By Jennifer Crane “The tensions in these debates also reflected broader tensions in the 1980s themselves: new strands of individualist thought, new interest in listening to and publicising children’s voices and opinions, and the work of a sensationalist media interested in narratives of family, failure, and success.” Photograph: Child Therapy Sessions from the Wellcome Collection. …
“I find myself haunted (perhaps because I was a teacher) by a mental image of children’s faces pressed hard against the railings of a playground which lies silent and deserted behind them. The dull and child-like eyes gaze out forever upon the grown-up world they ache to join, never turning away even to look at …
“Small wonder that now everyone eats the same junk food and watches the same junk programmes, in a culture where children’s tastes came so conspicuously to dominate.” Quote: Mary Warnock, The Observer, 20 March 1983. Photograph: Science Museum, 1999-278. In the 1980s, newspapers decided to put what children ate on the table. “The children’s economy …
Junk food, crisps and fizzy drinks: children and distinctions of taste Read More »
“Once upon a time, children pored over elaborate toy train sets, fortified camps in remote woods, played kiss-chase, tab and hopscotch in the streets and returned home in a heap to get stuck into Swallows and Amazons. In a single generation that age of innocence seems to have been entirely lost.” Clare Garner, The Independent, …
“Have they forgotten how to play?” Games, toys and children’s play Read More »
“We have evolved, it seems, into a generation of Peter Pans, perpetually stuck in adolescence. You see them in Hyde Park: thirty and fortysomethings on rollerblades and skateboards, hanging out in Glastonbury or discussing the merits of Oasis vs Blur at dinner parties” Quote: Dave Green, The Guardian, 25 November 1995. Photograph: Lakeland Motor Museum …
Roller skates, playfulness, and boundaries of childhood Read More »
Historiography is equally about the present as it is about the past. We turn to history with specific questions look at what is important to us at that specific moment. That is why during the the Covid-19 pandemic there have been an apparent and predictable interest in the history of pandemics, from the plague to …
“Just walking down a busy city street can be like running the gauntlet for a child. There are bullies of all ages and races: there are maniacs on the road, driving at 60 mph along high streets. Worst of all, there are the sadistic, the insane, and the perverted.” Quote: Walter Ellis, The Times, 1 …
“Parents Beware!” Children’s Independent Movement Read More »
“Inhabitants of the new childhood look more like mini adults, but that is because new parents like to dress like children. See the family in the park in their brightly coloured jogging suits, anoraks, and those great social levellers, trainers.” Quote: Lesley Garner, Daily Telegraph, 4 November 1986. Image: V&A Museum, T.980:1, 2-1994. A major …
“Those great social levellers” Children, fashion, and class Read More »
“‘Mrs Thatcher is a bloody dictator’ said a 12-year-old in my hearing. Where is such politicisation and abusive language learned by kids?” 1984 Kenny, Mary. “The peril of treating your child like an equal.” Daily Mail, 4 Sept. 1984