What was it like for poor children in Tudor Times?
Poor children’s clothing was very different to rich children’s clothing. Poor girls wore dresses but they were not as fine as the rich clothing. It was something quite old and not made of silk and fine fabric, but cotton and thread. A satchel would go round the neck. Children who could no longer be looked after by their parents were either fostered out or placed in apprenticeships. Children must obey the Fourth Commandment: ‘Honour thy father and thy mother.’ They often kneel and ask their parents for their blessing. Parents believe that ‘he who spareth the rod, hateth the child’. Discipline, obedience and manners are inculcated early. In peasant households, from the age of about seven, children are helping hands. Girls aid their mothers, fetching water, building fires and watching younger siblings; boys herd cattle, tend geese and sheep and collect firewood. Poorer children always had to work and had little time to play. The games that poor children had they made themselves. The poore
