How did Enlightenment thinkers John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau influence ideas about childhood?

Enlightenment thinkers John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau profoundly shaped ideas about childhood and education, though their approaches differed significantly.

John Locke
In Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693), Locke proposed that the child’s mind is a tabula rasa, or "blank tablet," upon which experience writes. He emphasized that learning occurs through experience and that education should focus on character building and the cultivation of virtuous habits. While he endorsed the daring idea that children should read for pleasure, his primary focus remained on the practical conditioning of a gentleman.12

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau’s Émile (1762) introduced a "natural" approach to development. He argued that children should not be forced into the "straitjacket of adulthood" too soon and emphasized learning through experience and nature rather than verbal instruction. Although he advocated for freedom, his work also contained a didactic strain that influenced moral tales for children. His focus on understanding the child’s nature inspired later developments in child development psychology.32

Together, these thinkers shifted the perspective of literature and education toward the child's own needs, moving away from purely adult-centered instruction.2