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Growing up in poverty, children face tough challenges: hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and medical services, social discrimination and isolation. But with charity from people like you, we can help children get the health care, education, life skills, job-readiness training and confidence they need to create lasting change in their lives and communities. Together, we can end poverty for good.
Children growing up in poverty are exposed to many additional stressors and negative influences. Your support during this vulnerable time helps children for the first two critical decades of their lives.
At Children's Wisconsin, we care for every aspect of a child's health. This includes their physical, social and mental well-being. But our expertise goes beyond medical knowledge. We talk to children in ways they can understand. We create child-friendly environments that put kids at ease. And we provide resources that impact their health at home and at school.
A child (pl.: children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty,[1][2] or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty.[3] It may also refer to an unborn human being.[4][5] The legal definition of child generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority.[1] Children generally have fewer rights and responsibilities than adults. They are generally classed as unable to make serious decisions.
Early childhood follows the infancy stage and begins with toddlerhood when the child begins speaking or taking steps independently.[13][14] While toddlerhood ends around age 3 when the child becomes less dependent on parental assistance for basic needs, early childhood continues approximately until the age of 6 or 7. However, according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, early childhood also includes infancy. At this stage children are learning through observing, experimenting and communicating with others. Adults supervise and support the development process of the child, which then will lead to the child's autonomy. Also during this stage, a strong emotional bond is created between the child and the care providers. The children also start preschool and kindergarten at this age: and hence their social lives.
The French historian Philippe Ariès argued that during the 1600s, the concept of childhood began to emerge in Europe,[22] however other historians like Nicholas Orme have challenged this view and argued that childhood has been seen as a separate stage since at least the medieval period.[23] Adults saw children as separate beings, innocent and in need of protection and training by the adults around them. The English philosopher John Locke was particularly influential in defining this new attitude towards children, especially with regard to his theory of the tabula rasa, which considered the mind at birth to be a "blank slate". A corollary of this doctrine was that the mind of the child was born blank, and that it was the duty of the parents to imbue the child with correct notions. During the early period of capitalism, the rise of a large, commercial middle class, mainly in the Protestant countries of the Dutch Republic and England, brought about a new family ideology centred around the upbringing of children. Puritanism stressed the importance of individual salvation and concern for the spiritual welfare of children.[24]
The modern notion of childhood with its own autonomy and goals began to emerge during the 18th-century Enlightenment and the Romantic period that followed it.[25][26] Jean Jacques Rousseau formulated the romantic attitude towards children in his famous 1762 novel Emile: or, On Education. Building on the ideas of John Locke and other 17th-century thinkers, Jean-Jaques Rousseau described childhood as a brief period of sanctuary before people encounter the perils and hardships of adulthood.[25] Sir Joshua Reynolds' extensive children portraiture demonstrated the new enlightened attitudes toward young children. His 1788 painting The Age of Innocence emphasizes the innocence and natural grace of the posing child and soon became a public favourite.[27]
With the onset of industrialisation in England in 1760, the divergence between high-minded romantic ideals of childhood and the reality of the growing magnitude of child exploitation in the workplace, became increasingly apparent. By the late 18th century, British children were specially employed in factories and mines and as chimney sweeps,[29] often working long hours in dangerous jobs for low pay.[30] As the century wore on, the contradiction between the conditions on the ground for poor children and the middle-class notion of childhood as a time of simplicity and innocence led to the first campaigns for the imposition of legal protection for children.
British reformers attacked child labor from the 1830s onward, bolstered by the horrific descriptions of London street life by Charles Dickens.[31] The campaign eventually led to the Factory Acts, which mitigated the exploitation of children at the workplace[29][32]
In the 20th century, Philippe Ariès, a French historian specializing in medieval history, suggested that childhood was not a natural phenomenon, but a creation of society in his 1960 book Centuries of Childhood. In 1961 he published a study of paintings, gravestones, furniture, and school records, finding that before the 17th century, children were represented as mini-adults.
Childhood evolves and changes as lifestyles change and adult expectations alter. In the modern era, many adults believe that children should not have any worries or work, as life should be happy and trouble-free. Childhood is seen as a mixture of simplicity, innocence, happiness, fun, imagination, and wonder. It is thought of as a time of playing, learning, socializing, exploring, and worrying in a world without much adult interference.[25][26]
Children's health includes the physical, mental and social well-being of children. Maintaining children's health implies offering them healthy foods, insuring they get enough sleep and exercise, and protecting their safety.[44] Children in certain parts of the world often suffer from malnutrition, which is often associated with other conditions, such diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria.[45]
Play is essential to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children.[47] It offers children opportunities for physical (running, jumping, climbing, etc.), intellectual (social skills, community norms, ethics and general knowledge) and emotional development (empathy, compassion, and friendships). Unstructured play encourages creativity and imagination. Playing and interacting with other children, as well as some adults, provides opportunities for friendships, social interactions, conflicts and resolutions. However, adults tend to (often mistakenly) assume that virtually all children's social activities can be understood as "play" and, furthermore, that children's play activities do not involve much skill or effort.[48][49][50][51]
It is through play that children at a very early age engage and interact in the world around them. Play allows children to create and explore a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles, sometimes in conjunction with other children or adult caregivers.[47] Undirected play allows children to learn how to work in groups, to share, to negotiate, to resolve conflicts, and to learn self-advocacy skills. However, when play is controlled by adults, children acquiesce to adult rules and concerns and lose some of the benefits play offers them. This is especially true in developing creativity, leadership, and group skills.[47]
Even though play is considered to be the most important to optimal child development, the environment affects their play and therefore their development. Poor children confront widespread environmental inequities as they experience less social support, and their parents are less responsive and more authoritarian. Children from low income families are less likely to have access to books and computers which would enhance their development.[53]
Children's street culture refers to the cumulative culture created by young children and is sometimes referred to as their secret world. It is most common in children between the ages of seven and twelve. It is strongest in urban working class industrial districts where children are traditionally free to play out in the streets for long periods without supervision. It is invented and largely sustained by children themselves with little adult interference.
The geographies of childhood involves how (adult) society perceives the idea of childhood, the many ways adult attitudes and behaviors affect children's lives, including the environment which surrounds children and its implications.[citation needed]
The age at which children are considered responsible for their society-bound actions (e. g. marriage, voting, etc.) has also changed over time,[61] and this is reflected in the way they are treated in courts of law. In Roman times, children were regarded as not culpable for crimes, a position later adopted by the Church. In the 19th century, children younger than seven years old were believed incapable of crime. Children from the age of seven forward were considered responsible for their actions. Therefore, they could face criminal charges, be sent to adult prison, and be punished like adults by whipping, branding or hanging. However, courts at the time would consider the offender's age when deliberating sentencing.[citation needed] Minimum employment age and marriage age also vary. The age limit of voluntary/involuntary military service is also disputed at the international level.[62]
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