Changing Childhood in Society

Childhood in the social study of children is defined as the living phase of an individual for his physically and mentally development. Meaning that during this phase, the individual or the child depends fully on the adults for all of his decisions (HEHLMANN 1974, OERTER 1987).

According to NESTLE (2010), childhood is an important phase of life, where their preference for a healthy lifestyle is trained and their life proficiency is cultured. Until the 18^th century, the child was considered a small, immature adult who almost had no necessities in his life.

The child‟s life was decided by the family and society where he was born. In the beginning of the 19^th century, the doctors, pedagogues, and philosophers published the first moral educational advice on children‟s welfare. Through improvements in education and care for the children, there is a rising influence of children in society. Up until the beginning of 20^th century, the single parent household created a new household way, where a parent had less time for the children because of the career and led to the children becoming more involved in the daily household (HEYER 1997). Interfamilial decision-making, the communication in the family has become more modern, open and democratic, the changing structure of the family, the working women have had a reflective influence on the growing economic power, control, and independence of children, with the result that they are now taking charge and influencing their family‟s decision-making process more than they did in the previous generation (KRAAK

1998,KAUR 2006,NØRGAARD 2007).

The Beginning of Market Interest in Children

In 1965, Life magazine published pictures of in utero fetuses photographed by Lennart Nilsson. The image of a fetus unobstructured by placental matter and disengaged from the mother‟s womb as if the fetus is floating in space. The aim of describing the picture of the fetus is to show that the child is an individual who is independent from his mother and has a

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certain need and desire in his life. Here, the diagnostic and physical segregation of the child from the mother thought necessary in order to tap into the child‟s individuated expression of product preferences and perceptions in many ways is reflected by the image of the fetus. After publishing this picture, the research market about children began to rise, where researchers began to view the child-consumer as a singular individual whose knowledge of and desire for goods could be best fulfilled by the child alone (COOK 2003). Research into children‟s purchase influences was recognized as one of the greatest needs afterwards.

The Disappearance of Authority from Parents

The woman‟s role as “the mother” in the family has not really disappeared, of course, but it has been condensed by the changing situation in the family. The changing structure in the family and households, such as single parents, parents working away from home, the increasing number of working mothers, dual income households, and the changing lifestyle of children could affect the disappearance of parents‟ power in the family (HEYER 1997;BUSS

and SCHANINGER 1983; MOORE-SHAY and WILKIES 1988; SHERMAN and DELENER 1987).

Children‟s lifestyle has changed a lot in comparison to children in the previous generation.

Children today are fed by video games, TV, and other media, which cause children to have an isolated world of their own fantasy. Children are forced to enter the grown-up world earlier than they should (HEYER 1997). This situation leads children to have their own wants and needs, all of it decided by them. Children prefer to “think for themselves” than to obey their parents‟ rules.

On the other hand, a mothers‟ presence in the workplace also supports the practice and legitimates the children as consumers. A previous study indicated that increases in maternal employment cause changes in desired qualities of children. Children have more responsibilities when their mothers are employed (ASSAEL 1995). This could lead to children‟s increased maturity and sense of self-reliance. “Latch-key kids” is the name given to children who are involved in greater household responsibilities when both parents are working (COOK 2003). Research shows that two-thirds of 6 to 14 year-old children cook for themselves one to five times a week and forty-nine percent stated to have either bought food for the family or participated in family grocery shopping. Employed mothers‟ today‟s report that they do not have the time or the energy to monitor their children‟s consumption and media practices, and consequently “surrender” on their children‟s requests. It‟s a way for children to exert the influence by expressing their wants and needs from a position of relative powerlessness of their parents. The rising absence or the growing numbers of working mothers have generated young children who are becoming potentially autonomous consumers at the earliest possible age (COOK 2003).

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33 | P a g e From Parents‟ Authority to Kids‟ Influence

In the older generation, children were educated under strict and hard autonomous rules of the parents. Children had no words to say, just obeyed what was being said, wore what was given, and ate what was cooked. Children had to sit on their chairs until they finished their food and could not be involved in parents‟ conversation during eating (BARLÖSIUS 2009). The changing interaction between parents and children had an effect of increasing children‟s power to decide in terms of what to buy and what to consume. Children today in comparison to children in earlier generations have a bigger influence and more roles in their families.

Influence in this case is direct influence, where children act as an active interaction partner for the parents in the decision-making process (HEYER 1997).

Mother as “Gate-Keeper”

In the early twentieth century, children‟s goods and services were granted primarily by mothers, who were acted as the purchasing agents of the household. Mothers‟ authority toward the necessities and needed of their children was considered the gate keeper by the food and other industries. The mothers had the control over what their children could eat, use, and wear. Mothers were the authority figures who generally retained the structural position that afforded veto power over their children‟s consumption. So, in the case of disagreements with the child over brand decisions, the mother tried to overlay her preferences over the child (KAUR 2006). During this time, the mothers‟ role as the purchasing agent for the family transformed them into the figure of mother-consumer. So, every household advertisement was focused on the mother as their main purchaser for buying the necessities of the family. The mother‟s preferences and perspectives became the commodity, an exchangeable assessment that provoked the selling of children‟s products. A mother‟s presence and actions created the expansion of children‟s goods in the market. The last word of whether the goods are good or bad for a child (especially young infants or young children) were determined by the mother, whose approval became the material fact of making the purchase of goods. “Good mothers buy only the best for their families, especially for their children” (COOK 2003).

The “Grown-Up” Influence

During the early 1910s in USA, marketers, manufacturers, advertisers, and merchants began to recognize children as knowing independent consumers who had a great influence in the market. They realized that children did not like to be treated as “children.” Children liked to be treated as “young adults” or “grown-ups” and they liked having an equal treatment as their mother. Their opinions had to be heard and their wishes should be taken seriously and sincerely without separating them from the mothers‟ companionship. Beginning in the 1920s until the 1930s, the perspective of “a child” became the root for commercial knowledge and action. During the transition, children obtained the status of “persons” in the social

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mechanism of the exchanging market. Children had self-determining rights and they knew better than their parents what they needed to accomplish at each stage of life. The world of goods gave the child the agentive and autonomous cultural traction for the family (COOK

2003).