childe, an archaic term referring to a youth of noble birth or a youth in training to be a knight. In literature the word is often used as a title, as in the character Childe Roland of Robert Browning’s poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” and Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s

child abuse, willful infliction of pain and suffering on children through physical, sexual, or emotional mistreatment. Prior to the 1970s the term child abuse normally referred to only physical mistreatment, but since then its application has expanded to include, in addition to inordinate physical

Jackie Coogan: …the California legislature enacted the Child Actors Bill, popularly called the “Coogan Law,” ensuring child movie actors such rights as having their contracts approved by the courts and their income governed by financial institutions. During World War II Coogan served in the U.S. Army Air Force. In later years he…

Robert Coover: Books: …fairy tale for adults, and A Child Again (2005), a collection of grotesque retellings of childhood tales.

education: Education and personal growth: …School and Society (1899) and The Child and the Curriculum (1902), education must be tied to experience, not abstract thought, and must be built upon the interests and developmental needs of the child. He argued for a student-centred, not subject-centred, curriculum and stressed the teaching of critical thought over rote…

Maurice Ravel: …of his best known opera, L’Enfant et les sortilèges. The latter work gave Ravel an opportunity of doing ingenious and amusing things with the animals and inanimate objects that come to life in this tale of bewitchment and magic in which a naughty child is involved. His only other operatic…

child behaviour disorder: …classify childhood disorders is the Child Behavior Checklist developed by American psychologist Thomas M. Achenbach. Two factors on this scale are involved in the majority of behaviour disorders. The first is externalizing behaviour, such as aggression and hyperactivity, and the second is internalizing behaviour, such as depression and anxiety. This…

child behaviour disorder, any deviation in conduct that is aggressive or disruptive in nature, that persists for more than six months, and that is considered inappropriate for the child’s age. The vast majority of children display a range of behaviour problems, such as whining or disobeying.

child development, the progressive maturation of perceptual, emotional, intellectual, and behavioral functions from the early stages of language acquisition, typically around one or two years of age, to the onset of adolescence, at about 12 or 13 years. A brief treatment of child development

effects of television viewing on child development, highly contested topic within child development and psychology involving the consequences for children from the content of and the duration of their exposure to television (TV) programming. The effects of television viewing on child development

Ian McEwan: Major novels: …family dynamics and political intrigue: The Child in Time (1987; TV movie 2017), which won the Whitbread Book Award, examines how a kidnapping affects the parents; The Innocent (1990; film 1993) concerns international espionage during the Cold War; Black Dogs (1992) tells the story of a husband and wife who…

Blood, Sweat & Tears: The original Blood, Sweat & Tears: …Sweat & Tears’ debut album, Child Is Father to the Man, was moderately successful commercially. In addition to various Kooper compositions, it included songs written by Randy Newman, Carole King, and others. Following the album’s release, Brecker left the group to join jazz great Horace Silver’s band. Kooper also departed…

John Cassavetes: Independent filmmaker: 1960s and ’70s: … then signed Cassavetes to direct A Child Is Waiting (1963), an earnest drama written by Abby Mann. Burt Lancaster played a psychologist and Judy Garland a new teacher who disagree in their approaches to working with developmentally challenged children. After Kramer took the film out of Cassavetes’s hands and reedited…

child labour, employment of children of less than a legally specified age. In Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand, children under age 15 rarely work except in commercial agriculture, because of the effective enforcement of laws passed in the first half of the 20th century. In the

Güler Sabancı: …Not Brides” initiative to end child marriages around the world. In addition, she campaigned for greater educational opportunities for children and for an end to the use of child labourers.

child mental health, the complete well-being and optimal development of a child in the emotional, behavioral, social, and cognitive domains. Children’s mental health is often defined as different from adult mental health and more multifaceted because of the unique developmental milestones that

sexual abuse, in criminal law, any act of sexual contact that a person suffers, submits to, participates in, or performs as a result of force or violence, threats, fear, or deception or without having legally consented to the act. Sexual contact in this context is usually understood to encompass

pedophilia, in conventional usage, a psychosexual disorder, generally affecting adults, characterized by sexual interest in prepubescent children or attempts to engage in sexual acts with prepubescent children. The term was used with that meaning in the psychiatric diagnostic literature prior to

child abuse, willful infliction of pain and suffering on children through physical, sexual, or emotional mistreatment. Prior to the 1970s the term child abuse normally referred to only physical mistreatment, but since then its application has expanded to include, in addition to inordinate physical

Pramoedya Ananta Toer: …and Anak semua bangsa (1980; Child of All Nations), met with great critical and popular acclaim in Indonesia after their publication, but the government subsequently banned them from circulation, and the last two volumes of the tetralogy, Jejak langkah (1985; Footsteps) and Rumah kaca (1988; House of Glass), had to…

Cormac McCarthy: A wandering writer’s life: …of his two subsequent novels, Child of God (1974), about a lonely man’s descent into depravity, and Suttree (1979), about a man who ekes out a living from a river in Knoxville that symbolizes the elemental forces of life, nature, and death. The latter novel is regarded as McCarthy’s most…

Michel del Castillo: …a short novel, Tanguy (1957; A Child of Our Time). Though written as fiction, it is the story of his experiences as a political refugee and a prisoner in concentration camps, and, like The Diary of Anne Frank, it has the poignancy of a child’s witness to harrowing historical events.

Gabriele D’Annunzio: …autobiographical novel Il piacere (1889; The Child of Pleasure) introduces the first of D’Annunzio’s passionate Nietzschean superman heroes; another appears in L’innocente (1892; The Intruder). D’Annunzio had already become famous when his best-known novel, Il trionfo della morte (1894; The Triumph of Death), appeared. It and his next major novel,…

Marie, baroness von Ebner-Eschenbach: …her masterpiece, Das Gemeindekind (1887; The Child of the Parish), she graphically depicted the surroundings of her Moravian home and showed a true sympathy for the poor and an unsentimental understanding of children. Lotti, die Uhrmacherin (1879; “Lotti, the Watchmaker”), Zwei Comtessen (1885; “Two Countesses”), and Unsühnbar (1890; “Inexpiable,” or…

United States v. American Library Association: …Act of 1996) and the Child Online Protection Act (1998)—had been struck down by the Supreme Court as too broad and in violation of the First Amendment. CIPA was Congress’s third attempt. When CIPA became law in 2000, schools and libraries receiving funds or discounts under the federal E-rate program…

child pornography, in criminal law, any visual depiction of a minor (a person who has not reached the age of consent) engaging in sexually explicit activity. In the federal criminal code of the United States, child pornography is partly defined as “any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer

Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition: …decision that provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA) of 1996 were vague and overly broad and thus violated the free-speech protection contained in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The act specifically proscribed computer-generated or -altered depictions of minors engaging in explicit sexual conduct (so-called “virtual” child…

child psychiatry, branch of medicine concerned with the study and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders of childhood. Child psychiatry has been recognized as a division of the field of psychiatry and neurology since the mid 1920s. By about the mid-1950s, the American Board of

child psychology, the study of the psychological processes of children and, specifically, how these processes differ from those of adults, how they develop from birth to the end of adolescence, and how and why they differ from one child to the next. The topic is sometimes grouped with infancy,

child safety, area concerned with limiting children’s exposure to hazards and reducing children’s risk of harm. Children are particularly vulnerable to accidents, and their safety requires different approaches from those for adults. In the early 21st century, approximately one million children

child safety: The correct use of child safety seats in passenger cars can reduce the risk of death from car accidents by as much as 71 percent for children under one year of age. Likewise, the use of helmets can significantly reduce the risk of brain injury from bicycling accidents.

child safety: The correct use of child safety seats in passenger cars can reduce the risk of death from car accidents by as much as 71 percent for children under one year of age. Likewise, the use of helmets can significantly reduce the risk of brain injury from bicycling accidents.

child pornography, in criminal law, any visual depiction of a minor (a person who has not reached the age of consent) engaging in sexually explicit activity. In the federal criminal code of the United States, child pornography is partly defined as “any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer

family law: Maintenance and support: …who were delinquent in their child-support payments. Other measures included the imposition of liens on property and the withholding of unpaid support from federal and state income tax refunds.

human trafficking, form of modern-day slavery involving the illegal transport of individuals by force or deception for the purpose of labor, sexual exploitation, or activities in which others benefit financially. Human trafficking is a global problem affecting people of all ages. It is estimated

child welfare, services and institutions concerned with the physical, social, and psychological well-being of children, particularly children suffering from the effects of poverty or lacking normal parental care and supervision. In the Western world, and particularly in the larger cities, child

clinic: Health centres: Activities in child welfare clinics comprise education in all aspects of motherhood, periodic medical and dental examinations, advice on mental health problems, immunization and vaccination, and distribution of welfare foods.

Enid Blyton: Early life and family: …her first book of poems, Child Whispers, was published in 1922. Blyton devoted herself full-time to writing from about 1924. She married Hugh Alexander Pollock, her first husband, that same year. Pollock was an editor at George Newnes, a publisher for whom Blyton was writing a book on the London…

The Child’s Bath, oil-on-canvas painting created in 1893 by American artist Mary Cassatt during her mature period. The work depicts an intimate and tender moment between a woman and a child without indulging in excessive sentimentality. Like much of Cassatt’s work in the early 1890s, The Child’s

A Child’s Christmas in Wales, prose recollection by Dylan Thomas, published posthumously in 1955. A Child’s Christmas in Wales is a lyrical, minutely remembered evocation of the Christmas season, as perceived by a happy child. The work captures all aspects of the season: the weather, the village

A Child’s Garden of Verses, volume of 64 poems for children by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1885. The collection, which Stevenson dedicated to Alison Cunningham (his childhood nurse), was one of the most influential children’s works in the 19th century, and its verses were widely imitated.

Mark Hamill: Voice acting: …the demonic doll Chucky in Child’s Play (2019), and Skeletor in Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2021) and Masters of the Universe: Revolution (2024).

David Malouf: Child’s Play (1981) concerns the metaphysical relationship between a professional assassin and his intended victim. The novella Fly Away Peter (1982) is set in Queensland just before World War I. The Great World (1990), about POWs in World War II, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize…

Charles Manning Child was an American zoologist who developed the axial gradient theory of regeneration and development, a physiological explanation of the ordered re-creation of animal parts following an injury. While at the University of Chicago, where he spent his academic life (1895–1934),

Francis J. Child was an American scholar and educator important for his systematic study, collecting, and cataloging of folk ballads. Child graduated from Harvard University in 1846, and later, after studying in Europe, he succeeded Edward T. Channing in 1851 as Boylston professor of rhetoric,

Francis J. Child was an American scholar and educator important for his systematic study, collecting, and cataloging of folk ballads. Child graduated from Harvard University in 1846, and later, after studying in Europe, he succeeded Edward T. Channing in 1851 as Boylston professor of rhetoric,

Julia Child was an American cooking expert, author, and television personality noted for her promotion of traditional French cuisine, especially through her programs on public TV. Julia McWilliams was the daughter of a prosperous financier and consultant, who graduated from Smith College (B.A.,

Lydia Maria Child was an American author of antislavery works that had great influence in her time. Born into an abolitionist family, Lydia Maria Francis was primarily influenced in her education by her brother, a Unitarian clergyman and later a professor at the Harvard Divinity School. In the

Marjorie Child Husted was an American home economist and businesswoman under whose supervision the image of Betty Crocker became a General Mills icon for the perfect cook and homemaker. Husted attended public schools and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1913. She remained at the

Sir John Child, Baronet was the first person to be placed in control of all the British East India Company’s trading establishments in India. He served there as deputy governor of Bombay (Mumbai; 1679–81) and president of Surat (1682–90). He was made a baronet in 1684. Apparently, Child was sent to

Sir Josiah Child, 1st Baronet was an English merchant, economist, and governor of the East India Company. The son of a London merchant, Child amassed a fortune as supplier of food to the navy. He also became a considerable stockholder in the East India Company. His speeches and writings supporting

Jessie Willcox Smith: …highly popular illustrated calendar entitled The Child. From that time onward, Smith received a steady flow of commissions.

Dardenne brothers: In 2005, with L’Enfant (The Child), the brothers for the second time in six years won the Palme d’Or. Only filmmakers Emir Kusturica and Imamura Shohei had previously won twice. L’Enfant explores life in a poverty-stricken, gritty, industrial region of French-speaking southern Belgium. Its protagonist, Bruno, is a 20-year-old…

progressive education, movement that took form in Europe and the United States during the late 19th century as a reaction to the alleged narrowness and formalism of traditional education. One of its main objectives was to educate the “whole child”—that is, to attend to physical and emotional, as

infant and toddler development: Toddler years: …a Japanese humanoid known as Child-Robot with Biomimetic Body (CB2). The focus of the Osaka University project was to amass knowledge of how toddlers learn language and develop object recognition and communication skills. The robot was designed to mirror the motions of a human child, responding to both touch and…

puerperal fever, infection of some part of the female reproductive organs following childbirth or abortion. Cases of fever of 100.4 °F (38 °C) and higher during the first 10 days following delivery or miscarriage are notifiable to the civil authority in most developed countries, and the notifying

birth, process of bringing forth a child from the uterus, or womb. The prior development of the child in the uterus is described in the article human embryology. The process and series of changes that take place in a woman’s organs and tissues as a result of the developing fetus are discussed in

natural childbirth, any of the systems of managing parturition in which the need for anesthesia, sedation, or surgery is largely eliminated by physical and psychological conditioning. Until the early 20th century, the term natural childbirth was thought of as synonymous with normal childbirth. In

childe, an archaic term referring to a youth of noble birth or a youth in training to be a knight. In literature the word is often used as a title, as in the character Childe Roland of Robert Browning’s poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” and Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s

Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, autobiographical poem in four cantos by British Romantic poet Lord Byron. Cantos I and II were published in 1812, Canto III in 1816, and Canto IV in 1818. Byron gained intense literary fame with the publication of the first two cantos. (Read more about this poem in

V. Gordon Childe was an Australian-born British historian, linguist, and archaeologist whose study of European prehistory of the 2nd and 3rd millennia bce sought to evaluate the relationship between Europe and the Middle East and to examine the structure and character of the preliterate cultures of

V. Gordon Childe was an Australian-born British historian, linguist, and archaeologist whose study of European prehistory of the 2nd and 3rd millennia bce sought to evaluate the relationship between Europe and the Middle East and to examine the structure and character of the preliterate cultures of

Childebert I was the Merovingian king of Paris from 511, who helped to incorporate Burgundy into the Frankish realm. Childebert was a son of Clovis I and Clotilda. He received lands in northwestern France, stretching from the Somme down to Brittany, in the partition of his father’s kingdom in 511;

Childebert II was the Merovingian king of the eastern Frankish kingdom of Austrasia and later also king of Burgundy. Still very young on the death of his father, Sigebert I, in 575, Childebert was dominated by his mother, Brunhild, who was hostile to his uncle, King Chilperic of Soissons. The

Childebert III was the son of Theodoric III and, from 695, puppet king of the Franks. He was totally dominated by Pippin II, the Austrasian mayor of the palace and Charlemagne’s

Childeric I was the king of the Salian Franks, one of the first of the Merovingians and the father of Clovis I. The Salian Franks, in treaty with the Roman Empire, had settled in Belgica Secunda, between the Meuse and Somme rivers, making their capital at Tournai. Childeric’s role as a barbarian

Childeric II was the Merovingian king of Austrasia and briefly of all the Frankish lands. The second son of Clovis II, Childeric became king of Austrasia in 662 on the death of Childebert the Adopted, a usurper and the son of Grimoald. He reigned under the joint control of Himnechildis, the mother

Childeric III was the last Merovingian king. Effective power in France had long been wielded by the Carolingian mayors of the palace, but the revolt that followed the death of Charles Martel in 741 made it wise for his sons Carloman and Pippin III the Short, in 743, to place Childeric III, a

Feast of the Holy Innocents, Christian feast in remembrance of the massacre of young children in Bethlehem by King Herod the Great in his attempt to kill the infant Jesus. The feast is observed by Western churches on December 28 and in the Eastern churches on December 29. The slain children were

Erskine H. Childers was an Irish politician, a member of the Fianna Fáil party who served as the fourth president of Ireland (1973–74). He was the second Protestant to hold the office, the first being Douglas Hyde (1938–45). Childers was the son of Robert Erskine Childers, a leading figure in the

Erskine H. Childers was an Irish politician, a member of the Fianna Fáil party who served as the fourth president of Ireland (1973–74). He was the second Protestant to hold the office, the first being Douglas Hyde (1938–45). Childers was the son of Robert Erskine Childers, a leading figure in the

Hugh Culling Eardley Childers was a politician in Australia and later in Great Britain. He was a prominent member of the British Liberal Party and a fervent supporter of William Ewart Gladstone, in whose first three ministries he held high offices. After studying at Wadham College, Oxford, and

Robert Erskine Childers was a writer and Irish nationalist, executed for his actions in support of the republican cause in the civil war that followed the establishment of the Irish Free State. Childers, a first cousin of the English politician Hugh Childers, was a clerk in the House of Commons

childhood, period of the human lifespan between infancy and adolescence, extending from ages 1–2 to 12–13. See child

My Childhood, the first book of an autobiographical trilogy by Maxim Gorky, published in Russian in 1913–14 as Detstvo. It was also translated into English as Childhood. Like the volumes of autobiography that were to follow, My Childhood examines the author’s experiences by means of individual

Leo Tolstoy: Early years: …first published work, Detstvo (1852; Childhood), was a fictionalized and nostalgic account of his early years.

amnesia: Childhood amnesia (or infantile amnesia) is the inability of an adult to recollect events from early childhood. This form of amnesia is generally attributed to brain development and the inability to consolidate memories in early childhood. Childhood amnesia may or may not be permanent.

Erik Erikson: …essays that were collected in Childhood and Society (1950), the first major exposition of his views on psychosocial development. The evocative work was edited by his wife, Joan Serson Erikson. Erikson conceived eight stages of development, each confronting the individual with its own psychosocial demands, that continued into old age.…

childhood disease and disorder, any illness, impairment, or condition that primarily affects infants and children, spanning the period from fetal development through adolescence. Childhood is a time of constant transformation—both within the child and in the world around them. The physical and

childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD), a rare neurobiological disorder characterized by the deterioration of language and social skills and by the loss of intellectual functioning following normal development throughout at least the initial two years of life. The disorder was first described in

obesity: Childhood obesity: Childhood obesity has become a significant problem in many countries. Overweight children often face stigma and suffer from emotional, psychological, and social problems. Obesity can adversely affect a child’s education and future socioeconomic status. In 2004 an estimated nine million American children over…

J.M. Coetzee: In The Childhood of Jesus (2013), a boy and his guardian scour a dystopian world—from which desire and pleasure have apparently been purged—in search of the boy’s mother. The first in a trilogy, it was followed by The Schooldays of Jesus (2016) and The Death of…

speech disorder: Language and mental disorder: …from a similar disorder called childhood schizophrenia, in which previously good general and linguistic development falls apart in association with similarly bizarre behaviour. In adolescence, a sudden change of voice to a shrill falsetto or weird chanting may herald the outbreak of juvenile schizophrenic disease. Infantile lisping, strange distortions of…

Arthur C. Clarke: Clarke’s next novel, Childhood’s End (1953), is regarded as one of his best and dealt with how first contact with aliens sparks an evolutionary transformation in humanity. As humanity is about to make its first flights into space, the alien Overlords arrive in gigantic spaceships. The Overlords have…

Donald Glover is an American writer, comedian, actor, and musician who has won acclaim in all his disparate arts. He is perhaps best known for the TV series Atlanta (2016–22) and for the music he released under the name Childish Gambino. Glover grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where his father

Kathy Acker: Literary works and other projects: In the early novel The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula (1973), this process of appropriation is central to the narrator’s quest for identity. The book’s themes of alienation and objectified sexuality recur in such later novels as Great Expectations (1982). Written after the death of Acker’s mother and…

List of Children’s Games and Toys in Antiquity: But what about children in antiquity? What types of toys and games occupied youngsters in the past? Let’s take a look.

Ian McEwan: Major novels: The Children Act (2014; film 2017) centers on a judge who must rule on the medical treatment of a teenage Jehovah’s Witness whose parents object, on the basis of their religious beliefs, to his receiving a blood transfusion. Drawing inspiration from Hamlet, McEwan next wrote Nutshell (2016), which is…

Ian McEwan: Major novels: The Children Act (2014; film 2017) centers on a judge who must rule on the medical treatment of a teenage Jehovah’s Witness whose parents object, on the basis of their religious beliefs, to his receiving a blood transfusion. Drawing inspiration from Hamlet, McEwan next wrote…

The challenge of providing adequate food, shelter, health care, and education for those living in poverty throughout the world is formidable. More than a billion people live in extreme poverty. The situation of children in many countries is critical as a result of poverty, armed conflicts,

social service: Administration of services in the United Kingdom and Australia: …also be issued under the Children and Young Persons Act of 1969, as amended by the Criminal Justice Act of 1982, when children or young persons are found guilty of an offense that, if committed by an adult, would be punishable by imprisonment. Observation and assessment centres and secure community…

Edward Hoagland: Novels and short stories: His later novels include Children Are Diamonds: An African Apocalypse (2013) and In the Country of the Blind (2016).

Gwendolyn Brooks: Later work and legacy: (1987), Winnie (1988), and Children Coming Home (1991).

Elizabeth Murray: …rectangle in works such as Children Meeting (1978), with large bulbous forms and lines pressing against the edge of the canvas. As if to make the exterior edges of her painting correspond to the energetic rhythms of the various elements pictured within—highly stylized objects such as coffee cups, tables, and…

William Hurt: …actor for his roles in Children of a Lesser God (1986) and Broadcast News (1987) and a nod for best supporting actor in A History of Violence (2005). Other notable films included The Accidental Tourist (1988), Smoke (1995), Chantal Akerman’s A Couch in New York (1996), One

Children of the Chapel, prominent and long-lived company of boy actors that was active during most of the 16th and early 17th centuries in England. The troupe was originally composed of boy choristers affiliated with the Chapel Royal in London who first performed during the reign of Henry IV. From

Juan Goytisolo: Duelo en el paraíso (1955; Children of Chaos), set just after the Spanish Civil War, is about the violence that ensues when children gain power over a small town. After the publication of Fin de fiesta (1962; The Party’s Over), four stories about marriage, his style grew more experimental. The…

Frank Herbert: …Dune series: Dune Messiah (1969), Children of Dune (1976), God-Emperor of Dune (1981), Heretics of Dune (1984), and Chapterhouse: Dune (1985). These books followed Paul Atreides and House Atreides through future millennia. In the late 1990s Herbert’s son Brian began collaborating with Kevin J. Anderson on books set in the…

William Trevor: …Hotel (1969), Elizabeth Alone (1973), The Children of Dynmouth (1976), and Fools of Fortune (1983). The latter two both won the Whitbread Literary Award for novels. In addition, Felicia’s Journey (1994) was named the Whitbread Book of the Year. Reading Turgenev (1991) and The Story of Lucy Gault (2002) were…

Western painting: France: …and child characters, of which The Children of Edward (c. 1830) is a typical example, being executed with a flatness that lacks either linear or colorist inspiration. In comparison, the work of Théodore Chassériau is animated by powerful emotional overtones reminiscent of Delacroix. The Cossack Girl Finding the Body of…