Childhood: The New Paradigm

Many theorist have discovered various approaches to childhood and how to prepare for adulthood. As our world has evolved the meaning of childhood has changed drastically over time. Our idea of childhood has progressed through history, psychological studies and the 'new' paradigm shift. In the medieval times there was no separation between childhood and adulthood; children and adult lifestyles were almost identical. As time progressed, psychologist claimed that childhood could be explained scientifically. Theorist concluded that you must go through a series of developmental stages in order to become an adult in society. The 'new' paradigm disagrees, and wishes to change this approach. The 'new' paradigm recoignes that all children
During this time there were three paradigms consting of romantic, pertain and 'tabula rasa'. The romantic view believed in the goodness of children, viewing them as naturally innocent. Children in the work force was unquestioned and a natural aspect of life. Unlike the romantic paradigm, the puritan view believed children were full of original sin; making discipline essential to prevent corruption, this lead to children being beaten. Locke's paradigm 'tabula rasa' also known as blank slate viewed children as being born literally no-thing. Some people began to see childhood to be valued in it's own right and not preparation for something else (Cunningham, 2005, p.58). Their main concern was with education, believing children could potentially become evil from bad education. Therefore, children were not raised like they traditionally are today. This can be explained by social construction of childhood. Today, a four year-old who can tie his or her shoes is impressive. In colonial times, four-year-old girls knitted stockings and mittens and could produce intricate embroidery: at age six they spun
Additionally, unlike developmental psychology, the 'new' paradigm does not consider it fundamental for children to complete a set of orderly stages on their way to competent adulthood. The social study of childhood is a paradigm shift because it is a new way of thinking about childhood. The new paradigm is a shift because it does not believe in children being passive incompetent becomings. Instead, sees children as being competent individuals in society who shape and are shaped by the environment they are in. The 'new' paradigm focuses on children as a social construction, childhood is a variable of social analysis and children have the right to take control of their own lives (James and Prout, 1997, p.2). The 'new' paradigm also features ethnography as a common method for the study of childhood and engagement in and response to the process of reconstructing childhood in society. The whole concept is to better the study of childhood, “it is our task here, then, to situate what is new in the context of what has passed in order to judge it's efficacy for contemporary concepts of childhood” (James and Prout, 1997, p.2). The complexity of this task is that they must maintain an essentially thematic rather than historical account of advancement. Ultimately, childhood is influenced by our societal norms and the environment we