The Effects Of Responsibilities On The Maturity Of Children

The Effects of Responsibilities on the Maturity of Children

In modern culture, children are seen as both innocent and immature. People feel they are innocent in that they have not experienced much of life and are not yet exposed to the reality of life. This characteristic of innocence that is placed upon children is what leads to the immaturity of children. Because people believe the innocence of children not being exposed to the world makes them incapable of handling mature situations and issues, children are rarely granted any form of responsibility. Children are shielded by their parents or other caretakers that take the responsibility of caring for the child, making decisions for the child, and doing much of the work that they feel a child can not do themselves. True and full

Looking into the past, we can see that maturity in children is a result of the responsibilities they were given, and that children can rise to the task of any job that is needed.
The Victorian Era, between 1837 and 1901, began the first concepts of childhood. Before the Victorian Era, children were treated as equals to adults, and only in the Victorian Age were children regarded as minorities to adults, and thus no longer trusted with certain responsibilities (Kincaid 61-64). However, beginning in the Victorian age, there were more distinct social and economic classes, and each class had different expectations from their children. Working class families had parents who were not in the home and had lots of work to do, and therefore relied on their children to help around the house and care for younger sibling (Frost 12-13). These children were expected to care for their younger siblings as their parents were hard at work to support their family. Nowadays, people get very nervous when they see people at the “young” ages