Constructs of Childhood: A Comparative Analysis

The assignment provided compares five different constructs of childhood: the innocent child, commodified child, sexualized child, victimized child, and war-affected child. It uses images and texts from various sources, including a YouTube video, children's poems on labor, articles from Express.co.uk and Forbes.com, and research papers. The assignment also references the work of scholars such as Hendrick (2015) and Sorin & Galloway (2006).

Running head: CONSTRUCTS OF CHILDHOOD
CONSTRUCTS OF CHILDHOOD
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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PART A: Five Constructions of Childhood
The child as Innocent
A scene from a popular movie “Baby’s Day Out” (1994) where the child is seen happy within
the care of an adult ("Baby's day out (1994) - ending!! HD", 2018)
Children are considered distinct from adults who are responsible for taking care of them.
This is the construct where the child is depicted as innocent. The innocent child is pure and
oblivious of the outside world. The child is also vulnerable and not capable to do things on his or
her own. The innocent child constantly requires adult care and supervision.
The Commodified child
“Childhood is commodified, a situation not everybody seems happy with. Due to increasing
exposure with violence and sexual activities, for example in children's games, children seem to
lose the chance to be real children” (Vanobbergen, 2004).
Bruno Vanobbergen has stated the above lines where he described the lost innocence of
childhood in the growing capitalist society. The author refers to the rising exploitation on
children as commodities through introduction of video games and advertisements that are

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directed towards children. According to Sorin and Galloway (2006), the later years of 20th
century and the initial years of the 21st century witnessed children being used as commodity.
Adults “consume” the commodified child for pleasure and satisfaction, state the authors.
The Agentic child
Children engaged in constructive work with adults (Files.acecqa.gov.au, 2018)
According to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) introduced in Australia for
early education, children have the ability to contribute equally to the world. they are no different
than adults in identifying and realizing the surroundings and its requirements. These children
come under the Agentic Child category, which Sorin and Galloway (2006) describe as proficient
negotiators who interact with others to replicate features of their culture. the agentic child grows
and learns along with the adult.

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The Child Victim
A toddler being rescued by people in Syria (Express.co.uk, 2018)
The Syrian Conflict that started over seven years ago continues to claim lives of innocent
citizens for including thousands of children. As Sorin and Galloway (2006), children falling
under this category are the victims of the political and social forces. The child victim wither
survives through conflict and terror or succumbs.
The Miniature Adult
“Children in slavery
Without either faults or future
Stolen from their families
Exploited by many
Without future
Cheated and raped
For them a wish
For us a hope

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In man’s goodness” (Children's poems on child labour, 2018)
The above lines are quoted from a poem written by a child on child labor. The poem
depicts the hardship of children who have to bear the evils of adults as they are being forced to
work, dragged to death and abused. The child here is the miniature adult, which Sorin and
Galloway (2006) describe as being same as adults. The child is not seen as a different entity than
adults and is forced to perform responsibilities same as the adults.
PART B: Comparison
The perception of childhood constantly changes and develops simultaneously with the
growth of the human race. To cite an example, the ancient society during the early centuries
considered children to be descendants of evil or the Satan. Gradually, this perspective changed
and the later centuries saw children being considered mature and able to perform various
responsibilities (Hendrick, 2015). These perceptions of childhood although popular, lacked clear
explanation. Therefore, it was necessary to delve into the issue and find explanations to define
these perceptions. The various constructs of childhood developed by Sorin and Galloway (2006)
provided a ground by which childhood could be clearly perceived.
The first construct of childhood chosen for the assignment is the child as innocent. In this
construct, the perception of the child is that of an innocent being who is oblivious of the world
and its evils. The image chosen for the construct is from the popular 1990s move Baby’s Day out
in which the toddler is shown an innocent baby who manages to fool his kidnappers. The entire
movie filmed the kid enjoying his day put and dodging his kidnappers but at the end, he had to

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be protected by the adults. The child is susceptible, weak and in constant need of adult care and
protection. This image of childhood finds place in the official documents of international
organizations like the United Nations. In the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, states
are supposed to allow parents exercise control of their children in order to protect them (Un.org.,
2018). Here, it is clear that the child is perceived as incapable of looking after him or herself and
the adults are responsible for his or her protection. The role of the adult is that of a protector who
is bound to safeguard the interests of the child by having a constant watch over them. The
innocent image of the child can also be viewed through practical examples where children are
frequently targeted by anti-social elements. The recent case of the online Blue Whale Challenge
provides clear example of the child as innocent and the adult as his or protector (Forbes.com,
2018).
The other construct of childhood that is the child victim is somewhat similar to the
construct of child as innocent. The image of child victim used in this assignment shows the child
being rescued by adults. In both the constructs, the child is vulnerable and prone to danger. Read
et al. (2018) while describing the victimized child state that increasing cases of child abuse occur
in the modern world due to the neglect of the adults. In this study, the authors also point towards
the need for adult protection to save the child from abuses and attacks. It thus becomes further
clear that both the constructs demonstrate the protector role of the adult. Nonetheless,
dissimilarity is clearly visible in the two constructs wherein the role of the adult in one construct
is protecting the child while in other construct; the adult is entirely absent or not capable enough.
The miniature adult construct that has been shown with the use of lines from a poem
written by a child. It is clearly visible from the lines in the poem that the child is made to act as
an adult. The child is compelled to work as laborer in factories and mines, as evident from the

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Industrial Revolution era; the child is used to satiate the pleasures of adults as evident from the
sex trafficking in countries like Thailand. The miniature adult is in some ways similar to the
child victim construct wherein both the cases, the child falls prey to adults. However, it must be
noted that the miniature adult child does not always have to be forced to act as an adult. As
Gómez‐Paredes et al. (2016) point out; children often consent on working in factories due to
their strong conscience to help their family.
The miniature adult child has close link to the agentic child construct as well. The agentic
construct describes that the child is able enough to understand his or her immediate
surroundings. According to the EYLF, children have the ability to identify their surroundings
through constant interaction with adults and peers. The image in the assignment used to show the
agentic child clearly shows the child ahs possessing the ability to create things on his own.
Similar to the miniature adult, the agentic child has traits that allow him to perform adult
responsibilities. The agentic child has the power to participate actively in the world and act as
co-learners along with adults.
The key contrast between agentic child construct and miniature adult construct is the
positive image of the agentic child as compared to the negative image of the miniature adult
child especially in terms of the role of adults. The adults play the role of a co-constructor of
being where they learn together with the child and collaborate in constructing childhood. In the
miniature adult construct on the other hand, adults are the major cause for putting children into
dire situations. The adults of the agentic child construct give freedom to children to grow on their
own in a natural way without demarcating them as imitations of adults. While in contrast to this,
the adults in miniature adult construct contribute to the creation of a world where children are
deprived of their rights and freedom.

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The last construct of childhood that has been included in the assignment is the
commodified child. The observation by Vanobbergen (2004) that has been used as a description
image to show the construct reveals the modern situation where children are constantly
commodified that is used to sell commodities. Here the adult takes on a self-interested role where
he only cares about his own profit even if it is at the cost of a child’s wellbeing. The
commodified child has certain similarities with the child victim in terms of the sexualized view
of the child. In both the constructs, the adults victimize the child where the child as victim
construct involves all aspects like war, terror and so on; the commodified child construct
involves indirect exploitation of the child. It is in contrast to the innocent child construct, this
construct implicitly sells the innocence of the child that is commodifies the child’s innocence.
The overall picture as depicted in the assignment leads to the conclusion that the various
constructions of childhood as proposed by the authors have largely eased the field of study. The
constructions have helped in demarcating the role of adults in constructing childhood. As seen
from the five constructs used in the assignment, adults’ role is vital whether it is hampering
childhood or elevating it. the essay provided the five constructs of childhood through images and
texts that constituted Part A and did a comparative analysis of the five constructs in Part B. in
doing so, the essay included the views of some scholars that helped explain the topic in a clearer
way.

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References:
Baby's day out (1994)- ending !! HD. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 27 April 2018, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjllfxl9abk
Children's poems on child labour. (2018). Ilo.org. Retrieved 27 April 2018, from
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_IPEC_PUB_9110/lang--en/
index.htm
Express.co.uk. (2018). Children of conflict: The innocent victims of the civil war in
Syria. Express.co.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2018, from
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/465105/Children-of-war-The-innocent-victims-
of-the-civil-war-in-Syria
Files.acecqa.gov.au. (2018). BELONGING, BEING & BECOMING. Files.acecqa.gov.au.
Retrieved 27 April 2018, from http://files.acecqa.gov.au/files/National-Quality-
Framework-Resources-Kit/
belonging_being_and_becoming_the_early_years_learning_framework_for_australia.pdf
Forbes.com. (2018). Forbes Welcome. Forbes.com. Retrieved 27 April 2018, from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewrossow/2018/02/28/cyberbullying-taken-to-a-whole-
new-level-enter-the-blue-whale-challenge/#30c7eaca2673
Gómez‐Paredes, J., Alsamawi, A., Yamasue, E., Okumura, H., Ishihara, K. N., Geschke, A., &
Lenzen, M. (2016). Consuming childhoods: An assessment of child labor's role in Indian
production and global consumption. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 20(3), 611-622.

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Hendrick, H. (2015). Constructions and reconstructions of British childhood: An interpretative
survey, 1800 to the present. In Constructing and reconstructing childhood (pp. 47-71).
Routledge.
Read, J., Harper, D., Tucker, I., & Kennedy, A. (2018). Do adult mental health services identify
child abuse and neglect? A systematic review. International journal of mental health
nursing, 27(1), 7-19.
Sorin, R., & Galloway, G. (2006). Constructs of childhood: Constructs of self. Children
Australia, 31(2), 12-21.
Un.org. (2018). Children. Un.org. Retrieved 27 April 2018, from
http://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/children/
Vanobbergen, B. (2004). Wanted: Real children. About innocence and nostalgia in a
commodified childhood. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 23(2-3), 161-176.