Medieval Children, Part II
By Madeline | March 7, 2008
OK, finally starting up part II on children in medieval times - I’m proud of myself - only a day later than I had hoped for. :)
Another aspect of childhood I wanted to discuss was the modern day chastising of the women of the medieval times tightly swaddling their babies. Almost as soon as they were born, infants were tightly swaddled in linen in an effort to make their bones grow straight and strong. Some blame the mortality rate on this stating the child was too trapped to be able to flee in the time of an emergency, such as a fire. That’s just crazy, because they didn’t do this past infancy. If they did, I’d be curious to see how the heck they’d manage to wrangle a toddler to the floor and bind them without them escaping. Infants would have little chance for survival in a fire even in they weren’t bound since they are completely dependant on their parents. In fact, I can’t believe most ‘experts’ don’t look at modern day children - we tightly swaddled our daughter until she was six months old! She LIKED it. Infants (especially younger ones) respond very well to swaddling as they are used to the tight, cramped space of the womb. Having their body wrapped snuggly gives them a feeling of security and they are soothed this way. Once our daughter started to resist it, we didn’t do it any longer. I can assure you, no matter what age she was, if she didn’t want to be swaddled, she could wriggle her way out!
The topic of birth moves me to another point - baptism. Newborns were baptized the day after they were born - sooner if possible, especially if they were very sick. It was thought that all children were born with the original sin of man staining their souls - baptizing cleansed them and made them pure and innocent, something very important on the off chance they would die. The mothers were never in attendance, which is perfectly understandable since they just had a baby. I know after having my daughter the last thing I would have wanted to do was stand there for an hour watching someone plunk my newborn into an icy bath and then shove salt into their mouth. If parents didn’t care for their children they wouldn’t go through the expense and time to baptize their babies.
One of the biggest reasons a lot of people think children were uncared for when it came to the rich boils down to the quick release of their children. Many (but not all) wealthy women had wet nurses to care for their children. Those wet nurses usually grew with the child and became their nannies once they were no longer needed for nursing. Often times, these nannies were more close with the children than the parents were as the parents were often busy with running the household and attending parties. I admit, if one had the means, it would certainly be tempting, but I wouldn’t trade what my husband and I have now with our daughter for anything. :) Once children reached about the age of 7 or 8, they were often sent to attend school or live in another household. It was not uncommon for children betrothed to one another to be moved to the same household where they would usually live for the rest of their lives. In these cases, it is easy to see how a parent could care little less for the child than a woman who nurses and hands on cares for them, though I doubt they didn’t care about them and I’m certain that they definitely loved them.
When it came to poorer families, many people thought children were neglected for work. This is not necessarily the case. If it were so, the mortality rates would have gone up higher and the children were needed to help work. As I stated previously, children were never tasked with more than they could handle. Children were almost always around their parents, but were given leave to play more than they worked. They did, after all, still have to be children and this was certainly allowed.
Ultimately, the life of a child during the medieval era is not nearly so bad as it is painted out to be and the idea that the parents did not love their children is one I find absolutely preposterous! After reading this, I hope you’ll agree. 
Topics: Medieval Era | No Comments »
Medieval Children, Part I
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