童年人類學（上下冊）

by David F. Lancy, 陳信宏 (Translator)

養兒育女真有個萬用的法則嗎？
本書從生育、養育、教育談到遊戲、工作，
以古希臘、埃及到今日歐美、非洲、東南亞、台灣等兩千筆案例，
帶領讀者重新思考孩子的價值、為人父母的意義。

◎本書榮獲2015年美國圖書館學會《選書》「傑出學術著作」獎。

「這是在演化生物學與社會文化人類學方面檢視人類兒童最詳盡的一部著作，而且也可能是唯一的一部。本書對於人類發展以及人性的研究絕對是一本不可或缺的作品。」──博金（羅浮堡大學教授）

當非洲孩童在工廠賺錢與在街頭討生活，歐美孩童卻處於完美的萬聖節裝扮與過度營養之中。在這極端的兩個世界裡，一邊擁有太少的童年，另一邊卻有太多的童年，那一種才是人類社會的普遍狀況？好壞真有絕對標準？

◆兒童是寶貴、天真而且異常可愛的小天使
　　如何看待孩童深受文化的影響。在人類漫長的歷史上、在今日世界大部分地區裡，看待孩童的方式都與現在的我們所熟悉的不同。大多時候，他們不是小天使，而被視為私人財產或是沒有用處的累贅，直到他們成長為有用的人，或被社群接納。

◆對兒童來說，這是最好的時代，也是最糟的時代
　　今日為了孩子，從萬聖節的可愛裝扮到童書繪本的教案步驟，家長都全心投入。但在不久前，萬聖節還帶有讓孩子走出家門去試膽的用意。而比起引導學習，主動觀察更是動物與人類社會的主流。在許多社群中，透過學習與考驗，才能使孩子成為被族人接受的一員。但今日我們安排好所有的一切，孩子依據教案或是家長提出的模式去學習、玩耍。嬰兒在一出生時即被家人接納，看似過著更輕鬆、快樂的生活，卻是剝奪了他們為求生存而發展的觀察力、主動性、社會化能力。於是，當今日家長抱怨孩子長大後沒有責任感，啃老族日增時，或許該反思的是大人對待孩子的方式，那不一定是極端的過度保護，而是原本眾人以為好的教養方法。

◆我們處在「怪異」社會發展出來的教養方式中
　　歷史上，大多數的社會型態，都與工業化之後的歐美社會不同。自古埃及、希臘羅馬到今日的歐美、非洲、大洋洲、台灣等，作者從數千筆資料歸納出，人類看待、教養孩童的那些看似不太「正常」的方法，像是老人至上、或不把幼兒當人看，才是「普遍的模式」。今日以歐美為中心的「怪異」社會發展出許多教育方式與心理學、教育學理論，試圖把孩子養得更好。不過這些百年來發展出的教養方法，在歷史上僅占了很短暫的一段時間，卻成為今日親職教養的主流，其實它們需要不斷反思與驗證，而且也不見得正確。

◆懷疑自己的教養方法前，先看看大多數人類都怎麼做……
　　當我們把養兒育女視為父母的責任時，不妨看看其他社會，你會發現有些地區親友照顧小孩的時間遠比父母還多。本書的人類學案例，足以否決許多看似全人類通用的學說，提供更全面的視角，使目前心理學、教育理論獨霸的現象得到一些平衡。下次對自己的教養與看待孩子的方式產生質疑時，或許，不必急著懷疑自己沒有盡到作父母的責任，因為大多數人類都不是這樣。

Genres: Parenting, Anthropology, Nonfiction, Science, Childrens, Social Science, History

800 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2008

Reviews

[Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some really interesting anecdotes and explanations in this book that have opened me up to both the wide variation and the distinct similarity between humans of different cultures and times.

What I expressly did not like about this book was the author's thesis and implicit assumption that "successful" is a concept that translates across cultures. For example, there's a whole thing about schooling, in which the author argues (again kind of implicitly) that western schooling is wrong/bad for humans/ineffective, using evidence from other cultures without western schooling that those children grow up to be functional members of their own society, so clearly western schooling is not needed. This is a huge oversight in my opinion, as there are many different types of learning and different societies hinge on different information and content. Western schooling might not be the optimal way of teaching all things (or any things), but assessing the value of different learning across cultures without attention to the varying metrics of "success" makes the argument invalid.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed literature review of the culture of childhood around the world, and in both past and current cultures. Turns many EuroAmerican-middle-class assumptions about what is "natural" (or in some cases, even "good" though the author sensibly does not make value judgments for the most part) for raising children upside down.

Some themes I found particularly fascinating:

-Children from about ages 5 onward are often eager to help care for babies and "little kids". (I've seen this with my own young relatives). This attitude is more common across the world cultures than close maternal care and playing with toddlers and young children.

-Children learn a great deal from observing, not just from being taught a craft, although at later stages they require instruction.

-Children learn--and oftem enjoy--early forays into work through playful ways of collecting food or caring for animals.

-Teenage boys in a majority of societies pursue risky behaviors, and get harsh treatment from each other and often older males, which all seems to be part of developing skills and socialization to fit into society as an adult male. Which doesn't mean the practice doesn't cause problems, misogyny being one of the worst.

This work is fascinating and thought-provoking for anyone interested in anthropology, children, and comparing societies. Insightful for anyone working with children or teens from other cultures.

[Tamsin Barlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

"LIKE many parents, I have a particular book I like to give to friends when they announce they’re pregnant for the first time. It is the book I read early in my wife’s pregnancy, blurting out passages about everything from birth, baby minding and child rearing to education, work and discipline. But you probably won’t find it in the baby section of your local bookstore. “The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings,” by David F. Lancy, is an academic title — but it’s possibly the only book that new parents will ever need.

The book, which first appeared in 2008 and is about to be published in a second edition, is a far cry from “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Professor Lancy, who teaches at Utah State University, has pored over the anthropology literature to collect insights from a range of culture types, along with primate studies, history and his own fieldwork in seven countries. He’s not explicitly writing for parents. Yet through factoids and analysis, he demonstrates something that American parents desperately need to hear: Children are raised in all sorts of ways, and they all turn out just fine."
-- Michael Erard, New York Times review

Best child-rearing book I've ever read. And if you are just interested in human nature you'll find this intensely rewarding. This book shifted my paradigms, opened my eyes and, I hope, gave me a better chance of at least being a decent grandparent.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique view of how children are viewed and treated in many cultures from ancient to contemporary. Well-documented but written in a lively style. Fascinating and thought-provoking. I could see this book being a major asset to anyone writing speculatuive fiction and wishing to depict a society different from our current one (fetchingly called WEIRD: Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democracies by the author). A few very well-chosen illustrations.

[V · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book puts parenting and child-rearing into perspective, to put it mildly. A must-read for anyone who is wary of modern-day parenting advice, who thinks that our ancestors had all the answers, or who thinks they know anything about childhood and parenting at all. This book will change the way you think on a fundamental level. Read it, already.

[Hadas · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a supposedly scholarly text, it is dripping with prejudice. Judgement prevails against Western parenting practices. Contradictions abound, and the author falls time and again to the naturalistic fallacy. Wide, sweeping statements (the "cheerful and optimistic" children of a foraging community versus the "epidemic of psychiatric disorders" in WEIRD societies) are made with a shocking arrogance (to me, as a scholar), but it was the page on preterm birth that made me stop reading. I admit, as a woman who lost her baby due to birth at 23 weeks it was a difficult read, but I felt that this was the final straw.

The author writes:
"This relentless push to extend and sanctify childhood comes at a cost in the USA, annually, of US$26 billion just for the birth, intensive care, and further postnatal complications (Muraskas and Parsi 2008: 655) associated with “preemies.” This cautionary note about the downside of the neontocracy should make us wary of recoiling from newspaper accounts of an unmarried mother on welfare giving birth to her sixth child; or a woman drowning her sons to make herself a more attractive match for a husband; or a boyfriend shaking to death his girlfriend’s infant; or a husband leaving his wife and four children to marry a younger woman. All reflect a view of childhood that existed for far longer and affected far more children than our taken-for-granted neontocracy."

And yet, a previous paragraph details how forager societies were both a "paradise" for children and our method of subsistence for almost all of humanity. And moral recoiling is justified even if a practice is common - morality and prevalence are not causally linked. Together with horrific descriptions of infanticide, I decided to put down the book.

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

(...)

Its thoroughness is the only critique I can muster, as sometimes this book is very detailed, chock-full of examples from across the globe. Mind you, it might be detailed, but it’s always readable, also for those not initiated in anthropology – this could easily serve as an introductory textbook. Lancy does a great job explaining everything, and each chapter can stand on its own. As a result, there is some repetition and overlap.

These minor issues are easily remedied by the reader: if some part is of less interest to you, or if you already get the gist, skimming parts of a chapter is no problem. Lancy does a fantastic job structuring: his chapters and subchapters follow a logical trajectory, with good introductions and summaries, and also the paragraphs are structured clearly and consistently. It truly is topnotch academic writing. This allows you to skim a part in confidence, without the fear you might miss something you don’t want to miss.

But all that is mainly form. What about the content?

(...)

Please read the full review on Weighing A Pig

[Lgordo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this a fascinating page turner, and if the author had stuck to observing rather than editorializing, I'd give it another star. But he seems blind to his own double standard, clearly being open-minded about the (sometimes horrifying) ways people raise kids in other cultures, while explicitly critiquing our own.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not perfectly devoid of author opinion (I wrote “ballsy” along one commentary…; frankly enjoyed seeing some of these opinions-you-aren’t-allowed-to-say/think) for a research-based text but for me I loved reading this in the age of parenting influencers. Loved that it puts so many assumptions we make about childhood on their head: the things seemingly idolized about childhood in “traditional” societies past & present are contrasted with the—really—tragic aspects of how kids in those cultures did and still can suffer in today’s iteration of those societies. Loved the footnotes. Doesn’t do quite as good a job of showing the positives of childhood in WEIRD cultures maybe (mostly seems to use critical examples) but…I think I can fill in some of those blanks for myself since I was reading for personal interest and not scholarly purposes. Overall gives me more perspective, skepticism, self-grace….

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF which is rare for me. I gave up around 175. I suffered. I tried. I was trying to force myself 5 pages a day but I don't need to add to my anger and my chores this way.

Surprisingly poor scholarship and very old-fashioned ideology to the point that I kept checking and rechecking the date of publication because it sounds like the sort of anthropology that was done before feminism or critical race perspectives etc. I do realise that all texts carry bias and that it's not always good to follow the fashion of the day but given the extent and shamelessness of the bias (in some places quoting newspaper articles to back up a factual point) I would at least expect some reflexivity ie: "I am a white boomer male who never met a woman or child". It's not so much that I don't agree with some of Lancy's conclusions it is the way he does not even engage with the most likely explanations for things and objectifies women (especially mothers) and children throughout his rant that seems to have an agenda of blaming modern mothers for a whole host of real and imagined social ills and modern US children as runing rampant.

I wanted to partially agree with him on some of the stuff about consumer lifestyles but he made that very difficult with his faulty premises and lack of logic or insight in drawing conclusions. It's also interesting that all his references are so old. I feel like maybe he bagan writing this in the 60s or 70s and then waited until he was retired to finish it off. Why a university press published it is unclear to me apart from perhaps the fact that too few people still write about the child.

If this colonialising, objectifying thing is anthropology you can keep it.

[MC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up after reading this review: "The Only Baby Book You'll Ever Need". While I don't know if I'd go that far, I will say that as a newish parent, I found this anthropology text fascinating. It is clearly extremely thoroughly researched (there are nearly 100 pages of works cited), and is generally a pretty friendly read (for this academic who is not very familiar with anthropology). In it you learn a lot about how different societies - from the "Third" to "First" world - deal with becoming pregnant, birthing children, and raising them. I enjoyed learning about the similarities that hold across these cultures (I loved, for example, the image of an Chinese baby in a barrel-like holder that serves basically the same function as our little bouncer chair), as well as the differences in how humankind thinks about reproduction, childhood, and family life. It took awhile to get through this book - it is an academic text, if a reader-friendly one - but I am glad that I did.

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating mix of research, anecdata (or as they seem to be called in anthropology jargon, "field studies"), almost-random asides and author opinions that give David Foster Wallace books a run for their footnote money, and thought provoking observations, The Anthropology of Childhood is a dense carnival of human experience. So much of what we assume to be true regarding children, it turns out, is not universal. The book spans topics from infanticide to child labor to adolescent coming-of-age rituals.

Like most other laypeople picking this up, I first read about it in the New York Times ( http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/opi... ) as being the only baby book I would ever need. It's certainly the most interesting one.

[Aisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fascinating comparative study of childhood around the world and across time. Challenges much of the dogma that surrounds child raising and the value of children in the West. The chapter on schooling was particular interesting for exploring how children learn and why so many children fail to learn in school (hint, it's almost a surprise that any learn at all, and children are usually far more autonomous learners, learning predominately through observation. To succeed in school, a huge amount of social and cultural capital is required, which many children don't have). One I'll be re-reading.

[yaniv · Rating 5 out of 5]

phenomenal read! informative and well researched and cited. only complaint may be that the author's liberal bent sometimes gets the better of him, which didn't bother me in the slightest but may turn off others

[Lisa Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fascinating. The authors delve into the minds and hearts of parents in our cultures and others. The book is research oriented, but is written for any interested reader.

[Yupa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nell'ultimo capitolo l'autore tira le fila delle oltre cinquecento pagine del volume e, ammettendo egli stesso che questo confronto finale è molto a grandi linee e che soprattutto va a sacrificare tutte le sfumature e sfaccettature che invece si possono cogliere benissimo nel resto del libro, fa un confronto per punti sul modo in cui l'infanzia è concepita e trattata nelle nostre società ricche e industriale e in quelle invece "tradizionali" e di sussistenza.
L'elenco è lungo, ma al primo posto dell'elenco troneggia l'idea che le nostra società (che l'autore chiama "neontocracies") mettono al primo posto il benessere del bambino, mentre nelle società "tradizionali" (che l'autore chiamata "gerontocracies") il benessere del bambino viene trascurato, coi figli al servizio dell'adulto, e questo avviene un po' per ignoranza ma soprattutto per necessità economiche.
Ebbene, è proprio qui che ho finalmente inquadrato qual era il dubbio che mi ha accompagnato per tutta la lettura del libro.
Può essere vero che le nostre società mettono al primo posto il benessere del bambino, tanto da esserne addirittura ossessionate, ma a me sembra che molte volte non si tratti tanto del benessere effettivo del bambino concreto, bensì del benessere di un bambino ideale per come lo desiderano gli adulti. Ed è da qui che vengono tutte le battaglie infinite, tipiche delle nostre società, su ciò che va considerato dannoso per i bambini e soprattutto la volontà di controllare più o meno strettamente l'immaginario con cui il bambino viene a contatto, che siano i libri, la televisione, i videogiochi, internet, l'educazione a scuola, le compagnie dei coetanei. Certo, qui c'è anche altro in gioco: dato che al giorno d'oggi è considerato poco urbano voler controllare quello che fanno gli adulti, le persone e i gruppi che vorrebbero poterlo fare ripiegano su qualcosa di più facile, cioè i bambini, un po' sperando in questo modo di controllare indirettamente e comunque anche la realtà degli adulti (vedi ad esempio l'istituzione di fasce protette per la televisione che vanno a occupare l'intera giornata), ma anche per ottenere una sorta di monopolio sulla trasmissione culturale in una società che si vorrebbe pluralista.
Alla fin della fiera il libro sa dare un'idea sufficientemente equilibrata di com'era l'infanzia in passato (fermo restando che il "passato", che in molte parti del Mondo è poi ancora presente, include tante cose diverse) e com'è invece oggi. La forte tendenza attuale, quella di volere programmare meticolosamente la crescita del bambino (a volte addirittura fin dal ventre della madre), è forse frutto di esigenze culturali (ma non va dimenticato che le esigenze culturali derivano da ben precise strutture materiali ed economiche), ma è comunque anche il portato di una conoscenza ben più precisa e scientifica dello sviluppo umano, cosa che nel passato non poteva esserci. Poi, ovviamente, c'è anche l'altro lato della medaglia, e non a caso sopra ho accennato all'ossessione per il benessere del bambino, ossessione che, col passare dei decennî, specie in certi paesi, si fa sempre più iperprotezione e terrore che ogni minimo errore segni per sempre l'esistenza del pargolo.
Il paradosso dell'infanzia presente, che anche il libro sa cogliere, è che non si è mai data tanta attenzione per il benessere dei bambini, ma intanto, specie di recente, statistiche a quanto pare affidabili indicano che proprio i più giovani faticano a star bene con sé stessi e col Mondo che li circonda, con ansia e depressione in aumento. Chissà, forse dei miglioramenti ci saranno quando si metterà un po' da parte la ricerca del bambino perfetto e perfettamente al riparo da ogni piccolo guasto, e si comincerà a vedere, al di là della categoria "infanzia", i bambini e i ragazzi concreti, ognuno fatto a modo suo, lontano da eventuali ricette universali.

[Jim Robles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific! I am inclined to agree with Peter Gray, Boston College, "If I were to assign just one book as required reading for student of child psychology, this would be it."

The treatments of conferral of personhood and play are luciferous. The Chapter 3 predictions of "famine and epidemic (p. 119) are dire and entirely believable. Reading this book it is pellucid where the ubiquitous misogyny in the classics (An educated woman p. 357 - 360, etc.) comes from.

The sections (Village Schools/Schooling and Investment p. 337 - 350) are illuminating on the persistent failure of Western efforts to promote 'literacy and and "modern modes of thinking" in the undeveloped world.' These efforts have been worse than nothing preventing transmission of knowledge of the old ways, without preparing students for the new (p. 342 - 343). The difference is simply that between the nomothetic/deductive and the idiographic/inductive.

This is of course no more than what Bruce Springsteen says in "Glory Days." (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bruces...)

The section on Parents as teachers (p. 351 - 357) provides a compelling case for Early Childhood Learning Programs (Too Small to Fail, etc.). The section on Children's Agency (particularly p. 395) provides an even more compelling case for limiting fertility in the young who are unprepared to care for their own children..

It is clear from (Resistance to learning p. 360 - 264) that we would be better off without interscholastic sports in high schools.

The eighteenth book I have finished this year.

p. 4. Although the specific details vary a great deal, a majority of the world's societies delay the conferral of personhood.

p. 12. And, most extraordinary to our sensibilities, children in many societies were sacrificed to insure the favorable attention of the gods.

Does this make Agamemnon more believable? p. 34 certainly makes Apollo, at the trial of Orestes, more believable.

p. 23. There is so much about formal education that is antithetical to the "usual" way that children learn.

p. 37. One way to characterize the foregoing discussion is that the newborn is, effectively, on probation. The costs are evident, but its asset value is undetermined.

p. 118 - 119. For many parts of the world, modernization will come too late. Instead of the voluntary lowering of fertility associated with the "Great" transition, the effect will be accomplished via history's oldest forms of population control famine and epidemic (Boone and Kessler 1999: 261; Kovats -Bernat 2006: 1). And, surprisingly, some enclaves in post-industrial society, such as among lower class African-Americans and Utah Mormons (Lancy 2008: 63-69), continue to pursue a high fertility, production strategy in spite of the unfavorable outcomes for children.

p. 253. It is ironic that adult concern for children's wellbeing and the desire to maximize the perceived benefits of play may, unintentionally, create social misfits such as bullies.

p. 282. The orphan trains continued until 1929 (Warren 2001: 20), which indicates how very recently our fundamental conception of children as chattel changed to viewing them as cherubs.

p. 293. Fernea, writing in the early 1990s, claimed that by contrast, in the Muslim Middle East, "adolescence, as perceived in modern Western thought, scarcely existed" (Fernea 1991: 453)

p. 297. This last is a particular problem in the USA because of the lack of restrictions on firearm purchase, storage, and use, and "what might be a fist fight between young men in London or Paris, easily becomes murder in Chicago or Washington, D.C." (Arnett 2002: 331).

p. 298. Among African-Americans, Signithia Fordham and the late John Ogbu have shown how bright, academically talented students are harassed by their peers - who accuse them of "acting white, " of being "brianiacs" or "gay."

p. 308. Similarly in Turkey,separation of the sexes and women's limited power are justified in the name of honor (nomus). Nomus requires that "men control the sexuality of their women . . . wives, daughters, sisters, and other female relatives" (Kagitcibasi and Sunar 1992: 78). Girls are prevented from going very far in school in much of the Muslim world ostensibly to prevent them from forming even the most fleeting relationship with a boy (Davis and Davis 1989: 61; Prothro 1961: 15; Williams 1968: 49). Attitudes are gradually liberalizing, bu tin "tribal" regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, opposition to schooling for girls (and their emancipation form male dominance) leads to frequent atrocities.

p. 315. It is also rare for a society to treat pregnancy out of wedlock with equanimity. Non-mainstream communities in North America where marriages are tentative and somewhat optional provide exceptions.

p. 320. A shift has begun whereby employers are preferentially hiring women, who are more reliable and cheaper than men. In Costa Rica, the decline in coffee prices has eliminated a reliable source of employment for rural men while women's employment in manufacturing has increased dramatically. Hence men find themselves unable to fulfill the traditional breadwinner role and are, in effect unable to achieve adult status (Mannon and Kemp 2010: 11).

p. 328. The central theme of this chapter is the "strangeness" of the modern practice of schooling.

p. 336. The primary point of these exercises seems to be to maintain and enhance the power of senior men over women and younger men.
may be attributed to inadequate preparation for the transition to literacy in the early years. (Snow and Powell 2008: 26)

p. 343. Nsamenang characterizes all of Africa in these terms: for example, "the school system in much of Africa has so spiraled out of control that it mainly churns out unemployed youth who can read and write but who are totally dependent and cannot even create or utilize local knowledge" (Nsamenang 2002: 91).

p. 351. The school failure experienced by high-risk youth may be attributed to inadequate preparation for the transition to literacy in the early years. (Snow and Powell 2008: 26)

p. 357 - 358. In classical Greek society, girls did not go to school, and the extent of any education they may ave encountered in the homes of their parents was probably limited. Girls were referred to a pais (child) until they married, whereas boys left this inferior (slaves were also pais) state when they came of age (Golden 2003: 14). These views clearly made the education of women unthinkable.

p. 360. There is, in fact, diverse evidence that the "information society"may favor female students.

p. 364. Hence for a significant segment of the adolescent population, school provides an - increasingly expensive - custodial function without serving any significant educational function (Caplan et al. 1991: 157).

p. 374. In the first example we can see the village reasoning from personal experience (or lack thereof) and inability or unwillingness to apply a general rule.

p. 376. And lastly, while schooling may promote an analytic way of looking at the world, thinking analytically is taxing and most people, most of the time, would rather not be bothered. (Shweder 1984: 36)

p. 380. However, these women are spurned by educated males who prefer less well-educated wives (Ahmed 2005: 157)

p. 393. Concern has been muted perhaps because the long-term threats of human-induced climate change, civil and sectarian strife, and political corruption seem more compelling.

[Airey Southern · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perceptions of children in societies of different geographies and stages of life are distilled into three words: angels, property, and trouble. The book can be roughly seen as a series of contrasts between how children (broadly defined as minors) are perceived in a weird society that values young children (based largely on modern white middle-class America, think Why We Worship Youth) and a village society that honours its elders (with the main field material drawn from a large number of southern countries, predominantly in Africa), which can be roughly summed up as a contrast between cherubs and possessions.
What is the process by which a child adapts to the culture of the community in a different society, and what is hidden in the vast collective subconscious that indoctrinated you as a human being before you knew right from wrong, good from evil. How do children learn to be competent members of their community, and how do other members treat this learning.
For a moment, let's leave behind the descending blows of globalisation across the board and go back to a long time when an acre of land was the world. From chores to bush schools, from selling child labour to families to earning an apprenticeship, there is never a need for deliberate ‘teaching’ to reproduce a community member, but rather, to become such a member of a community is simply a matter of observing and submitting to the experience of the elders.
In village societies where elders are honoured, the system of raising children to be members of the community is not artificially constructed, it is more counterproductive, and it is because that is what you are going to be that you will naturally do it, even if others get in the way of that, and that is the place that will have to be filled by someone else who will be the producer, the warrior, the mother, of the successor.

You would do well to become a member of a community like your parents, here to live forever, so you will be actively and encouraged to learn how your ancestors lived, they are the eternal sailing ships in the sky, to follow is to be, blind chattel.
--When you grow up you will leave your hometown to make a living somewhere else, your hometown will never be able to go back, so you don't need to know how your ancestors and your parents lived, you are the sailing ships, children, we don't know what you will do for a living, maybe you will go back to heaven, cherubs.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much more academic than I was expecting, so I read it in bits starting in 2015 but some really interesting points are made. Like asking the question “Why do well-educated Euroamerican and Asian parents invest so much of their precious time in activity - children’s play - that parents elsewhere and throughout history have looked on as a welcome distraction, keeping children out of the way so they can do their work?” And noting that “the impact of maternal employment on child well being is negligible... [and] daycare - consistently shown not to diminish the child’s life-chances as compared with those of children raised by “fulltime moms”.” Whew! Some other memorable points:

* “Americans [are] eager to protect children from dirty words and pornography but not from consumer desire.”

* current scientific coverage of child development and appropriate parenting techniques are novel and untried from a historical and cross-cultural perspective.

*children free of play guided by adults and allowed space to play with peers develop gamesmanship- “the ability to manipulate social relations to maximize the satisfaction of the players.” They learn how to work with others - maybe our politicians missed out on this?

The book was also a good reminder that childhood and parenting have few (if any) universal truths about how to raise children to be healthy and fit in culturally.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hard book to rate but I am giving it 4 stars as an academic read. I learned a lot and it challenged some of my preconceived notions. It also made me think much more sympathetically about parents from all walks of life. This is not a light book or a short one. It is dense and is a comprehensive review of anthropological studies from all across the world and through much of history. One big takeaway for me is that all childhoods come with pros and cons and any outsider who thinks they know better is bound to be wrong in many ways. I would only recommend it to those really interested in academic studies of childhood. :)

Parents: Infanticide, violence, female genital mutilation and rituals where boys become men are discussed among many other topics on how children are treated, sometimes in pretty heartbreaking ways.

[Saul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read. The book is an academic study of human development and human nature as it relates to children. I learned a lot about children's social evolution and how they are viewed today in different parts of the World. David defines children within different societies as Cherubims, Chattel or Changelings (Angels, slaves or impostors).
He reminds us of our horrible past, e.g., orphan trains ran from the coastal cities until 1929 to farms in the Midwest supplying children for farm labor; before the revolution, children were picked up in London and “deported “ to Virginia to provide free labor.

The book is summarized in pages 400-410.

[Thomas Fackler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A superb examination of the diversity of cultural uses for children. I found those that powdered them for use as aphrodisiacs particularly interesting. All metagory aside, this text is a great way to better understand your fellow humans - or if you are an uplifted animal, better understand what you've just been set up for in the long run.

[Dana Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at childhood across cultures and time. Caused me to challenge my assumptions multiple times. Although it is not amazingly organized or conclusive on its own it will cause you to think!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars since some of the references are a little dated and, as a review text, it glosses over certain things with generalizations. However, I still think it should be required reading for all parents! It's not a parenting book, but it really puts a lot of things into perspective.

[Beatriz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly dense with information and comparisons between growing up in different cultures around the world, always entertaining and eye-opening. There was never a dull moment in the many that it took to finish this book ❤️

[Hoimawati Talukdar · Rating 5 out of 5]

My teacher suggested it and yes it's worth reading it.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is honestly one of the top books I’ve ever read. I’ll write up more later!

[Kit]

Recommended by Heying (& Weinstein) 8/13/21. “A much loved book.”

[Readlucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best parenting books!

[Iliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lancy uses ethnographic data from different perspectives on childhood, particularly across different cultures. Lancy probes on children as agentive subject and their positionality in their society.