Being a child in a global world : childhood in an environment of violence, terror, migration and rapid change

Abstract

Childhood is a fairy-tale period of human life that almost every adult would want to relive if one had not had a bad childhood. It is known that this special period is a vital beginning that is worth protecting physically, spiritually, psychologically and mentally and expresses the purest, cleanest and even the most beautiful period in a person’s life. The value given to children and childhood varies from age to age and from society to society. In the muscle-intensive early ages, the consciousness formed against childhood was weaker and the importance given was less. As the human being came to the fore, with mental existence and quality of life gradually being increased, the importance given to childhood has increased. The state of childhood is best understood in the history of education. The fact that formal education has become compulsory has increased the importance given to children and has included them in a systematic institutional structure. [Excerpt from the Preface]