Reading The Age of Comfort by Joan DeJean, I came across the fascinating fact that the concept of childhood as we know it today began in the eighteenth century and was part of the same movement that brought comfort and privacy to the home.
DeJean's book chronicles the development of comfort, starting with its origins in Paris. Before the "age of comfort", homes were designed to display and impress, not to give their residents any sense of privacy or comfortable living conditions.
When architects began to develop rooms specifically for the family, children began to get their own bedrooms, school rooms, and space to exercise. They no longer had to be sent away to boarding school at a young age to prevent them from spoiling the grand effect of the enormous, stuffy rooms that had dominated palatial homes in ages past. When children were given their own space, they became a real part of the family for the first time in French memory. These innovations spread from Paris to the rest of Europe and continue to influence the way we live today.
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