Children In Early Modern Europe DBQ

Children DBQ In early modern Europe, various assumptions were made about children and how to raise them. Some families went with detachment, tender love, or cruelty. All of these assumptions, more or less, affected child-rearing practices. In the 1550s in Florence, Italy, Benvenuto Cellini describes a time where he visited his natural, born in wedlock, son. “..when I wanted to leave he refused to let me go.. breaking into a storm of crying and screaming” “I detached myself from my little boy and left him crying his eyes out” (Document 4) Because the childhood mortality rate was so high, men and women would teach themselves to not get themselves so attached to their children, because they would pass away at the cause of some sort of ailment or lack of good health. In 1693, in London, a famous philosopher by the name of John Locke wrote an essay/book called, “Some Thoughts Concerning Education”. In it, he writes, “..I do not intend any other but such as suited to the child’s capacity and apprehension” “..they must be treated as rational creatures.. Make them sensible by the mildness of your carriage and composure” When Locke write this he means that if you show your child no emotion, your manner will teach them that everything you do is necessary for their well-being, and thus, teaching them that nothing will be handed to them in life. (Document 11) In Amsterdam, in 1762, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau informs us in his writing, “Emile”, about the negativities of indulgence. “An excess of rigor and an excess of indulgence are both to be avoided. If by too much care you spare them every kind of discomfort” Rousseau is telling us that by protecting the children from every sort of misery in the world, you are not preparing them for the harsh life in early modern Europe. (Document 12) Although most preferred the detachment method when it came to children, some cherished their children and showered them in tender love. Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of