Two main things were changing in the sixteenth through the eighteenth
centuries, the methods of child rearing among the English upper classes and the adult
views of children. Through the centuries, child-rearing methods among the English
upper classes began to change, getting less harsh and dangerous for the children.
Adults' views of children, which shaped their practices towards the children, also
changed from them being evil spirited to innocent and delight.
The sixteenth century was the worse through children's eyes. Robert Cleaver
(article one), a Calvinist minister, viewed children as "hath a wrong-doing heart" and
"inclined to evil". He also writes that the children "become good not by birth, but by
education". The clothing of infants according to Robert Cleaver, in this century was
referred to as swaddling, "to wrap narrow strips of cloth around an infant" (article 8).
Parents would discipline their children by striking them on the face and head with
cudgels, staves, pitchforks and fire shovels. Bartholemew Batty (article 11) believes
that "if parent would use only the rod, then they would have the means to rejoice and
become parents of wise and worthy children.
During the seventeenth century, child rearing and adults' views of children
started to change. John Earle (article 2), an Anglican minister, describes a child's soul
as "yet a blank paper unscribbled with observations of the world, whereas in time it
becomes a blurred notebook" and "is purely happy because he knows no evil".
Elizabeth Clinton (article 5) believes that mothers should nurse their own children than
hire a wet nurse. She adds that "now I try to regain my peace by preventing many
Christian mothers from sinning in the same way". Sir George Savile adds about his
views on the discipline of children that ...