CHILD LIFE IN ANCIENT ROME
As soon as a child was born, it was laid at its father's feet. If he raised the child in his arms, he was acknowledging as his own and admitting it to all rights and privileges of membership in a Roman family. If he did not take it out, the child was an outcast, without family or protection. If a child was to be disposed of, it was exposed; that is, taken from the house by a slave and left by the roadside. This likely did not often occur. No actual instances of exposure are known during the Republic.
The training of children was conducted by their parents, with emphasis on moral rather than intellectual development. The most important virtues for a child to acquire were reverence for the gods, respect for the law, unquestioning and instant obedience to authority, truthfulness, and self-reliance.
Until the age of seven, boys and girls were taught by their mother to speak Latin correctly and do elementary reading, writing and arithmetic. At seven a boy went on to a regular teacher and a girl remained her mother's constant companion. A girl's formal education was cut short because a girl married early and there was much to learn of home management. From her mother a girl learned to spin, weave and sew.
A boy, on the other hand, was trained by his father. If his father was a farmer, he learned to plow, plant and reap. If the father was a man of high position in Rome, his son stood beside him in the atrium when callers were received, so as to gain some practical knowledge of politics and affairs of state. The father trained the son in the use of weapons in military exercises, as well as in riding, swimming, wrestling, and boxing.
The training of children was conducted by their parents, with emphasis on moral rather than intellectual development. The most important virtues for a child to acquire were reverence for the gods, respect for the law, unquestioning and instant obedience to authority, truthfulness, and self-reliance.
Until the age of seven, boys and girls were taught by their mother to speak Latin correctly and do elementary reading, writing and arithmetic. At seven a boy went on to a regular teacher and a girl remained her mother's constant companion. A girl's formal education was cut short because a girl married early and there was much to learn of home management. From her mother a girl learned to spin, weave and sew.
A boy, on the other hand, was trained by his father. If his father was a farmer, he learned to plow, plant and reap. If the father was a man of high position in Rome, his son stood beside him in the atrium when callers were received, so as to gain some practical knowledge of politics and affairs of state. The father trained the son in the use of weapons in military exercises, as well as in riding, swimming, wrestling, and boxing.