“He was budgeted but not planned!”: Childhood in the contemporary world

Abstract

The present study provides some reflections about the way in which childhood has been addressed in the contemporary world in our society. It aims to contribute with observations ranging from the educational proposals elaborated throughout history to aspects related to the child´s involvement in the media, consumption, and finally, childhood pathologizating as an aspect that is becoming more prevalent. Issues such as - ¿ To what extent does current society with its media and appeals for consumption and the exacerbated focus on impose adult behaviors on early ages, care for its children? ¿Why are children increasingly being medicated? ¿What can we do for the current panorama in which a highly medicalized and medicated society becomes evident? – are discussed in the text, from the relevant literature review. Childhood is recognized as a fundamental stage for the development of all human beings and some considerations throughout the study show how playing, considered as a characteristic activity of childhood, is being disregarded today, in favor of the adult world pursuits in a concerning return of the child image as adult in miniature.