2. Learning Objectives
• MUST know how and why children’s roles have changed
• SHOULD be able to explain in detail
• COULD evaluate the change in roles
7. Childhood in the past
Childhood nowadays
(19th century)
• Father was the head of • Spoilt?
the family – great deal of
authority and little • Higher status
involvement with children • Child-centred families
• Rich – nanny/boarding • Seen as a time of
school?
innocence
• Poor – children as
economic assets (sent • Children should be
out to work) protected
• Children have low status • Exposed to adult world?
(“seen and not heard”) Eg sexualised?
8. • Many sociologists have argued that families are now
much more child-centred than they were in the past
because family life revolves around the interests and
welfare of the children
• The amount of time that parents spend with children has doubled
since the 1960s
• Parents are more involved with their children, taking an interest in
their activities, discussing decisions with them and treating them
more as equals
• Children’s welfare is often seen as the priority
• BRAINSTORM: Why are families more child-centred?
9. Families are
smaller
Why are
families
Increasing
Growing fears more affluence
child-
centred?
Compulsory
education
makes
children
dependent on
parents
10. • Children are increasingly experiencing different types of
family structures and different kinds of family relationships
as they grow up
• Why?
• What affect might this have on children?
11. • The experiences that children have are affected by factors
such as..
• Social class
• Ethnicity
• Gender
Work in pairs to brainstorm how each of these factors may affect
childhood
12. • A lot of children live very happy family lives but a
significant number live in poor conditions and/or are not
well cared for
14. Exam Qs
• Identify two ways in which the role of children has
changed within the family. (2)
• Explain what sociologists mean by a child-centred family.
(4)
• Identify two reasons why families are more child-centred
nowadays. (2)
• Describe one way in which the experience of childhood
may vary depending on the sex of child and explain why
this may be the case. (5)
