Early_Modern_Children_Dbq

Early Modern Europe Children In early modern Europe, children were often raised with different child-rearing practices and throughout early modern Europe the practices changed over time. The assumptions that were taken upon parents throughout the 1500’s and 1700’s were to raise children with kindness, abuse, or rationalization; each assumption had a different effect with child-rearing practices by children learning grace and virtue, a good education or to learn from their mistakes. The documents that interpret the first assumption of parents raising their kids with kindness effect child-rearing practices with the child learning grace and virtues before the mid- 1550’s. In Document 1, Christoph Scheurl states “My dear son Georg Scheurl will by the grace of God be six years old on April 19. He is now growing up so fast that he has become completely awkward. He likes to learn, delights in it. He is now learning the Donat and can already cite it from memory. He says grace at the table and keeps his hands clasped so that he is not looked on as a child.” This document shows how kind Christoph is toward his son Georg. Georg “[L]ikes to learn… He says grace at the table and keeps his hands clasped so that he is not looked on as a child. In Christoph’s point of view he wants to teach his son the importance of God by not only treating his son with kindness but also having his son learn the Donat and say grace at the table. In Document 2, Martin Luther says “The force of our natural love is so great that we are unable to refrain from crying and grieving in our hearts and experiencing death ourselves. The features, the words, and the movements of our living and dying daughter, who was very obedient and respectful, remain engraved I our hearts.” This document shows the love and grief Martin Luther is going through after the death of his daughter Magdalene and shows how much he really did care for her. Before Magdalene died, the effect of how Martin Luther raised her she grew up to be “very obedient and respectful.” Jumping ahead toward the early 1600’s it wasn’t as common for parents to raise their children with kindness but Margaret Cavendish’s mother certainly did. In Document 9, Margaret stated “We were tenderly, for my mother naturally did strive to please and delight her children, not to cross and torment them, terrifying them with threats, or lashing them with slavish whips; but instead of threats, reason was used to persuade us, and instead of lashes, the deformities of vice were discovered, and the graces and virtues were presented unto us.” This document shows how Margaret’s mother raised her children with kindness. In her mother’s point of view, she wanted her children to learn without abuse and to be persuaded instead of threatened, and instead of abuse for consequences “graces and virtues were presented” upon them. In the mid 1550’s child rearing practices started to change to the assumption of parents raising their children with abuse. The use of abuse was to affect how a child learns from their mistakes and to become a man. In Document 3, The Domostroi states “A man who loves his son will whip him often so that when he grows up he may be a joy to him. He who disciplines his son will find profit in him and take pride in him among his acquaintances. He who gives his son a good education will make his enemy jealous and will boast of him among his friends.” This document states how a Father wants his son to learn from their mistakes and this assumption effects his child-rearing practices by the son growing up to be happy, to have pride among his friends, to have a good education and to make his enemies jealous. In the author’s point of view he wants his son to grow up to be a man even if it means to have discipline. In Document 8, King Henry IV stated “I wish and command you to whip [my son] every time that he is obstinate or misbehaves, knowing well for myself that there is nothing in the world which will be better for him than that. I know it from experience, having myself profited, for when I was his age I was often whipped. That is why I want you to whip him and to make him understand why.”. This document shows that King Henry IV wants his son to be whipped after he makes a mistake and to have his son understand why. This discipline is rather harsh, but in both author’s perspective they want their sons to grow up to be a man, to have pride in themselves and among his acquaintances, to have a good education and to learn from their mistakes. In the late1600’s toward late 1700’s child-rearing practices started to change to the assumption of parents raising their children rationally. The use of raising their children with rationalization was to also affect how a child learns from their mistakes. In Document 10, William Blundell said to his daughter, Lancashire “It is my duty to you not to cast you off while any hope remains, but to correct you as occasion requires, and this correction I am bound under sin to give you, though now at this present I hope that you and I may be dispensed with as to that particular. Go. Remember what I tell you. Become a good girl; pray and mend.” This document shows how Blindell teaches his daughter to pray and mend after confessing her sins to God. In Blindell’s perspective he is correcting he “as occasion requires” he wants his daughter to be a good girl and to go through a consequence after breaking her promise to him. In Document 11, John Locke states “But when I talk of reasoning with children, I do not intend any other but such as is suited to the child’s capacity and apprehension… [Children] must be treated as rational creatures, I mean that you should make them sensible by the mildness of your carriage, and the composure, even in your correction of them, that what you do is reasonable in you, and useful and necessary for them.” This shows John Locke’s philosophy on child-rearing practices on how to teach children from their mistakes without changing their behavior and abusing them. In John Locke’s point of view children should be corrected reasonably and if necessary, and not out of abuse. In Document 12, Jean Jacques Rousseau states “An excess of rigor and an excess of indulgence are both to be avoided. If you let children suffer, you expose their health, their lives. You make them miserable in the present. If by too much care you spare them every kind of discomfort, you are preparing great miseries for them; you make them delicate, sensitive.” Jean states that when raising children the assumption that is taken upon the parents should be rational; not too nice and not too harsh. To not let children suffer and to expose their health but too much care will affect the children afterwards by making them delicate and sensitive. From both author’s perspective they think the effect of raising their children rationally will have the children grow up to be strong without harsh practices and without too much kindness; right in between. As we can see how child-rearing practices have evolved from 1500’s to the 1700’s. The assumptions that were taken upon parents throughout the 1500’s and 1700’s were to raise children with kindness, abuse, or rationalization; each assumption had a different effect with child-rearing practices by children learning grace and virtue, a good education or to learn from their mistakes.