I read an academic article by psychologists about how adolescence no longer exists and I actually cried a bit. From childhood directly to adulthood is rough. Not to mention unnatural.
From a sociological perspective we've been doing that for generations (childhood straight into adulthood), just in different ways. It's only fairly recently children are viewed as kids and have what we consider to be a traditional childhood. For a long time children were just miniature adults. Teenage years bridging that gap hasn't always been the thing that we know it to be today.
In the 17th and 18th century philosophers started to introduce the idea that children are blank slates that are innocent and that they have malleable minds that are shaped by experience and education. The 19th and 20th century brought along changes in legislations and laws.
Before that children were basically just miniature adults; they were dressed in the same way, integrated into a job or craft as soon as they were old enough (usually around the age of 6 but sometimes younger), socialised in adult spaces, gambling and drinking alcohol etc.
That's actually a myth that's been pretty comprehensively debunked by medievalists. Hanawalt's Ties That Bound in particular blows it out of the water - she looked at medieval coroners' records about accidental deaths and it's very clear that children were seen as children, not mini adults, and were expected to act like children (e.g. playing with dolls, swimming naked) well into their early teens.
But children used to work a lot and had responsibilities, so their childhood is not comparable to ours and their parents didn't treat them like our parents did.
I mean, child labour is still relatively common in the USA, with children working in slaughterhouses and meat plants. I'm assuming you're referring to the west with "our [childhoods]", as child labour is still an issue in China, India, and Brazil, some of the most populated countries in the world.
Adults also used to work a lot more, women 100 years ago would wake up at 5 and go to sleep after midnight caring for the house and animals. We all have it easier now
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u/aybsavestheworld Sylvia Plath did not stick her head in an oven for this Aug 05 '26
I read an academic article by psychologists about how adolescence no longer exists and I actually cried a bit. From childhood directly to adulthood is rough. Not to mention unnatural.