Childhood FYE Oral Exam Final - Units 3, 4, 5, & 6

These flashcards cover key themes, concepts, and arguments from Units 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Childhood FYE lecture, providing definitions and insights to aid in exam preparation.

Aetoronormativity

The idea that adult perspectives, values, and authority shape how childhood is represented, often reinforcing adult power over children.

Agency vs. well-being

The tension between respecting children’s ability to make choices and protecting their safety and overall welfare.

Child Labor

The exploitation of children through work that is harmful to their health, development, or education.

Drawing-room child

A child raised in a controlled environment, shaped by adult expectations and social manners rather than free play. -Gubar

Family abolition

The concept of reducing or eliminating the traditional nuclear family to promote community-based care and equality. (Firestone)

Indoctrination

Shaping children's beliefs or behaviors in a way that discourages independent thinking, often imposed by adults. (Meet the Dullards)

Innocence

The state of being free from sin or moral wrong

Kinship Model

Emphasizes family relationships as critical for children's well-being rather than merely their legal or biological rights. (Brighouse & Swift)

Liminality

The idea that childhood is a transitional stage between dependency and autonomy-where children are in transition, learning and developing the skills, knowledge, and social roles they will need as adults.

Moral Panic

The process by which normal products or activities are perceived as dangerous or threatening.

Noble Savage

A concept depicting humans as naturally good and innocent, corrupted by civilization.

Parent Licensing

The idea that prospective parents should meet standards before being allowed to raise children.

Power

The ability to influence or control the behavior and beliefs of others.

Racial Infantilization

Treating members of a racial group as less mature or capable, denying them agency based on stereotypes.

Resistance to Authority

Challenging or defying those in power to assert one’s rights or beliefs.

Taboo

Restrictions on behavior imposed by social customs, especially concerning topics around children.

Three-cornered contests

Situations where a child's interests conflict with the demands of parents and the state. (Think Triangle “who owns the child”)

Brighouse & Swift

Authors arguing for children's well-being to be central to family, families matter primarily because they provide loving, supportive relationships that help children flourish.

Deloria

argues that the common idea of Indigenous peoples as “noble savages” living in perfect harmony with nature is a stereotype imposed by outsiders, which misrepresents the diversity, complexity, and real-life experiences of Native communities.

Feinberg

argues that children have rights-in-trust that protect their ability to make meaningful choices as adults, meaning adults should avoid making irreversible decisions that unfairly limit a child’s future options.

Firestone

Claims gender inequality is linked to family structures and advocating communal child-rearing.

Gubar: Reconceiving the Golden Age of Children’s Literature

• argues that the so-called “Golden Age” often reflects adult ideals & anxieties rather than children’s real experiences, & calls for reevaluating these texts from perspective of children themselves.

Gubar: The Hermeneutics of Recuperation

Argues how adults reinterpret or “sanitize” children’s literature and experiences to make them seem safer, more moral, or more meaningful than they actually were, often overlooking the real perspectives, voices, and agency of children.

Lareau

• argues middle-class families use “concerted cultivation”—structured activities & active skill-building—to give children advantages, while working-class and poor families rely on the “accomplishment of natural growth,” allowing children more free time & independence but fewer institutional advantages.

Plato

• Plato argues that a truly just society works best when wise, rational leaders guide everyone so each person can fulfill the role they are best suited for.

Rose

Author noting that children’s literature often reflects adult desires, limiting representation of fiction for children.

Tontiplaphol

argues Keats viewed childhood as a unique, imaginative state that grants access to deeper truths about life, blending innocence with insight rather than mere naivety.

Miller

• argues that children’s literature often misaligns content, themes, or complexity with the developmental needs and capacities of its intended child audience, raising questions about appropriateness & understanding.

Woodhouse

Author advocating for children’s rights and interests to take priority over those of adults, emphasizing that children are not the property of adults but individuals with their own needs and autonomy.