he backbone of agricultural parenting was obedience and discipline. Confucianism in China concerned families with educating male children, and underscoring a sense of parental obligation—forgoing individuality for the greater family unit. Laws gave parents free reign to keep children in line—even killing children only resulted in mild punishment. Mediterranean culture at the time also followed suit, rewarding children who exhibited adultlike qualities. Laws existed only to ensure children’s rights to property—integral to carrying on the family line. In short: at the time, children in multiple societies did not have the ability to exercise personal ambition.

Soon, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam would have a marked effect on childhood—the idea of a divine soul in every human being gave way to more protections for the young. Infanticide was condemned, as was the sale of children (laws against both were even passed in the Roman Empire). Religious training was emphasized by all world religions—an early version of schooling that would become mandatory in later societies.

Once the modern era began, the views on—and function of—childhood rapidly changed shape. Society moved from agriculture into industry, and childhood was converted from work into schooling. Thanks to advances in sanitation and hygiene, infant death rates dropped. With the economic balance of the family again off-kilter, birth rates were at unprecedented lows (thanks to the spread of religion, now with moral concerns in the picture). In turn, emotional investment in children grew.