he agricultural era’s pragmatic approach to parenting may seem callous to modern sensibilities, but consider that mortality rates for children at the time ranged from 30-50%. Death was an expected quotient in the family planning calculation, and as Lancy once stated in an interview, even to this day, “In most societies, a mother’s becoming too attached to her infant is a bad thing. The attitude is that parents should develop emotional ties slowly over time, as the child’s viability becomes established.” Often children weren’t even named until they were out of infancy, or the names of deceased children were used on their newborn siblings—underscoring an effort to emotionally disconnect until a child proved to thrive. The atmosphere required children to become hardened to death, as well—it was a very real constant in every family. Children at the time were also simply abandoned, hired out, or given to other families—anything to even out resources. Girls were married off in their early teens, but boys required resources so they could start their own families, which allowed them a reprieve from formal adulthood until their 20s.

The 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 rap