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    thank you very much well thank you for
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    coming out on a wet and travel
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    interrupted evening I got on a train at
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    fabricon I was told it was going to go
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    slow took of the danger of floods and
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    thought I wouldn't get here but here I
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    am and what I want to tell you this
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    evening is a story of two narratives
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    about childhood once progressive and
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    positive and the others depressing and
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    negative in 1942 the poet in SCS Sylvia
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    Lind admitted that year that we have our
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    temporary misfortunes but he was
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    confident that the story of English
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    children is a story that moves towards a
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    happy ending try saying that in 2014 no
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    one now imagines that the story of
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    English children is moving towards a
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    happy ending news reporting of the state
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    of childhood is almost uniformly
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    negative children we know we learn our
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    obese children suffer high rates of
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    self-harming and mental illness children
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    are described as couch potatoes slumped
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    in front of screens children suffer from
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    attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
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    children are materialistic hooked on
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    consumerism an alarming number of
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    children's need to be autistic or to
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    suffer from dyslexia and since the 1970s
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    so research shows the world which
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    children explore on their own has shrunk
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    by a factor of nine this is not a purely
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    British phenomenon but according to what
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    we read it's worse in Britain than
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    anywhere else when in 2007 UNICEF did a
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    survey of children in 21 advanced
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    economies you probably know where the
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    united kingdom came 21st
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    and things don't seem to be getting
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    better there was a report last year
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    showing that three-quarters of German
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    junior school children were allowed to
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    travel home from school alone only one
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    quarter or British children in 2006 sue
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    Palmer published the book called toxic
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    childhood our children's he argued are
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    being poisoned not only by the food they
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    eat and the drink they drink but also by
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    the messages they receive and that
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    invite them into a world of consumption
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    and sexualisation so here are the two
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    narratives I want to show how and why
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    Sylvia Lynde was so optimistic in 1942
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    how that optimism survived for another
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    30 years or so after 1942 but then
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    collapsed in the early 1970s to be
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    succeeded by the negative narrative and
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    I want to suggest that the power of
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    these narratives is such that they form
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    a framework within which we fit
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    everything we hear about children and
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    childhood further that we go out to look
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    for facts which will reinforce the
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    narrative so let me start with the
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    progressive narrative it's shaped as a
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    romance that most basic of human stories
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    it starts in the olden times once upon a
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    time a historically unspecific period
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    when children like adults lived in the
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    countryside help their parents around
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    the house in the garden on the farm
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    gradually taking on more responsible
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    roles as they grew older there was no
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    great sentimentality about children life
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    was too hard and demanding for that they
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    were treated so the story claimed as
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    little adults though that phrase i think
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    is an imposition
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    earlier centuries by the 19th century
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    neither families nor society were
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    child-oriented the life course was
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    pictured as a triangle you started at
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    the base of the triangle was a baby
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    climbed up to the height in middle age
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    and then began the descent downwards
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    their childhood a Shakespeare described
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    it consisted of the infant mewling and
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    puking and of the whining schoolboy
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    going unwillingly to school the
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    childhood years were not as they were to
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    become the best years of life this world
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    depicted as stable and hardly changing
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    was according to the narrative disrupted
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    by two forces that came to prominence in
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    the late 18th century the first was
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    romanticism and the second was the
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    Industrial Revolution if we look a
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    little bit before romanticism took hold
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    I think we could argue until the late
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    18th century there were two main modes
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    of child-rearing the first strongest
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    amongst Puritans saw the baby is born in
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    sin the task of parenting was to bring
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    the child to a consciousness of sin and
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    to the means of salvation this was not
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    something that could be left to chance
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    or time children's lives were fragile
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    isaac watts in 1715 in his divine songs
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    attempted in easy language for the use
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    of children taught children to sing this
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    you might just might try and imagine
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    yourself aged about six singing this
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    there is an hour when I must die nor do
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    I know how
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    sunt will come a thousand children young
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    as I are called by death to hear their
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    doom the second mode of child rearing
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    strongly influenced by john locke's 1693
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    some thoughts concerning education place
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    the emphasis on instilling in two
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    children habits and thoughts that work
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    induced to the emergence of rational
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    adults education as far as possible was
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    to be made enjoyable but all to the end
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    of producing the desired adult
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    romanticism in this context was I think
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    revolutionary the child moved center
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    stage and was far from being painted
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    with original sin or as in the Lockean
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    view a mere blank slate TIG Blake's
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    Blake's songs of innocence he has a two
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    day old child talking to his mother I
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    have no I there no name I am but two
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    days old what shall I call thee I happy
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    am joy is my name sweet joy before thee
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    now that may sound very obvious and
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    simple but it is actually I think a
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    totally new way of looking at childhood
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    and it had it that is not a very good
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    reproduction of a famous picture the age
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    of innocence by Joshua Reynolds but this
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    became the template from then onwards
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    for how you would depict children
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    children sitting amidst nature in the
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    country innocent Wordsworth in his
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    enormous Lorraine influential but
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    curiously titled Oh Don intimations of
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    immortality from recollections of early
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    childhood claimed in a phrase which came
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    much mocked later but claimed that
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    babies came trailing clouds of glory
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    from God with our home children will now
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    messengers from God imbued with a
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    sensitivity to nature and an in
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    on morality they could teach adults how
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    to live a good childhood became the
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    foundation block for later life but
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    growing up in this perspective was a
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    process of loss childhood was now seen
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    as the best time of life the life course
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    thereafter downhill childhood they
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    reiterated again and again should be
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    happy is an indication of how pervasive
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    the influence of Romanticism was that in
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    the 1840s Thomas Guthrie a Scottish
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    evangelical minister forgetting about
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    original sin could proclaim that God
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    made childhood to be happy and what was
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    the kind of trigger for him saying that
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    was watching children at play in the
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    grassmarket in Edinburgh which was a
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    extremely poor part of Edinburgh at that
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    time now the other big impact the late
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    18th century was the Industrial
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    Revolution which itself became
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    associated with the exploitation of
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    child labor in factories and mines as
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    Jael and Barbara Hammond put it in the
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    town labourer 1917 I don't think it
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    would have been at all controversial
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    when they wrote it during the first
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    phase of the Industrial Revolution the
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    employment of children on a vast scale
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    became the most important social feature
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    of English life child labor was came to
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    be seen as a denial of childhood as the
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    romantics imagined it Coleridge for
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    example took a leading role in trying to
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    end it and we need to sort to get us a
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    sense of how revolutionary in my view
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    this was to look back to what people
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    were saying in the late 17th early 18th
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    century John Locke had war had wanted
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    all children above three whose families
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    sought relief from the parish to be sent
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    to a working to school a school where
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    they would work too
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    keep Daniel Defoe rejoiced in reports of
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    children of four or five earning their
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    own keep in the textile trades
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    romanticism in combination with evidence
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    of children's working conditions in the
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    Industrial Revolution killed such
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    notions by the 1830s samuel roberts a
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    leading campaigner against the use of
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    boys to clean chimneys was describing
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    how ever a toiling child death make us
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    sad such children it was said were
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    children without childhood childhood now
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    painted in romantic colors for Sylvia
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    Lind in 1942 the story of the industrial
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    age is the story of the martyrdom of
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    children if the progressive story of
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    childhood is a romance the Industrial
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    Revolution was the crisis but a romance
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    has to have a happy ending fortunately
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    for both nation and children rescue was
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    at hand in the story as it was
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    constructed in the second half of the
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    19th century philanthropists Lord Ashley
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    most prominent took up the cause of the
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    children in mines and factories he was
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    the biography of 19 26 foot it our
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    British Abraham Lincoln the Emancipator
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    of industrial England or in another
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    phrase the Moses who led the children of
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    bondage into their Promised Land the
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    Promised Land was in one since childhood
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    more mundane Lee it was school Ashley's
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    concern stretched beyond working
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    children he took up the cause of stewed
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    children who were at the forefront of
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    public attention in the mid-nineteenth
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    century here to school was seen as the
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    remedy first in the ragged schools
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    pioneered in the 1840s and then in a
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    spread of compulsory
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    schooling in a late 19th century and
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    again we have numerous pictures of
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    street children and a street life and of
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    here is the rescue in operations feel
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    like these are the one of Barnardo's
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    faked before and after photos which he
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    used the John raise money even dress up
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    please you would finally still do it
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    that that wasn't pretty miserable
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    circumstances but he had a special model
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    clothing for them and he made them look
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    thoroughly miserable here he is age 14
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    photographed before and after and he'd
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    been rescued in the story of the rescue
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    there was one further element the rescue
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    of children from neglect mistreatment
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    and abuse by adults here the NSPCC
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    founded in 1889 was seen as playing the
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    crucial role the NSPCC was supremely
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    successful in constructing a version of
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    history in which children enjoyed no
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    protection under law and it itself until
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    it itself provided such protection
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    government in harness with
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    philanthropists played a crucial role in
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    the rescue of children it passed factory
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    apps and education acts and what were
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    called children's charters is set up
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    inspectorate's arnold toynbee who was an
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    inspirational figure in setting up the
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    notion of the Industrial Revolution as a
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    social crisis tremble to think what this
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    country would have been but for the
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    factory acts romanticism impact and
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    resonance I think left three lasting
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    legacies first childhood as the best
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    time of life should be prolonged the
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    raising of the school leaving age was
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    the most influential way of doing this
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    starting at ten in 1818 now 18 second
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    children and adults should as far as
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    possible inhabit inhabit separate realms
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    the adult world defined as dangerous for
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    children special spaces should be
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    created for children schools playgrounds
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    and adult spaces such as pubs denied
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    them and third romanticism provided a
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    story a narrative of things getting
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    better and we can see that narrative in
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    place with the reflections on childhood
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    offered on the occasion of Queen
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    Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 the
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    end of the century and then queen with
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    Queen Victoria's death the romance was
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    now complete children had gone through
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    the crisis of the Industrial Revolution
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    and been rescued for childhood the
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    nation could congratulate itself in 1897
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    w clark hall a barrister who worked with
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    the NSPCC described how when Victoria
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    came to the throne the great juggernaut
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    car of unscrupulous commercialism
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    private greed and domestic inhumanity
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    rolled upon its way with Nanda hinder
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    tracing our way back down the dim
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    avenues of the years we see the white
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    and moldering bones of the child victims
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    which is cruel wheels have crushed but
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    the juggernaut and now in 1897 been
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    halted year by year the number of his
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    victims become more few the shouts of
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    the happy rescue children more loud and
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    more glad happy children themselves led
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    the story in the elementary schools they
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    sang a song entitled o happy English
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    children I found evidence of it both in
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    Durham and in Kent but haven't been able
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    to find the words you can set yourself a
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    task of trying to imagine them if you
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    in the rest of this talk here is how the
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    Scottish Society for the Prevention of
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    Cruelty to Children told the story it
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    comes from sicky sparrows the magazine
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    of the junior branch the League of pity
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    sixty years ago when Victoria came to
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    the throne the children of a nation were
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    in thousands of instances being done to
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    death morally and physically in wretched
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    homes in which they slowly pined and
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    starved to death in factories closely
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    confined and set to watching the droning
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    turning wheels until released sick and
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    faint at night they crept wearily home
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    with no heart to rejoice in their
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    childhood no thought but to rest and
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    were still down in the dark mines
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    underground little helpless naked
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    children toiled in the coal pits think
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    what that must have been new children
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    who loved the bright sunshine and the
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    green fields but the rescue happened and
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    was ongoing since the Queen's accessions
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    city's barrows went on a hundred and
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    seven acts of parliament have been
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    passed relating to child life and child
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    suffering and now you happy children
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    throughout the length and breadth of
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    Scotland we would appeal to you to
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    commemorate the glorious 60 years of our
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    queen by joining the league of pity and
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    so helping to carry on the work for
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    suffering children she has done so much
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    to further and we can see again in the
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    picturing of children the rescue
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    achieved this is kate greenaway sillas
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    tration of hark hark the dogs do bark
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    the beggars have come to town it's set
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    curiously in the countryside there's no
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    town there there's a farmhouse and the
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    beggars us of disappearing into into the
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    background up in the foreground the
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    child safely protected by
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    is a gate and a dog this is how
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    childhood should be enclosed and safe
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    within a garden and here is a picture I
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    take more or less a random from a book I
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    picked up a few years ago called
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    children in art which is one of those
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    books like you have them post cards you
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    can pull out about 50 of them nearly all
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    50 of them for something like this of a
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    child sitting in nature surrounded
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    carefully by animals and this is I think
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    from the amount 19 tens or early
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    twenties so the story is established I
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    think by the turn of 19th 20th century
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    and there was no significant threat to
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    it in the first half of the 20th century
  • 20:23 - 20:29
    rather it became embedded in 1903 the
  • 20:27 - 20:32
    author of a standard textbook h2b
  • 20:29 - 20:36
    gibbons summarized his account in the
  • 20:32 - 20:38
    words only think of the triumph that
  • 20:36 - 20:43
    have been won in this generation for the
  • 20:38 - 20:48
    children of england won for the century
  • 20:43 - 20:50
    2004 and imagine yourself saying that in
  • 20:48 - 20:53
    the interwar years the journalists and
  • 20:50 - 20:59
    suffragist evilyn sharp described how
  • 20:53 - 21:02
    was a young girl in the 1880s sorry she
  • 20:59 - 21:05
    had no idea that she stood at the dawn
  • 21:02 - 21:08
    of a new age that was going to
  • 21:05 - 21:11
    revolutionize all childhood and had done
  • 21:08 - 21:15
    so she thought and for the better in
  • 21:11 - 21:17
    1813 1930 said George Newman chief
  • 21:15 - 21:20
    medical officer in the Ministry of
  • 21:17 - 21:22
    Health lecturing to the shafts with
  • 21:20 - 21:26
    society a society to commemorate
  • 21:22 - 21:28
    Ashley's work could rejoice the one of
  • 21:26 - 21:32
    the darkest chapters of our social
  • 21:28 - 21:36
    history was over the long and shameful
  • 21:32 - 21:39
    story of cruelty and oppression is ended
  • 21:36 - 21:41
    children it was frequently said had a
  • 21:39 - 21:44
    right to health and happiness and
  • 21:41 - 21:47
    increasingly they enjoyed both Sylvia
  • 21:44 - 21:51
    Lind celebrated at achievement in
  • 21:47 - 21:54
    42 drew gress was not confined to
  • 21:51 - 21:57
    Britain the principle behind factory
  • 21:54 - 22:00
    legislation claimed Sydney web in 1910
  • 21:57 - 22:03
    has spread to every industrial community
  • 22:00 - 22:09
    in the old world and the new in the
  • 22:03 - 22:11
    1830s people across the world look to
  • 22:09 - 22:15
    Britain in horror at his use of child
  • 22:11 - 22:18
    labour it had an unenviable not arathi
  • 22:15 - 22:21
    shared only by belgium by the early 20th
  • 22:18 - 22:25
    century it was priding itself on setting
  • 22:21 - 22:28
    the path of progress and a narrative
  • 22:25 - 22:32
    kept going I think just about into the
  • 22:28 - 22:34
    1970s in both national and international
  • 22:32 - 22:39
    level I'll just give you three markers
  • 22:34 - 22:41
    in 1973 two very was well-respected
  • 22:39 - 22:43
    historians Ivy Pinchbeck and Margaret
  • 22:41 - 22:45
    Hewitt published the second of two
  • 22:43 - 22:47
    volumes on children in English society
  • 22:45 - 22:50
    and their second volume started in the
  • 22:47 - 22:53
    18th century and they opened with a
  • 22:50 - 22:57
    chapter entitled childhood without
  • 22:53 - 23:00
    rights and protection children in the
  • 22:57 - 23:03
    18th century described as being little
  • 23:00 - 23:07
    adults they end the volume in triumph
  • 23:03 - 23:15
    with the children act of 1948 it's a
  • 23:07 - 23:17
    story of progress that was 1973 1974
  • 23:15 - 23:20
    Lloyd the modes were crossing the
  • 23:17 - 23:23
    Atlantic here in America edited a
  • 23:20 - 23:28
    influential book called the history of
  • 23:23 - 23:30
    childhood and he argued that child
  • 23:28 - 23:33
    parent-child relations had gone through
  • 23:30 - 23:37
    six stages over time these ones I got at
  • 23:33 - 23:39
    the bottom here the Infanta sidle mode
  • 23:37 - 23:41
    of child rearing was the first the
  • 23:39 - 23:44
    abandonment you just leave your child
  • 23:41 - 23:47
    out to die the ambivalent the intrusive
  • 23:44 - 23:49
    the socialization is getting better and
  • 23:47 - 23:52
    finally in the mid 20th century the
  • 23:49 - 23:54
    helping mode and what he's arguing is
  • 23:52 - 23:56
    that somehow parents of
  • 23:54 - 23:58
    got to a stage when they can actually
  • 23:56 - 24:01
    understand their children can help them
  • 23:58 - 24:04
    and he starts with this famous or
  • 24:01 - 24:06
    infamous statement hits the further back
  • 24:04 - 24:09
    in history one goes that lower the level
  • 24:06 - 24:12
    of childcare the more likely children
  • 24:09 - 24:17
    are to be killed abandoned beaten
  • 24:12 - 24:21
    terrorized and sexually abused there's
  • 24:17 - 24:23
    still optimism and in 1973 also at the
  • 24:21 - 24:26
    world level the International Labour
  • 24:23 - 24:30
    Organization passed its minimum wage
  • 24:26 - 24:36
    convention setting 15 as the age below
  • 24:30 - 24:39
    which no child should work very soon
  • 24:36 - 24:41
    that began to look not only not
  • 24:39 - 24:43
    achievable but perhaps also something
  • 24:41 - 24:45
    that it would not be desirable to
  • 24:43 - 24:47
    achieve that you might in some
  • 24:45 - 24:52
    circumstances be happy to see children
  • 24:47 - 24:57
    below 15 working so what happened in the
  • 24:52 - 24:59
    1970s and 80s or 1974 saw the first
  • 24:57 - 25:02
    sustained attack on the story and what
  • 24:59 - 25:06
    it implied for children John halts book
  • 25:02 - 25:10
    escaped from childhood childhood said
  • 25:06 - 25:12
    halt was portrayed it childhood pub for
  • 25:10 - 25:16
    Holt was portrayed as an institution a
  • 25:12 - 25:18
    kind of prison with powers to lock the
  • 25:16 - 25:20
    young into 18 years or more of
  • 25:18 - 25:23
    subservience e independence and make of
  • 25:20 - 25:26
    them a mixture of expensive nuisance
  • 25:23 - 25:30
    fragile treasure slave and superpet
  • 25:26 - 25:34
    childhood he said goes on far too long
  • 25:30 - 25:36
    what is both new and bad about modern
  • 25:34 - 25:41
    childhood is that childhood are so cut
  • 25:36 - 25:43
    off from the adult world this was the
  • 25:41 - 25:46
    first frontal assault on the image of
  • 25:43 - 25:48
    childhood that had been built up in the
  • 25:46 - 25:52
    19th in the first three quarters of the
  • 25:48 - 25:54
    20th century but it would be naive I
  • 25:52 - 25:56
    think to place too much emphasis on
  • 25:54 - 25:58
    haltingly short-lived movements for
  • 25:56 - 26:02
    child liberation which was some extent
  • 25:58 - 26:04
    inspired by him larger factors were
  • 26:02 - 26:07
    involved in the dismantling of the
  • 26:04 - 26:08
    progressive narrative narrative and its
  • 26:07 - 26:11
    replacement
  • 26:08 - 26:14
    by the one we know today and at route
  • 26:11 - 26:19
    they had little directly to do with
  • 26:14 - 26:22
    childhood the oil crisis of 1973 seems
  • 26:19 - 26:25
    to me the great turning point in the
  • 26:22 - 26:29
    history of the post-war world in the
  • 26:25 - 26:32
    West the moment when optimism about the
  • 26:29 - 26:34
    future shriveled it opened the way to
  • 26:32 - 26:36
    what initially was called the
  • 26:34 - 26:40
    reaganomics what has come to be called
  • 26:36 - 26:42
    neoliberalism the belief in the justice
  • 26:40 - 26:45
    and virtue of the market and the
  • 26:42 - 26:49
    demonization of welfare states as a drag
  • 26:45 - 26:52
    on economic progress and the impact of
  • 26:49 - 26:56
    these developments on children was
  • 26:52 - 26:58
    dramatic in Britain in the 1980s and 90s
  • 26:56 - 27:02
    the proportion of children living in
  • 26:58 - 27:07
    poverty rose from one in ten to one in
  • 27:02 - 27:09
    three a statistic that led easily into a
  • 27:07 - 27:12
    negative narrative that things are
  • 27:09 - 27:14
    getting worse in the developing world
  • 27:12 - 27:17
    and also in the developed world child
  • 27:14 - 27:19
    labor began to increase the facts began
  • 27:17 - 27:21
    to impinge on world consciousness
  • 27:19 - 27:23
    through the pamphlets published by the
  • 27:21 - 27:25
    anti-slavery society between nineteen
  • 27:23 - 27:27
    seventy eight and nineteen eighty eight
  • 27:25 - 27:29
    but there was also work beginning
  • 27:27 - 27:33
    looking at the extent of child labor in
  • 27:29 - 27:36
    Britain in the developed world the
  • 27:33 - 27:38
    transition from childhood to adulthood
  • 27:36 - 27:40
    which in the late sixties and early
  • 27:38 - 27:42
    seventies have become concentrated in a
  • 27:40 - 27:45
    few short years in the late teens and
  • 27:42 - 27:48
    early twenties now stretched out over a
  • 27:45 - 27:52
    decade or more this was largely due to
  • 27:48 - 27:56
    youth unemployment which has dogged the
  • 27:52 - 27:58
    Western world ever since we can see the
  • 27:56 - 28:00
    collapse of the old confidence about
  • 27:58 - 28:02
    quant constituted the proper childhood
  • 28:00 - 28:05
    and about the direction in which society
  • 28:02 - 28:09
    was moving taking shape from the early
  • 28:05 - 28:15
    1980s and the keynote was now not
  • 28:09 - 28:18
    optimism but anxiety within 10 years of
  • 28:15 - 28:21
    John Holt's demand for an escape from
  • 28:18 - 28:25
    childhood Neil postman
  • 28:21 - 28:28
    in 1982 was lamenting the disappearance
  • 28:25 - 28:30
    of childhood his was one of a number of
  • 28:28 - 28:33
    books published around that time and
  • 28:30 - 28:36
    many sins arguing that the barriers that
  • 28:33 - 28:39
    probably properly existed between
  • 28:36 - 28:43
    childhood and adulthood were being
  • 28:39 - 28:47
    dangerously lowered children were
  • 28:43 - 28:49
    ceasing to be children postman had many
  • 28:47 - 28:52
    successes in laments about the
  • 28:49 - 28:55
    undermining of childhood and in
  • 28:52 - 28:59
    campaigns to hold on to it or to bring
  • 28:55 - 29:04
    it back at a quite different level of
  • 28:59 - 29:06
    that of academic history in 1983 Linda
  • 29:04 - 29:08
    Pollack published a book called
  • 29:06 - 29:13
    Forgotten children parent-child
  • 29:08 - 29:16
    relations from 1500 to 1900 and this
  • 29:13 - 29:18
    marker really big change in the view of
  • 29:16 - 29:21
    the past which would generally gone
  • 29:18 - 29:24
    along with the optimistic narrative
  • 29:21 - 29:27
    Pollock ruthlessly dismantled the
  • 29:24 - 29:31
    progressive narrative far from being a
  • 29:27 - 29:34
    hell she said the past was now a country
  • 29:31 - 29:37
    where parents had always done the best
  • 29:34 - 29:41
    for their children Pollock rigorously
  • 29:37 - 29:43
    avoided nostalgia but parents reading it
  • 29:41 - 29:47
    in later twentieth-century membra
  • 29:43 - 29:49
    Pollock stopped in 1900 might well
  • 29:47 - 29:53
    wonder whether 20th century parents were
  • 29:49 - 29:57
    doing as well as their forebears
  • 29:53 - 30:00
    coinciding with this economic historians
  • 29:57 - 30:02
    were dismantling and questioning the
  • 30:00 - 30:04
    Industrial Revolution first of all they
  • 30:02 - 30:07
    they took away the capital letters and
  • 30:04 - 30:08
    then they began to question it all
  • 30:07 - 30:12
    together and began to talk about
  • 30:08 - 30:14
    evolution and more significant for our
  • 30:12 - 30:17
    purposes they quietly dropped child
  • 30:14 - 30:20
    labor from his previous simple position
  • 30:17 - 30:23
    both in academic history and in the
  • 30:20 - 30:25
    progressive narrative and without child
  • 30:23 - 30:28
    labor the progressive narrative was
  • 30:25 - 30:30
    undermined from within
  • 30:28 - 30:32
    many ways i think it was child labour
  • 30:30 - 30:35
    the crisis which had brought the
  • 30:32 - 30:38
    childhood and the rescue which was then
  • 30:35 - 30:44
    described which set the framework for
  • 30:38 - 30:47
    the progressive one and so they began to
  • 30:44 - 30:50
    emerge a new narrative and it's one
  • 30:47 - 30:54
    which people of my generation love to
  • 30:50 - 30:56
    tell we were taught the progressive
  • 30:54 - 30:59
    narrative and we've seen it
  • 30:56 - 31:01
    disintegrates our story begins with our
  • 30:59 - 31:03
    own childhoods in the middle years of
  • 31:01 - 31:06
    the 20th century and ends in the present
  • 31:03 - 31:08
    in our childhoods we say we had freedom
  • 31:06 - 31:11
    to explore our world without constant
  • 31:08 - 31:13
    adult supervision depending on our
  • 31:11 - 31:15
    social background and where we lived our
  • 31:13 - 31:17
    mothers might turn us out of doors after
  • 31:15 - 31:20
    breakfast and tell us not to come back
  • 31:17 - 31:22
    until teatime or we might have the
  • 31:20 - 31:24
    freedom to roam the countryside the kind
  • 31:22 - 31:28
    of Arthur Ransome swallows and amazons
  • 31:24 - 31:31
    charlton no one talked about health and
  • 31:28 - 31:34
    safety or about risk assessment autism
  • 31:31 - 31:37
    dyslexia self-harming attention deficit
  • 31:34 - 31:39
    hyperactivity disorder eating disorders
  • 31:37 - 31:42
    the things parents and children worried
  • 31:39 - 31:44
    about now none of these featured in our
  • 31:42 - 31:48
    lives as far as we knew in those of our
  • 31:44 - 31:52
    parents in these childhoods it's always
  • 31:48 - 31:55
    summer time we had scrapes and box
  • 31:52 - 31:57
    probably some old man sad old man and a
  • 31:55 - 32:01
    MAF exposed himself to us but we took
  • 31:57 - 32:03
    this in our stride I sometimes think we
  • 32:01 - 32:05
    ought to factor in boredom into these
  • 32:03 - 32:07
    stories of our childhood but even that
  • 32:05 - 32:10
    wouldn't alter the overall conclusion
  • 32:07 - 32:15
    our childhoods were happy they were
  • 32:10 - 32:17
    proper childhoods I've come to associate
  • 32:15 - 32:22
    this pessimistic narrative with the
  • 32:17 - 32:24
    Daily Mail in 2006 I was asked to write
  • 32:22 - 32:27
    something for the Daily Mail on the
  • 32:24 - 32:28
    history of childhood a new opportunity
  • 32:27 - 32:32
    of an academic historian to reach her
  • 32:28 - 32:35
    new leadership at about one pound a word
  • 32:32 - 32:36
    with two thousand words to play with it
  • 32:35 - 32:40
    was an offer that was difficult to
  • 32:36 - 32:43
    refuse but I was told
  • 32:40 - 32:47
    little or some way into writing this
  • 32:43 - 32:50
    thing Paul Dacre would take a particular
  • 32:47 - 32:52
    interest in what I wrote and unless I
  • 32:50 - 32:57
    could show that childhood have got worse
  • 32:52 - 33:02
    since the 1950s he wouldn't publish it I
  • 32:57 - 33:08
    did my best but not enough it was
  • 33:02 - 33:11
    archived no I look back on it I think
  • 33:08 - 33:14
    some ways Paul Dacre was quite right he
  • 33:11 - 33:17
    knew exactly what his readers wanted to
  • 33:14 - 33:20
    hear they wanted to have their story
  • 33:17 - 33:25
    confirmed and I was trying to challenge
  • 33:20 - 33:27
    it it could be said that this negative
  • 33:25 - 33:30
    narrative has such a hold on us is
  • 33:27 - 33:34
    actually quite difficult to find any
  • 33:30 - 33:36
    space in which to challenge it few of us
  • 33:34 - 33:38
    here would probably wish to be thought
  • 33:36 - 33:41
    to have a daily male version of
  • 33:38 - 33:46
    childhood that in essence i think is
  • 33:41 - 33:48
    what many of us have the pessimistic
  • 33:46 - 33:52
    narrative gains much of its potency from
  • 33:48 - 33:55
    names the names of children who died
  • 33:52 - 34:00
    through neglect or been murdered or
  • 33:55 - 34:03
    abducted maria colwell killed by her
  • 34:00 - 34:06
    stepfather in 1973 despite in the last
  • 34:03 - 34:08
    nine months of her life 30 complaints
  • 34:06 - 34:12
    about the way her mother and step-father
  • 34:08 - 34:16
    treaty to Jasmine Beckford starved and
  • 34:12 - 34:20
    battered to death in 1984 James Bulger
  • 34:16 - 34:24
    murdered by two other children in 1993
  • 34:20 - 34:27
    Sarah Payne murdered by a pedophile in
  • 34:24 - 34:30
    two thousand Victoria columbia dying of
  • 34:27 - 34:33
    hypothermia in two thousand after months
  • 34:30 - 34:38
    of neglect and abuse madeleine mccann
  • 34:33 - 34:42
    abducted in 2007 Peter Connolly baby p
  • 34:38 - 34:47
    dying in 2007 after neglect by his
  • 34:42 - 34:50
    mother and her boyfriend you can add to
  • 34:47 - 34:54
    the ghastly roll call and it goes on
  • 34:50 - 34:57
    in the negative narrative the world now
  • 34:54 - 35:03
    is far from being a safe place for
  • 34:57 - 35:06
    children in home street school in the
  • 35:03 - 35:08
    institutions often called homes where
  • 35:06 - 35:13
    some children have lived many of them
  • 35:08 - 35:16
    church-run in the BBC or in hospital a
  • 35:13 - 35:20
    story tells us there is danger for
  • 35:16 - 35:23
    children so there are the two narratives
  • 35:20 - 35:28
    the most obvious question to ask of them
  • 35:23 - 35:30
    is are they true I make some attempt to
  • 35:28 - 35:32
    answer that but I want also to consider
  • 35:30 - 35:35
    the implications of narratives of the
  • 35:32 - 35:41
    kind we have both the childhood and for
  • 35:35 - 35:44
    children if we ask are they true the
  • 35:41 - 35:46
    answer has to be I think yes and no take
  • 35:44 - 35:49
    the progressive narrative it's difficult
  • 35:46 - 35:51
    to deny that on key measurements like
  • 35:49 - 35:54
    life expectancy health standard living
  • 35:51 - 35:59
    level of education it was indeed a story
  • 35:54 - 36:02
    of progress even on these issue has
  • 35:59 - 36:05
    however there was a degree of over
  • 36:02 - 36:07
    aching Sir George Newman whom we
  • 36:05 - 36:10
    encountered earlier went to great
  • 36:07 - 36:12
    lengths to deny evidence of children's
  • 36:10 - 36:16
    poor health in the northeast of England
  • 36:12 - 36:20
    in the into warriors similarly the Home
  • 36:16 - 36:22
    Office consistently downplayed the
  • 36:20 - 36:25
    existence of child labour continuing
  • 36:22 - 36:29
    child labour in the first half of the
  • 36:25 - 36:31
    20th century it's when we widened the
  • 36:29 - 36:33
    focus to look at some of the policies
  • 36:31 - 36:35
    set in place for the rescue of children
  • 36:33 - 36:40
    that the progressive story begins
  • 36:35 - 36:44
    seriously defray the NSPCC version of
  • 36:40 - 36:47
    history was I'm afraid false there's now
  • 36:44 - 36:50
    a lot of evidence that the world's
  • 36:47 - 36:52
    protection for children in law before
  • 36:50 - 36:58
    the NSPCC this give you one bit of it
  • 36:52 - 37:04
    the times between 1785 and 1860 I before
  • 36:58 - 37:08
    the NSPCC reported 385 case
  • 37:04 - 37:11
    of child neglect and sexual abuse only
  • 37:08 - 37:14
    seven percent resulting in a not guilty
  • 37:11 - 37:16
    verdict there is considerable evidence
  • 37:14 - 37:18
    of neighborhood sanctions against
  • 37:16 - 37:22
    parents who were perceived to be cruel
  • 37:18 - 37:23
    one magistrate in the 1820s finding
  • 37:22 - 37:25
    there was insufficient evidence to
  • 37:23 - 37:28
    convict someone was up before him for
  • 37:25 - 37:31
    cruelty and abuse looked up into the
  • 37:28 - 37:34
    gallery of the court and said I'm sure
  • 37:31 - 37:40
    you'll know what to do when he leaves
  • 37:34 - 37:43
    the dock and he was attacked but all
  • 37:40 - 37:46
    this was forgotten as a NSPCC version of
  • 37:43 - 37:49
    history took root there were further
  • 37:46 - 37:52
    problems with the rescue narrative for
  • 37:49 - 37:55
    many children being rescued meant living
  • 37:52 - 37:58
    in an institution and we have become
  • 37:55 - 38:02
    very aware of the inhumanity that can
  • 37:58 - 38:03
    reside in institutions other rescue
  • 38:02 - 38:06
    policies were more far-reaching
  • 38:03 - 38:09
    especially the immigration of children
  • 38:06 - 38:11
    overseas to Canada and then to Australia
  • 38:09 - 38:13
    there might be good intentions behind
  • 38:11 - 38:16
    some of these policies but that does not
  • 38:13 - 38:18
    defend them against accusations that
  • 38:16 - 38:21
    they seriously infringe the rights of
  • 38:18 - 38:25
    those children who were emigrated in
  • 38:21 - 38:28
    short the invocation to children to be
  • 38:25 - 38:31
    happy to acquire is evil in sharp-edged
  • 38:28 - 38:35
    the habit of happiness was asking a lot
  • 38:31 - 38:39
    of children who experienced nothing that
  • 38:35 - 38:41
    might make them happy as to the negative
  • 38:39 - 38:44
    narrative there is a gain much truth in
  • 38:41 - 38:48
    it but the negative narrative too has
  • 38:44 - 38:50
    been built on some shaky foundations the
  • 38:48 - 38:53
    thing that strikes me most about much of
  • 38:50 - 38:56
    the so-called evidence is a very basic
  • 38:53 - 38:59
    confusion between a correlation and a
  • 38:56 - 39:01
    calls just to give you an example
  • 38:59 - 39:05
    children who watch a lot of television
  • 39:01 - 39:08
    are rated more materialistic than those
  • 39:05 - 39:11
    who watch less but you can't jump from
  • 39:08 - 39:13
    the correlation to say that it's
  • 39:11 - 39:16
    watching too much television that makes
  • 39:13 - 39:16
    them more materialistic it might equally
  • 39:16 - 39:19
    wear
  • 39:16 - 39:23
    be the other way around or there might
  • 39:19 - 39:24
    be other factors involved and in many
  • 39:23 - 39:26
    cases of this which come up in the
  • 39:24 - 39:29
    research that's been done people almost
  • 39:26 - 39:32
    know the answers to the research before
  • 39:29 - 39:36
    they started and how interesting i think
  • 39:32 - 39:38
    that materialism which you might say is
  • 39:36 - 39:41
    at the heart of politicians appeal to
  • 39:38 - 39:46
    the adult public is thought to be quite
  • 39:41 - 39:51
    unacceptable for children so are there
  • 39:46 - 39:54
    any reasons to be cheerful well when
  • 39:51 - 39:56
    unicef in 2013 published the further
  • 39:54 - 39:59
    study of children's well-being in the
  • 39:56 - 40:01
    richer countries the headlines and
  • 39:59 - 40:04
    articles had in some sense been written
  • 40:01 - 40:07
    before the report emerged we knew it
  • 40:04 - 40:11
    would be bad news the negative narrative
  • 40:07 - 40:14
    demanded that it was in fact even on the
  • 40:11 - 40:18
    most cursory looks better news than in
  • 40:14 - 40:21
    2007 britain had climbed out of bottom
  • 40:18 - 40:25
    place and was now 16th out of 29
  • 40:21 - 40:28
    countries but while grudgingly accepted
  • 40:25 - 40:31
    accepting this most reporting
  • 40:28 - 40:34
    highlighted the negative you wouldn't
  • 40:31 - 40:38
    have known that the report showed
  • 40:34 - 40:41
    improvement as i've shown here a decline
  • 40:38 - 40:42
    in infant mortality decline we're
  • 40:41 - 40:45
    talking about the first decade of the
  • 40:42 - 40:48
    21st century a decline in child poverty
  • 40:45 - 40:52
    levels and then from decent from these
  • 40:48 - 40:55
    figures on with her 4 11 13 15 year olds
  • 40:52 - 40:58
    a decline in the incidence of bullying a
  • 40:55 - 41:01
    decline in the incidence of fighting the
  • 40:58 - 41:05
    decline in drunkenness a decline in
  • 41:01 - 41:10
    cannabis use decline even in being
  • 41:05 - 41:16
    overweight apparently and eighty-six
  • 41:10 - 41:18
    percent asked to rate their lives gave a
  • 41:16 - 41:22
    pretty positive version there's another
  • 41:18 - 41:23
    survey of this the 2006 youth survey of
  • 41:22 - 41:27
    the british household panel survey
  • 41:23 - 41:29
    showed eighty-seven percent of 11 to 16
  • 41:27 - 41:33
    year olds rating their life
  • 41:29 - 41:37
    the whole as happy rather than unhappy
  • 41:33 - 41:43
    nine percent were neutral and only four
  • 41:37 - 41:45
    percent unhappy moving beyond the
  • 41:43 - 41:48
    question of the truth or otherwise of
  • 41:45 - 41:52
    the narratives what are the implications
  • 41:48 - 41:55
    of having narratives of this kind at all
  • 41:52 - 41:58
    in essence it seems to me the new
  • 41:55 - 42:02
    narrative the negative one is as much
  • 41:58 - 42:04
    infected by romanticism as the old at
  • 42:02 - 42:07
    its heart lies a belief in the
  • 42:04 - 42:09
    desirability of the separation and
  • 42:07 - 42:13
    distinctiveness of adulthood and
  • 42:09 - 42:16
    childhood this suggests to me that the
  • 42:13 - 42:19
    power of the narratives as much if not
  • 42:16 - 42:22
    more to do with adulthood as it does
  • 42:19 - 42:26
    with childhood I don't want to explore
  • 42:22 - 42:29
    this little further a few years ago I
  • 42:26 - 42:31
    spent some time on an assessment panel
  • 42:29 - 42:33
    set up by the then department of
  • 42:31 - 42:36
    children schools and families by PI had
  • 42:33 - 42:38
    balls to look at the impact of the
  • 42:36 - 42:41
    commercial world on children's
  • 42:38 - 42:43
    well-being and we were asked to compare
  • 42:41 - 42:46
    the present with the past over the past
  • 42:43 - 42:47
    50 years I was there as a historian was
  • 42:46 - 42:50
    supposed to know that the answer to that
  • 42:47 - 42:52
    and we are urged to look for positive
  • 42:50 - 42:57
    benefits of the commercial world as well
  • 42:52 - 42:59
    as negative ones but of course the panel
  • 42:57 - 43:02
    had been set up precisely because of
  • 42:59 - 43:06
    concern about the negative impact the
  • 43:02 - 43:09
    commercial world and what part of the
  • 43:06 - 43:13
    world I kept asking myself is not now
  • 43:09 - 43:16
    commercial is conceived of as an adult
  • 43:13 - 43:19
    world adults buying and selling as
  • 43:16 - 43:21
    equals but posed the commercial world
  • 43:19 - 43:23
    against children and you are likely to
  • 43:21 - 43:25
    think of advertisers and marketers
  • 43:23 - 43:28
    manipulating children's innocent and
  • 43:25 - 43:30
    naive minds children need to be
  • 43:28 - 43:32
    protected against it if we think of
  • 43:30 - 43:34
    children as obese if we think of them
  • 43:32 - 43:36
    constantly searching inappropriate parts
  • 43:34 - 43:39
    of the internet if we think of them was
  • 43:36 - 43:41
    prematurely sexualized if were bothered
  • 43:39 - 43:42
    by pester power the commercial world
  • 43:41 - 43:46
    surely has much to
  • 43:42 - 43:48
    answer children we might say have a
  • 43:46 - 43:50
    right to a life without any of these
  • 43:48 - 43:54
    things children and I think it's a very
  • 43:50 - 43:59
    telling world as seen as vulnerable
  • 43:54 - 44:01
    adults by contrast also Abby's also
  • 43:59 - 44:04
    searching inappropriate parts of the
  • 44:01 - 44:07
    internet the whole world sexualized and
  • 44:04 - 44:09
    arata sized their insatiable desire for
  • 44:07 - 44:12
    material goods what makes the world go
  • 44:09 - 44:16
    round adults can survive without
  • 44:12 - 44:18
    protection we probably don't much like
  • 44:16 - 44:21
    this adult life where perhaps rather
  • 44:18 - 44:24
    ashamed of it but at least we think we
  • 44:21 - 44:30
    can spare children from it life is
  • 44:24 - 44:32
    downhill we often say that childhood has
  • 44:30 - 44:37
    been shortened that children go up too
  • 44:32 - 44:41
    quickly to historian this looks nonsense
  • 44:37 - 44:45
    on the contrary it's been extended it
  • 44:41 - 44:47
    lasts officially now up to 18 but I
  • 44:45 - 44:49
    think you would have found very few
  • 44:47 - 44:54
    people who had thought it lasted much
  • 44:49 - 44:58
    beyond 10 or perhaps 12 in the 18th
  • 44:54 - 45:00
    century and one sign of the lengthening
  • 44:58 - 45:03
    of childhood is the shift in the cash
  • 45:00 - 45:06
    flow until roughly the mid-twentieth
  • 45:03 - 45:08
    century children typically kept up their
  • 45:06 - 45:12
    earnings to their mothers who gave them
  • 45:08 - 45:17
    back something for spends cash flowed
  • 45:12 - 45:18
    from children to parents would that was
  • 45:17 - 45:19
    still the case some of you may be
  • 45:18 - 45:23
    thinking
  • 45:19 - 45:26
    as many of us know to our cost cash now
  • 45:23 - 45:29
    flows the other way from parents to
  • 45:26 - 45:32
    children and there seems no age at which
  • 45:29 - 45:35
    it will or should end if one sign of
  • 45:32 - 45:38
    being an adult is to be financially
  • 45:35 - 45:42
    independent then children in their 20s
  • 45:38 - 45:45
    and 30s have yet to attain that status
  • 45:42 - 45:47
    but if childhood has been extended it
  • 45:45 - 45:50
    has also been and this will sound a
  • 45:47 - 45:52
    contradiction shortened we constantly
  • 45:50 - 45:54
    hear of children doing things at an age
  • 45:52 - 45:57
    much younger than adults now in their
  • 45:54 - 45:59
    middle age ever did children today may
  • 45:57 - 46:02
    not be able to cross a road on their own
  • 45:59 - 46:05
    but they're integrated into a world of
  • 46:02 - 46:08
    social media fashion and celebrity in
  • 46:05 - 46:10
    ways older people were not what has
  • 46:08 - 46:12
    happened is that the boundary fences
  • 46:10 - 46:14
    between childhood and adulthood those
  • 46:12 - 46:17
    which postman was so worried about
  • 46:14 - 46:19
    coming down having deep broken down
  • 46:17 - 46:23
    so-called adults behave like children
  • 46:19 - 46:26
    and Beth children behave like adults and
  • 46:23 - 46:28
    if we ask why this has happened one
  • 46:26 - 46:33
    answer I think is that the prospect of
  • 46:28 - 46:36
    adulthood is pretty bleak if you find
  • 46:33 - 46:39
    work it differed enough then adulthood
  • 46:36 - 46:42
    means work and we've learned in the last
  • 46:39 - 46:47
    quarter century of it so that work means
  • 46:42 - 46:51
    stress for many work means well life
  • 46:47 - 46:54
    means paid work plus unpaid child care a
  • 46:51 - 46:58
    recipe for even more stress I've heard
  • 46:54 - 47:03
    many people say i had an idyllic
  • 46:58 - 47:06
    childhood i never heard anyone say they
  • 47:03 - 47:09
    are enjoying an idyllic adulthood of
  • 47:06 - 47:13
    course the dilek childhoods a
  • 47:09 - 47:15
    constructions made by adults they're
  • 47:13 - 47:20
    actually pointers to see to how we see
  • 47:15 - 47:21
    the life course narratives make sense of
  • 47:20 - 47:25
    the world but they do not necessarily
  • 47:21 - 47:27
    reflect the world as it is the
  • 47:25 - 47:30
    narratives I've considered are extremely
  • 47:27 - 47:32
    powerful in effect mindsets
  • 47:30 - 47:35
    that can incorporate into the story
  • 47:32 - 47:38
    anything that's thrown at them huge
  • 47:35 - 47:40
    number of adults in 21st century of
  • 47:38 - 47:43
    Britain have bought into the negative
  • 47:40 - 47:46
    narrative and internalized it clinging
  • 47:43 - 47:50
    onto a romantic and idealized view of
  • 47:46 - 47:52
    childhood if there are lessons to learn
  • 47:50 - 47:54
    I think they come from the Scandinavian
  • 47:52 - 47:59
    countries which no one's surprise do
  • 47:54 - 48:01
    well in the UNICEF surveys why first it
  • 47:59 - 48:03
    has something to do with greater
  • 48:01 - 48:07
    equality if you ask why Britain came
  • 48:03 - 48:09
    21st in the 2007 it's worth looking at
  • 48:07 - 48:14
    the country which came 20th which was
  • 48:09 - 48:16
    the United States the US and Britain are
  • 48:14 - 48:19
    on almost every count among the two most
  • 48:16 - 48:22
    unequal societies in the developed world
  • 48:19 - 48:24
    inequality feeds social exclusion and
  • 48:22 - 48:27
    damages children's sense of their
  • 48:24 - 48:30
    well-being and is not only the poor who
  • 48:27 - 48:32
    suffer from this parents are all too
  • 48:30 - 48:35
    we're aware of how their children's
  • 48:32 - 48:37
    future is dependent on school success
  • 48:35 - 48:40
    and of course convey this to their
  • 48:37 - 48:44
    children we want our children to be
  • 48:40 - 48:48
    happy perhaps even more we want them to
  • 48:44 - 48:51
    achieve but second besides being less
  • 48:48 - 48:53
    unequal scandinavia seems to me has a
  • 48:51 - 48:56
    rather different view of children than
  • 48:53 - 49:01
    in britain in britain children are seen
  • 48:56 - 49:03
    as vulnerable basically deficient in the
  • 49:01 - 49:06
    qualities and attitudes that would
  • 49:03 - 49:08
    enable them to survive in the world
  • 49:06 - 49:12
    without adult supervision and
  • 49:08 - 49:15
    helicoptering parents in scandinavia the
  • 49:12 - 49:18
    attitude is more that children are
  • 49:15 - 49:24
    basically competent and could be trusted
  • 49:18 - 49:27
    to be sensible encouraging competence
  • 49:24 - 49:31
    sounds rather unexcited aim for
  • 49:27 - 49:32
    childhood it is at the opposite pole to
  • 49:31 - 49:36
    the romantic conception of child
  • 49:32 - 49:39
    childhood and I think that would be all
  • 49:36 - 49:42
    to the good it might even mean that the
  • 49:39 - 49:46
    issue of childhood became less fruit
  • 49:42 - 49:48
    discussions of it less emotional we
  • 49:46 - 49:54
    might be able to change the narrative or
  • 49:48 - 49:54
    even do without one thank
Title:
Sandbox
Description:

more » « less
Video Language:
English
Team:
Captions Requested
Duration:
01:46:39
Claude Almansi edited Greek subtitles for Sandbox
Dimitris Mitsariwnas edited Greek subtitles for Sandbox
Dimitris Mitsariwnas edited Greek subtitles for Sandbox
Dimitris Mitsariwnas edited Greek subtitles for Sandbox
Claude Almansi edited Greek subtitles for Sandbox
Claude Almansi edited Greek subtitles for Sandbox
Claude Almansi edited Greek subtitles for Sandbox
Claude Almansi edited Greek subtitles for Sandbox
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