Constructing a Parent

Abstract

In the 1980s a new type of child was codified. It had been under construction for a long time; at least the better part of a century. That child is the child with human rights, internationally recognized and under the protection of the United Nations. The codification defines the status of the child as a complete human being, and might be seen as one type in a succession of child types, for example:

• The not yet fully developed little grown-up with no special sign as “child” except smallness, which Ariès (1962) allocates to the medieval times and some century thereafter.

• The innocent and vulnerable child, filled with promises and developmental possibilities that Rousseau outlined.

• The contemporaneous evil child, born in sin and loaded with a heavy burden of guilt from the original sin.

• The also contemporaneous cheap workforce child combined with the machines of industrialization, aimed to accumulate capital for others; in many respects a sibling to the medieval little grown-up, and probably yet the most common child, worldwide.

• The child in school, guarded by the state by laws to educate citizens and prevent both abuse and too much uncontrolled leisure.

• The welfare child, which is a successor to Rousseau’s Emile–measured, weighed, and supported both directly and indirectly by the societies, agencies, and professions from the medical, social, educational, and psychological fields.