian times, things are still not ideal for our children of today. Poverty is still a major concern in the 21st century .Three times as many people are living relative poverty compared to 1979. Families are experiencing high levels of divorce, separation and traditional networks decrease(DSS 1999a).These changes have an adverse impact on children’s emotional well-being and physical health. Children who live in families experiencing relative poverty are; less likely to eat healthy, to be breastfeed for any length of time, to do well in school and more likely to have childhood accidents, to have parents that smoke and have parents that suffer from depression. After the death of an eight year old girl ,Victoria Climbie, she was tortured and killed by her aunt and partner. Lord Laming chaired a public inquiry it asked how in the 21st century this little girl could have been failed so miserably. After the Laming Report, a minister for children,. The government published the green paper “Every Child Matters.”(DfES 2003)The spirit of this paper is positive. This policy outlined the care that needed to be in place to protect our children including the National Service Framework(NSF) for children’s health, Sure Start for families with children under five, improve access to health food, and reduce child poverty.(Miller,L.2002)

In conclusion, from Victorian days up to modern times there have been pioneers who developed vaccinations such as Edward Jenner’s small pox inoculation to Lord Shaftesbury’s law to protect the chimney sweep boys. However, any changes no matter how well intended have had some serious implications to families’ ability to survive poverty. Further, even though there were laws to ensure the authorities did take care of the poorest in society, reforms to protect children from working had serious implication to their ability to fulfil their role.

Video modeling is an evidence based practice used to teach a variety of socially relevant behaviors for children with Autism. Many times children with Autism are visual thinkers and learners. They learn best when information is presented to them visually rather than orally. Using video modeling, the children are provided with a visual model of a peer, adult, or themselves engaging in the targeted behavior they are expected to learn. After watching the video several times, the children are provided with an opportunity to imitate and generalize the behavior observed on the video.

A number of studies have shown that video modeling increases play conversations between children with Autism and adults and peers. Since children with Autism struggle with social skills, it is beneficial to teach them to initiate play with others. Video modeling produces faster acquisition of the behavior and greater generalization in children with Autism than live modeling and without the use of reinforcements or prompting. Studies have confirmed that with video modeling, verbalization and play actions was maintained over time. Video modeling can be implemented from early childhood to adulthood and taught by professionals and parents in a variety of settings. It can be used in the classroom and at home by the parents to teach new skills the child needs to be successful.

A benefit of using video modeling is that it allows for parents, teachers, and people collaborating with the child to use the same method to teach targeted skills. It is difficult to learn and master a skill if the child is practicing different ways with different people. Because children with Autism have difficulties generalizing it is important to work together to teach targeted skills the same way. Video modeling allows for caregivers to do this. By everyone working together the child can learn the initial skill quicker and then work on generalization systematically. The child will experience success when everyone is working together, using the same video, and teaching the same skill the same way. Video modeling procedures have been used successfully to teach a variety of adaptive behaviors such as social, play, self care, and academic skills.

Types of Video Modeling

There are several types of video modeling that are used with children with Autism. The most common types of video modeling include basic video modeling, video self-modeling, point-of-view video modeling, and video prompting. Basic modeling involves recording either an adult or a peer modeling the targeted skill. The child watches this video at a later time. Video self-modeling records the child with Autism displaying the targeted skill. The child then watches themselves in the video at a later time. The point-of-view video modeling shows a video recorded from the perspective of the child with Autism. Video prompting is used when teaching a step by step skill. It is recorded by breaking the targeted skill into steps and pausing after steps to give the child with Autism an opportunity to practice each step. Many studies have found great success when combining models.

Research

A study by Macdonald (2009) evaluated the effects of video modeling has in teaching children with Autism to engage in reciprocal pretend play with their peers without disabilities. The play included verbal interactions and cooperative play. The study consisted of two pairs of children, one with Autism and a peer without Autism. The pair was shown a video consisting of two adults acting out the sequence of pretend play. The children were directed to play and their responses, actions, and verbalizations were recorded. Both pairs demonstrated successful gains of play actions and increased verbalization between peers. The performance was maintained over time. The results of this study concluded that video modeling produced sequences of reciprocal pretend play between children with Autism and their peers without Autism. In this study, video modeling was an efficient strategy for teaching cooperative play. The appropriate play skills were gained with short exposure of the video and in the absence of reinforcements and prompting.

A study conducted by Allen et al. (2010) examined the effects video modeling had on teaching vocational skills to four young men with Autism. The participantsaˆ™ ages ranged from 16-25 years old. Video modeling was used to teach the four adolescents to wear a WalkAround Mascot costume and entertain the customers in a store. The video for the training showed a mascot performing in a scripted and naturalistic setting. The participants watched the video twice and were then taken to the store to imitate for 10 minutes the behavior seen in the video. According to the results of this study, all participants learned to use the vocational skills after watching the video model. The young men enjoyed the experiment and reported they would be interested in continuing to perform at the store when the experiment would be over. Allen (2010) states aˆ?video modeling was an effective way to teach adolescents and young adults with ASDs to perform a vocational task in a social settingaˆ?.

A study designed by Nikopoulos and Keenan (2007) was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of video modeling on building sequences of social behaviors. The study included three boys with Autism from the ages of 6.5-7 years old. The boys were given common objects that included a ball, a table, two rags, a vacuum cleaner, a plant pot, and a jacket. These objects were selected because of familiarization and to avoid instructions of using the objects appropriately. The participants were shown the video and data was collected after 5 minutes by observing behaviors in the areas of social initiation, reciprocal play, imitative responses, and object engagement. The study data suggest that the participants were successful in building a sequence of social behaviors. All of the students performed the activities in the same sequence as presented in the video. The participantaˆ™s showed generalization across peers and the appropriate behaviors were maintained after the 2 month follow up period. Research proved that video modeling was successful for children with Autism in this study.

In the presented studies, video modeling has proven to be effective on children and adolescent with Autism. Results from these studies have demonstrated success across different settings and with the application of different skills. The results have also indicated that video modeling teaches skills at a rapid pace and with short exposure to the videos.

In conclusion, video modeling procedures have been used to successfully teach many types of skills and behaviors in the areas of academics, social, self-care, daily living, community, vocational, and play. When used effectively research has shown to produce more rapid acquisition and greater generalization than live modeling. Video modeling has also shown that prompting and reinforcement are not necessary to help children acquire the targeted skill. Video modeling is a great tool because of the visually cued instruction that allows children with Autism to learn by observation.

As educators our role is to teach children through curriculum. Through the years many different types of curriculum have been created. Curriculum is defined as the learning programs, activities, school subjects, materials, plans, and topics of study (Arce). The Montessori Method was established over 100 yrs. ago and is still used in some form in today’s class rooms. It is commonly associated with its popular child-size furniture in the classroom, but there is much more to Montessori Method as I will discuss detail later.

The Montessori Method was created in Rome, Italy by Dr. Montessori in 1907. During this time period in the early 1900’s the common age of children to start attending school was 6 yrs old. This age was determined based on the child’s ability to walk and understand, or “therefore deemed intelligent enough to go to school” (Montessori, The Periods of Growth) . However, in the 1930’s physiologists recognized that children become receptive to adult influences between the ages of 3-6 (Montessori, The Periods of Growth) . Just as it is known today children have a sensitive period for development and during this time it is more beneficial (Montessori, Education For Life) . The Montessori Method changed the focus then from how to teach children to meet the needs of the world, and focus on the child from their birth (Montessori, Education For Life).

Under the Montessori Method the teachers’ task which was to “the first thing to be done, therefore is to discover the true nature of a child and then assist him in his normal development” (Arce). This is achieved through the different areas of learning; Practical

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Life, Sensorial, Mathematics, Language and Literacy, Cultural Subjects, and Creative Subjects (ICME ). In most Montessori Schools the children are in vertical age groups 2 ? years to 6 years, 6 to 9 years, 12 to 15 years, and 15 to 18 years (ICME ). The exercises of practical life teach the children the importance of maintaining a clean environment, cooking and the practical skills of buttoning, sewing, and lacing (ICME ).

Next is the Sensorial, the education of the senses. This is considered to be one of more import lessons and is focused on children with special needs as well as “typical” children. The materials used are didactic materials and give special needs children opportunities to learn through the senses and it provokes auto-education in “typical” children (Montessori, Education of the Senses ). Exercises within this method include children learning to recognize the differences in dimensions by assorting various shapes and sizes of blocks (Montessori, Education of the Senses ). When a child selects the wrong size they are forced to correct it themselves. Once the child has accomplished this exercise with this specific material they then have outgrown it (Montessori, Education of the Senses ).

The third area is Mathematics. The materials children use in mathematics are similar materials to that of which are used in sorting. In mathematics the materials are color coded rods, pegs and virtually anything that can be sorted or counted (Montessori, Teaching of Numeration; Introduction to Arithmetic ).

The fourth area is language and literacy. In the Montessori curriculum the writing is focused on learning to draw lines and shapes that eventually lead to the children writing

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(Montessori, Methods for the Teaching of Reading and Writing ) . Another exercise to teach writing skills involves the children tracing the letters through materials. One lesson I found fascinating was created for children to correct themselves by using sandpaper on the outside of the letter (Montessori, Description of the Method and Didactic Material Used ). In teaching children literacy they start with vowels and then constanants to teach letter recognition. The focus is on the sounds they make and pictures of object similar to the phonics system today (Montessori, Methods for the Teaching of Reading and Writing ).

The fifth area is Cultural subjects. If you notice most Montessori schools are in environments with nature surroundings. Children are able to connect with nature by taking an active role in its care.

The last area is Creative subjects which include arts and craft, drama, music and movement. In art children are encouraged to draw anything that pops into their minds. Looking at other creative materials, children are given the freedom to explore with clay and coloring materials. Music was another way for a child to express themselves. With the Montessori Method the children create their own instruments as well as music (Montessori, Education of the Senses ).

In order for the Montessori Method to be effective in a classroom that encourages self-teaching and the freedom to move around the class and centers freely discipline is required. Self-discipline is taught to children through exercise, these exercises teach children instead of verbally commanding them to be quiet and still. Children learn these different actions by

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sitting and getting up quietly, tip toeing and the use of objects quietly, and other exercises (Montessori, General Review of Discipline ).

Montessori curriculum has advantages and disadvantage in comparisons to traditional classrooms. In a Montessori classrooms children are allowed and encouraged to experiment uninterrupted in centers for up to 3 hours opposed to a traditional classroom where the child sits at their seat a majority of the day and the teacher facilitates the lesson or they are only allowed an allotted time in centers. The teachers are to mainly observe the children and let them teach themselves and not force the child to learn. However, the disadvantages of Montessori curriculum are they don’t follow traditional grade scales, but conduct evaluations throughout the school year (ICME ) . Lastly, the name Montessori isn’t legally protected, so schools and the training they provide can vary and may not reflect Montessori Methods (International Montessori Index) . Regardless of the curriculum teachers choose it is still necessary for them adjust the curriculum to the needs of their students.

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The Concept of Child/Childhood

Aries’s argument “In medieval society the idea of childhood did not exist” provoked scholars to question what had previously been considered as child/childhood. In fact what Aries criticizes is that the past lacked the specific features of the modern concept of child/childhood. At most, Aries intends to “contrast a distinctively modern awareness of childhood with a pre-modern neglect.” (20) As in 17th century child/ childhood apparently considered by society as a time of independence and innocence, has been a time of oppression for children. Aries uses the representation of child/children in the visual arts in the middle Ages and the Renaissance as evidence of the fact that, before the 16th century, there was no interest in child/childhood as a specific category. Children were seen too fragile as yet to take part in the life of adults simply “did not count”. Lawrence Stone, the author of The Past & The Present, considers the conditions of pre-modern childhood:

“as a pessimistic one of degeneration from an era of freedom and sociability to an era of oppression and isolation, a period of happy social polymorphism, in which there were no divisions of ranks or ages, no separation of the child from the adult, no privacy, no external pressures from the state or the needs of an no privacy, no external pressures from the state or the needs of an industrial economy, no internalized work ethic. Children and adults mixed together easily and naturally, wearing the same clothes, playing the same games, and working together on the same jobs. They also shared from the beginning a common knowledge of both sex and death. This easy egalitarian familiarity was one in which child abuse could not occur”(316).

Many issues points out by Stone to convey that the concept of childhood coined by modern society and it has seen the turning point in the eighteenth century rather than the seventeenth. Similarly, Richard Farson concurs that childhood is exclusively a modern concept. He claims that concept of childhood is enforced and unnatural exclusion. However, in his belief “Children did not always exist; they were invented. The idea of childhood is a European invention of the sixteenth century. Before the latter part of the middle Ages there simply was no the concept of childhood. Most of languages had no words means childhood “(17), while, for Eva M. Simms, “by the seventeenth century the division between adulthood and childhood had become a wide gulf that separated the mature from the immature”(199).

However, childhood is not regression, but it is presumably a progression toward a meaningful, not an irresponsible freedom. Concept of childhood has varied across the centuries. In spite of the fact, children are eternally seen as social agents; the dominant view is that children are unable to make persuasive contributions and effort to society on account of their immaturity, minority status and incompetent individuals who are disconnected from the social world. But, it has usually got tangled in the haul-up ropes of viewing childhood as a period of deficiency. Aries clarifies that the child as we seen, was not missing from the Middle Ages, at least from the thirteenth century on (38). He goes further and explains “nobody thought, as we ordinary think today, that every child already contained a man’s personalit”(39). He insists in his arguments in a few next lines as the child that had died to soon in life was buried almost everywhere, much as we today bury a domestic pet, a cat or dog. He was such as an important little thing. Aries, however, argues in the renaissance “There are more children, but they are miniature adults.” Children are viewed essentially passive and childhood is considered as the most critical and crucial stage in life and by its social status as a subordinate group in need of protection in order to be prepared for adulthood. (39) Although, childhood theorists have opposed this by emphasizing the significance of exploring children’s views, an approach which underpins and makes possible this study. In fact, child/childhood is considered as a crucial stage in the development of an individual due to what society considered as good or evil and the way to relate to and care for the environment. But some theorists believe that children have not been the victims of ill-treated society and they have not been oppressed. To elaborate this, Margaret Wise Brown the American author of Goodnight Noises argues that:

“In this modern world where activity is stressed almost to the point of mania, quietness as a childhood need is too often overlooked. Yet a child’s need for quietness is the same today as it has always been it may even be greater or quietness is an essential part of all awareness. In quiet times and sleepy times a child can dwell in thoughts of his own, and in songs and stories of his own.”

These tensions are due to the writing about child/childhood from various perspectives. In this respect, John Locke who popularizes the idea that children’s begin as a blank slate and their personalities and moral compasses are not inborn but formed through their experiences. He argues that “children as the recipients of an ideal upbringing, citizens in the making, fledgling but imperfect reasoners and blank sheets filled by experience “, then , he believes in the priori knowledge and has faith in acquiring knowledge gradually through experiences. In spite of fact, he proposes that “childhood being a stage in the development process whose end is adulthood.” Therefore, he sees children as imperfect, not yet rational, and incomplete version of adult. That’s why adult should have power over their children. Furthermore, he insists that “children are only white paper or wax and they have to be moulded and fashioned as one pleases”. He continues the acquisition of reason is gradual process and may human vary from animals in being rational, but this doesn’t distinguish children from adults. Though, it’s part of natural and normal process of psychological development and maturation that a child should become a fully rational control. Therefore, adulthood is a state of mind rather than a question of age. Similarly, children have seen as weak, vulnerable and incapable of providing for their own maintenance. Locke concedes that “a lack of reason is not exclusive to children; they are adults _innocents and madmen_ who remain in the state naturally defines childhood”(7) However, his definition of childhood strengthens the irrationality of childhood within the framework of psychology. Nevertheless, he never denies children rights.

While, Archard argues Aries may be wrong to think that it is only modern society which has a concept of childhood; while he concurs there is distinctively modern conception of the particular nature of childhood but there are different views of childhood. Thus, the concept of childhood is infused with myth, mixture of cultural and ideological sources. For him “The concept of childhood requires that children be distinguishable from adults in respect of some unspecified set of attributes”(21). He proposes that “societies at all times have had the concept of childhood. But there have been different conceptions of childhood”(23).Indeed, it may differ in term of “its boundaries, its dimensions and its divisions”(23). Rousseau defends the value of having concept of childhood and stresses the recognition of child as a child. He argues that ” childhood has its in the order of human life. The man must be considered in the man and the child in the child”(80), whilst Aries implies childhood as a particular of nature. In other words, childhood is to recognize that children differ interestingly from adults, while Rousseau argues that “we know nothing of childhood” as such we “are always looking for the man in the child, without considering what he is before he becomes a man”(3). As a matter of fact, concept of childhood is strictly associated with the adulthood. Being child is the opposite of being an adult, and vice versa (Achard, 23). Of course, it simply implies that childhood means absence of adulthood, but it doesn’t represent childhood against adulthood. However, childhood has thus been verified as a stage of life and also the word child has been recognized in many societies to clarify a kinship but also to indicate as an age of servitude. Variously, it has been observed the beginning of childhood to occur at birth or has even been extended at the end of breastfeeding, which lasted sometimes at around seven years. Regarding constructing an ideal concept of childhood, Jean-Jacques Rousseau as an eighteenth-century philosopher who began modern educational theory, defines childhood as the “nature age” at which there is no space for reason and knowledge as such adults have been tried to denature it. Accordingly, he argues that:

The second stage, or the age of nature, is from around two to twelve years old. During this time the child should develop physical qualities and the senses, but not the mind. As a result of this negative education which includes no verbal learning, nor moral instruction, the child will display the necessary qualities of being both eager and pleasant. (Emil, 93)

Yet, biological features haven’t always been prominent in signifying childhood. According to Kehily, Henry Mayhew an English social researcher views childhood as “a period of life where play and carefree pleasure should be indulged, where the child is protected from the adult world of work and is cared for, kept warm and well fed” (3) Similarly, Thomas John Barnardo argues that “Children have only one chance of a childhood. They deserve to be protected from harm, to enjoy good emotional, mental and physical health, and to feel that they belong in their home, at school and in their local community.” Rousseau concurs that “Nature wants children to be children before they are men…Childhood has its ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling that are proper to it. Nothing is less sensible than to try and substitute our ways… It is the curb of strength, and the child does not need this curb” (258).

The romantic view of childhood imputes children as spirituality close to God. This idea is taken up in England by William Wordsworth who claimed that “The child is father of the man.” Thereby, Diana Gittins in her book The Child in Question encounters with childhood “an adult construction that changes over time and place.” Then, she continues the concept of childhood varies between children in relation to social categories such as gender, ethnicity and social class. However, Gittins draws attention to the development of childhood as a concept that increasingly differentiated adults and children, girls and boys. Similarly, Mary Jane Kehily explores childhood in relation to issues of sexuality. But, Stevie Jackson in his book Childhood and Sexuality 1982 explains children and sex should be kept apart.

Regarding negative aspect of child/childhood, children are defined as a one is becoming other rather than being. For Rousseau “We know nothing of childhood”, as such adults are always looking for the man in the child without considering what he is before always looking for the man in the child without considering what he is before he becomes a man. (3)Adults “destroys and defaces all things; he loves all that is deformed and monstrous; he will have nothing as nature made it, not even man himself, who must learn his paces like a saddle-horse, and be shaped to his master’s taste like the trees in his garden” (Rousseau 4).

To sum up, as Nodelman articulates that “Adults offer children images of childhood that they expect children to mimic in order to be the right kind of children. The necessity of this process itself inscribes its inevitable failure: children are not yet and not actually what adults wish them to pretend to be, which is exactly why adults wish them to pretend to be it, for their own good” (187).