The Age of Consent; Young People, Sexuality and Citizenship addresses the contentious issue of how children's sexual behaviour should be regulated. The text includes: *A unique history of age of consent laws in the UK, analysed via contemporary social theory *A global comparative survey of age of consent laws and relevant international human rights law *A critical analysis of how protectionist agendas shaped new age of consent laws in England and Wales in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 *In-depth theoretical discussion of the rationale for age of consent laws *An original proposal to reduce the age of consent to 14 for young people who are less than two years apart in age Responding to contemporary concerns about young people's sexual behaviour, sexual abuse and paedophilia, this book will engage readers in law and socio-legal studies, sociology, history, politics, social policy, youth and childhood studies, and gender and sexuality studies; and professionals and practitioners working with young people.

A Tender Voyage is the first full-length study of the history of childhood and children's lives in late imperial China. The author draws on an extraordinary range of sources to analyze both the normative concept of childhood - literary and philosophical - and the treatment and experience of children in China. The study begins with the history of pediatrics and newborn care and their evolution over time. The author moves on to the social environment of the child, including models of upbringing and expected behavior and the treatment of different kinds of children, including the rebellious and the gentle child. She examines the role of the mother, notably her close and complex relations with her sons, and the broader emotional world of children, their relationships with the adults around them, and the destructive power of death. The last section discusses concepts of childhood in China and the West. The study keeps in view throughout the issue of representation versus practice, the role of memory, and the importance of listening for what is not said.

What is it like to be a child growing up in Britain these days? Is it a happy time, or is there too much to worry about? What are the best and worst aspects of being a child today? Children these days draws on the accounts of over two thousand children, and five hundred adults, to examine the present day meaning of childhood and its implications for policy and practice. Key questions addressed by the study include how is childhood perceived? What is it like to grow up and become an adult? What are the influences and controls on young people? Are young people protected or over-protected? How much do young people and adults respect and talk to each other? To what extent is Britain a child-friendly society? The book provides unique evidence on children's and adults' views of childhood, and draws conclusions on the attitudes and policies to be challenged and developed in the 21st century. It will make a significant contribution to contemporary debate and discussion on the future of childhood. Children these days is essential reading for policy makers, practitioners, academics, researchers, and students on childhood studies, social sciences, and social policy courses. It has been written in a style that means it is also accessible to others with a more general interest in children and childhood.

Examines the Protestant origins of motherhood and the child consumer Throughout history, the responsibility for children's moral well-being has fallen into the laps of mothers. In The Moral Project of Childhood, the noted childhood studies scholar Daniel Thomas Cook illustrates how mothers in the nineteenth-century United States meticulously managed their children's needs and wants, pleasures and pains, through the material world so as to produce the "child" as a moral project. Drawing on a century of religiously-oriented child care advice in women's periodicals, he examines how children ultimately came to be understood by mothers-and later, by commercial actors-as consumers. From concerns about taste, to forms of discipline and punishment, to play and toys, Cook delves into the social politics of motherhood, historical anxieties about childhood, and early children's consumer culture. An engaging read, The Moral Project of Childhood provides a rich cultural history of childhood.

Concepts of childhood and the treatment of children are often used as a barometer of society's humanity, values, and priorities. Children and Childhood in Roman Italy argues that in Roman society children were, in principle and often in practice, welcome, valued and visible. There is no evidence directly from children themselves, but we can reconstruct attitudes to them, and their own experiences, from a wide variety of material - art and architecture, artefacts, funerary dedications, Roman law, literature, and public and private ritual. There are distinctively Roman aspects to the treatment of children and to children's experiences. Education at many levels was important. The commemoration of children who died young has no parallel, in earlier or later societies, before the twentieth century. This study builds on the dynamic work on the Roman family that has been developing in recent decades. Its focus on the period between the first century BCE and the early third century CE provides a context for new work being done on early Christian societies, especially in Rome.

This book documents the early lives of almost 19,000 children born in the UK at the start of the 21st century, and their families. It is the first time that analysis of data from the hugely important Millennium Cohort Study, a longitudinal study following the progress of the children and their families, has been drawn together in a single volume. The unrivalled data is examined here to address important policy and scientific issues. The book is also the first in a series of publications that will report on the children's lives at different stages of their development. The fascinating range of findings presented here is strengthened by comparison with data on earlier generations. This has enabled the authors to assess the impact of a wide range of policies on the life courses of a new generation, including policies on child health, parenting, childcare and social exclusion. Babies of the new millennium (title tbc) is the product of an exciting collaboration from experts across a wide range of health and social science fields. The result is a unique and authoritative analysis of family life and early childhood in the UK that cuts across old disciplinary boundaries. It is essential reading for academics, students and researchers in the health and social sciences. It will also be a useful resource for policy makers and practitioners who are interested in childhood, child development, child poverty, child health, childcare and family policy.

Get to grips with the periodic table through an array of guessing games and fun flashcards! This amazing deck of cards welcomes you to the periodic table of elements where you can familiarise yourself with all 118 elements, discovering atomic numbers, mass, melting points and more. The fast facts and intriguing pictures will allow you to grasp a wealth of knowledge in a fun and engaging way! Celebrate your child's curiosity as they explore: -One card for each of the 118 elements -The element's chemical symbol and image are on the front, with a data-set including the element's atomic number, -atomic mass, period, melting point, and when it was discovered are on the back. -Includes supporting information on the periodic table and how atoms and elements work. -A glossary contains definitions of the most relevant terms to do with the periodic table. -Visual aids, such as photos of the elements in their raw state or in use, promote faster learning. -Cards are two-sided, laminated, and packed in a durable cardboard carton. Each card contains snappy and accessible information, displaying an eye-catching image of each chemical element, whilst show-casing the element's uses and how it appears in nature. You can use the cards to test your own knowledge, or how about using them to play a guessing game, quiz, or even a competitive comparison game with a friend? The brightly coloured cards make learning easy and fun for students and chemistry enthusiasts alike. A must-have volume for young readers aged 9+ who love science and are seeking a fun and engaging exploration of the periodic table of elements. Our World in Pictures: The Periodic Table Flashcards breaks down information on each one of the 118 total elements into manageable chunks of memorable and fascinating facts that can keep the kids enthralled for hours on end! A jaw-dropping spectrum of atom types- from lithium to magnesium and more - this all-encompassing chemistry book for kids provides a learning experience like no other! At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why not complete the collection? Our World in Pictures is back with an all-encompassing animal book for kids. Explore the animal kingdom like never before with Our World In Pictures: Animals of the World Flashcards and test your new-found knowledge with friends and family.

Few people know that Ypres, centre of First World War remembrance, was once home to a thriving British community that played a heroic role in the Second World War. This expatriate outpost grew around the British ex-servicemen who cared for the war memorials and cemeteries of 'Flanders Fields'. Many married local women and their children grew up multi-lingual, but attended their own school and were intensely proud to be British. When Germany invaded in 1940 the community was threatened: some children managed to escape, others were not so lucky. But, armed with their linguistic skills and local knowledge, pupils of the British Memorial School were uniquely prepared to fight Hitler in occupied territory and from Britain. Still in their teens, some risked capture, torture and death in intelligence and resistance operations in the field. An exceptional patriotism spurred them on to feats of bravery in this new conflict. Whilst their peers at home were being evacuated to the English countryside, these children were directly exposed to danger in one of the major theatres of war. James Fox was a pupil at the British Memorial School in 1940 and he has made it his mission to trace his former school friends. The Children Who Fought Hitler is their story: a war story about people from an unusual community, told from a fresh and human perspective. Gardens of Stone: My Boyhood in the French Resistance, published recently by Hodder & Stoughton, tells the story of one of James's former school friends, Stephen Grady, and his role in the French Resistance.

Are children today growing up too soon? How do they - and their parents - feel about media portrayals of sex and personal relationships? Are the media a corrupting influence, or a potentially positive and useful resource for young people? Drawing on an extensive research project, which investigated children's interpretations of sexual content in films, TV and print media, this book considers how young people (ages 9-17) use such material to understand their experiences and build their identities; and how they and their parents respond to public concerns about these issues. The book offers a clearly-written and entertaining insight into children's and parents' perspectives on these difficult issues - perspectives that are often ignored or trivialized in public debate.

Childhood is a uniquely human life-stage, and is both a biological phenomenon and a social construct. Research on children is currently of wide-ranging interest. This groundbreaking book presents reviews of childhood from four major areas of interest--human evolution, sociology/social anthropology, biomedical anthropology and developmental psychology--to form a biosocial, cross-cultural understanding of childhood. The book places a strong emphasis on how childhood varies from culture to culture, offering examples from developed and developing countries, as well as from other animal species. It will be of interest to students and scholars within the fields of human biology, anthropology, sociology, health studies, and developmental psychology.

Protecting Children in Time provides a highly original analysis of the origins and development of the taken-for-granted notion that it is possible through social intervention to protect children from avoidable harm and even death, to protect children in time . By using case-studies which span the past 120 years of 'modern' practices and drawing on the work of leading social theorists of modernity and risk society it provides a new way of thinking about constructions of child abuse as a social problem and child protection as a late-modern expert system and experience. It proposes new ways of conceptualizing relationships between professionals, children at risk and families and deepens our understanding of what effective interventions have to involve.

Colin Heywood s rich account of childhood from the early Middle Ages to the First World War provides a concise and readable synthesis of the extensive literature on childhood. He gives a long-run historical perspective on the key dimensions to childhood, including ideas on the nature of the child, relationships with parents, interactions with others of a similar age, and children's health, working life and education. The period covered runs from the early Middle Ages to the First World War, and the geographical spread runs from North America in the west to Russia in the east. This new, comprehensively updated edition incorporates the findings of the most recent research, and in particular revises and expands the sections on theoretical developments in the new social studies of childhood , on medieval conceptions of the child, on parenting and on children's health. Rather than merely narrating their experiences from the perspectives of adults, Heywood incorporates children s testimonies, looking up as well as down . Paying careful attention to the elements of continuity as well as change in this field, Heywood argues that there is a cruel paradox at the heart of childhood in the past; on the one hand, material conditions for children have greatly improved, on the other, the business of preparing for adulthood has become more complicated in urban and industrial societies, and the young now face a bewildering array of choices and expectations. A History of Childhood, 2nd Edition will be an essential introduction to the subject for students of history, social sciences and cultural studies.

This book is intended to be a guide to the burgeoning literature on the history of childhood. Harry Hendrick reviews the most important debates and the main findings of a number of historians on a range of topics including the changing social constructions of childhood, child-parent relations, social policy, schooling, leisure and the thesis that modern childhood is 'disappearing'. The intention of this concise study is to provide readers with a reliable account of the evolution of some of the most important developments in adult-child relations during the last one hundred years. The author draws his material not only from historians but also from sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists and children's rights activists. Thus he successfully shows how much of our 'modern' understanding of childhood and of children results from both an historical and a social scientific understanding.

This book is intended to be a guide to the burgeoning literature on the history of childhood. Harry Hendrick reviews the most important debates and the main findings of a number of historians on a range of topics including the changing social constructions of childhood, child-parent relations, social policy, schooling, leisure and the thesis that modern childhood is 'disappearing'. The intention of this concise study is to provide readers with a reliable account of the evolution of some of the most important developments in adult-child relations during the last one hundred years. The author draws his material not only from historians but also from sociologists, anthropologists, psychologists and children's rights activists. Thus he successfully shows how much of our 'modern' understanding of childhood and of children results from both an historical and a social scientific understanding.

This book provides a resource for readers interested in the issues surrounding mobile phone use by children. Mobile phones are ubiquitous in young people's lives around the world. Most teenagers and many pre-teenage children have their own mobile phone and carry it around everywhere they go. While the mobile phone remains an important communication device for making and receiving voice calls, technological advances have evolved the typical device far beyond simple functionality. Recent models are multi-functional mini-computers with ever-increasing power that enable users to communicate through a range of channels and to engage in multiple other activities. For many young people, life without their mobile phone is unimaginable, but mobile phones can be a source of risk and threat. Understanding how they are used and highlighting potential dangers is an essential activity to enable the creation of sensible and acceptable strategies to ensure that benefits are maximised and risks are minimised. Stakeholders such as parents, industry, regulators, government and children themselves all have vested interests in how children use mobile phones and bear some responsibility for young mobile users.

Researching Children and Youth: Methodological Issues, Strategies, and Innovations, part of the Sociological Studies of Children and Youth series, seeks to fill a void in current publications directly addressing the problems and pitfalls that often accompany researching children and youth in today's society. Sociologists face increasingly limited access to children and youth given their "vulnerable" status, growing requirements from Institutional Review Boards, and more restricted access from organizations and educational institutions. As a result, researchers must be creative in the pursuit of researching kids and teens. Chapters in this volume address such topics as participatory and feminist ethnographic approaches, digital mining, children's agency, and navigating IRBs. The importance of contextualizing sociological research with children with special consideration of space, location, and identity thematically runs throughout all of the contributions to this volume.

There have been important developments in the study and treatment of selective mutism during the ten years since the first edition of this book was published. Understanding of the subject has improved more dramatically than in any period since the phenomenon of children who talk readily in some situations but not in others was first recognised over a century ago.

The second edition of this practical book reports recent developments in medication and combined therapies. New findings on the links between social anxiety, biological and genetic factors and selective mutism are described. At the same time the authors remain committed to understanding this pattern of behaviour in its full social context in family and community and to employing behavioural approaches to intervention alongside other methods.

This is the fullest and most authoritative book-length account of selective mutism in print.

This is the first book in any language to explore the cultural connotations of childhood in the early phases of Chinese history. Drawing upon both traditional and archeological materials, this study encompasses the stages of human development that begin with the embryo and extend to late adolescence. While texts from China's most ancient period scarcely mention children, rather suddenly, in Han times (206 BC-AD 220), the written record begins to feature fairly detailed references to children and the childhoods of famous figures. The aim of this book is to identify the cultural conditions that place children and childhood near the center of intellectual debate during this period. These conditions are related to the establishment of a centralized empire and are expressed in the discourse surrounding cosmology, medicine, law, statecraft, and-most important-dynastic history. The book describes the dangers that haunted children of high status, with the rules of succession, shifting power structures at court, and traditional views on patriarchy and parental authority (including the right of life and death over children) contributing to their vulnerability.

The results of this report from a major international research project, funded by UNICEF, on child rights and child poverty in the developing world are shocking. They show that over one billion children - more than half the children in developing countries - suffer from severe deprivation of basic human need and over a third (674 million) suffer from absolute poverty. The study's findings indicate that considerably more emphasis needs to be placed on improving basic infrastructure and social services for families with children, particularly with regards to shelter, sanitation and safe drinking water in rural areas. Anti-poverty strategies need to respond to local conditions, as blanket solutions to eradicating child poverty will be unsuccessful. (REPORT)

Little is known about the experiences of children living in families affected by severe and enduring mental illness. This is the first in-depth study of children and young people caring for parents affected in this way. Drawing on primary research data collected from 40 families, the book presents the perspectives of children (young carers), their parents and the key professionals in contact with them. Children caring for parents with mental illness makes an invaluable contribution to the growing evidence base on parental mental illness and outcomes for children. It: * is the first research-based text to examine the experiences and needs of children caring for parents with severe mental illness; * provides the perspectives of children, parents and key professionals in contact with these families; * reviews existing medical, social, child protection and young carers literatures on parental mental illness and consequences for children; * provides a chronology and guide to relevant law and policy affecting young carers and parents with severe mental illness; * makes concrete recommendations and suggestions for improving policy and professional practice; * contributes to the growing evidence base on parental mental illness and outcomes for children and families.

Nourish Your Child for Optimum health and well-being

All parents want to do the very best for the long-term health and well-being of their children, and nutrition plays a major role in that process. This book shows you where to start. Drawing on the latest medical and dietary research, Healthy Eating for Life for Children presents a complete and sensible plant-based nutrition program that can help you promote and maintain excellent health and good eating habits for your children throughout their lives.

Covering all stages of childhood from birth through adolescence, this book provides detailed nutritional guidelines that have been carefully drafted by an expert panel of Physicians Committee doctors and nutritionists, along with 91 delicious, easy-to-make recipes to help you put these healthy eating principles to work right away. Healthy Eating for Life for Children contains important information on:

• Eating for two–nutrition in pregnancy
• Worry-free breast- feeding and bottle-feeding options
• Nutrition for hyperactivity and attention problems
• Eating disorders and body image issues
• Achieving healthy weight and fitness levels
• Healthy eating for young athletes
• And more

Whether you are a new or experienced parent, this book will give you the crucial knowledge you need to take charge of your child’s diet and health.

Also available:

Healthy Eating for Life to Prevent and Treat Cancer (0-471-43597-X)
Healthy Eating for Life to Prevent and Treat Diabetes (0-471-43598-8)
Healthy Eating for Life for Women (0-471-43596-1)

What does it mean to be a child or an adolescent growing up on the streets or in a state institution? How do children define their everyday lives in the midst of global processes? This ethnographic study situates childhood and adolescence as social forms within the changing family and political structures of the complex urban world of Caracas, Venezuela. The presence of youngsters on the streets of Caracas embodies social contradictions at the national level, and this book discusses how these contradictions are played out in an oil-producing nation afflicted with hyperinflation, generalized corruption, the deterioration of public services, increasing poverty, and violence. Vivid life stories told by street children themselves portray their relations with family and friends, as well as with people they encounter: police officers, journalists, social workers, and passersby at their local hangouts. The book also describes and analyzes the justice system and institutions for minors, illustrating the constant failures to respond to, contain, or lessen youth violence. Many young people come from shantytowns to the streets of Caracas for a better life, and the author shows how they seek status and power through style, pursuing commodities of the global consumer market, from Nike shoes to cellular phones. Drawing on her ethnographic data and contemporary theories of power, control, and style, the author critiques the inequalities of the Venezuelan class structure and the oil boom's failure to provide adequate social services for a great majority of the population.

Each generation of American children across the tumultuous 20th-century has come of age in a very different world. How do major historical events - such as war or the depression - influence children's development? Children in Time and Place brings together social historians and developmentalists to explore the implications of a changing society for children's growth and life chances. Transitions provide a central theme, from historical transitions to the social transitions of children and their developmental experiences. The book has two stories to tell, one about children growing up and coming of age in various times and places, and another about how collaboration worked across the disciplines of history and psychology. Children in Time and Place begins with studies that link historical and life transitions in children's lives, with an emphasis on wartime experience. It turns to studies of historical variation in the effect of life transitions, from the onset of sexual experience in girl's lives to the transition to fatherhood in boys, and it concludes by introducing the reader to the collaborative efforts involved in the workshop that led to the volume.

"This anthology is breathtaking in its geographic and temporal sweep."--"Canadian Journal of History"

The American media has recently "discovered" children's experiences in present-day wars. A week-long series on the plight of child soldiers in Africa and Latin America was published in "Newsday" and newspapers have decried the U.S. government's reluctance to sign a United Nations treaty outlawing the use of under-age soldiers. These and numerous other stories and programs have shown that the number of children impacted by war as victims, casualties, and participants has mounted drastically during the last few decades.

Although the scale on which children are affected by war may be greater today than at any time since the world wars of the twentieth century, children have been a part of conflict since the beginning of warfare. Children and War shows that boys and girls have routinely contributed to home front war efforts, armies have accepted under-aged soldiers for centuries, and war-time experiences have always affected the ways in which grown-up children of war perceive themselves and their societies.

The essays in this collection range from explorations of childhood during the American Revolution and of the writings of free black children during the Civil War to children's home front war efforts during World War II, representations of war and defeat in Japanese children's magazines, and growing up in war-torn Liberia. Children and War provides a historical context for two centuries of children's multi-faceted involvement with war.

This book, the first academic study of its kind, uncovers a history of the child television audience. Looking in detail at children's television and its audience in Britain in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, the book shows how an audience literally came into being, how it was given substance, and how it became the site of intervention.