The upbringing of a Separatist child was harsh, as you might suspect.
Adults believed that children were to be humble and submissive. They believed that children were born with a sinful nature that must be broken. Parents and other adults began to “break the child’s will” beginning somewhere around the two. Not surprising given the ‘terrible twos!’
While eating the children could not sit down, although babies sat in high chairs. They stood at the end of the table and would serve the food. During a meal, children were not allowed to speak unless spoken to.
Corporal punishment was considered necessary for the proper upbringing of children.
Children were expected to both love and fear their parents, to be obedient in all things, to be submissive equally to mother and father, and to speak in a restrained and proper manner.
After age eight it was not uncommon for a child to be “put out” or placed in the foster care of another family. Some children were placed into households to learn a trade, others to be taught to read and write. I had Mary Allerton put out to live with the Bradfords, reasoning that there was no one in her family to teach her how to be a proper Pilgrim woman. Her mother died the first winter and her sister was only two years old and busy keeping the home for her brother and father.
Did the children have time to play?
Yes, they did when their work for the day was finished and their parents gave them permission. They could play games that improved their body and mind. Outside, they would play leapfrog, “ball and cup,” lummelin (keep away), all hid (hide and seek), or blow bubbles, and have foot races. There were also board games, like draughts (checkers), Nine Men’s Morris (a strategy board game) and Naughts and Crosses (tic tac toe), or marbles.
Girls had cloth dolls called poppets.
Older children might exchange riddles or jests (jokes). They particularly liked tongue twisters or “giffes,” or what we call tongue twisters. Here is a sample I used in The Last Pilgrim: “Dick drunk drink in a dish. Where’s the dish Dick drunk drink in?”
What did babies wear? Did they have baby toys?
Children wore shifts and ‘leading strings’ were attached to the shoulders of the shift so parents could hold the children upright when they began to walk. Walking was encouraged as early as possible since crawling on the floor was considered close to the devil. Because these little ones often fell, toddlers wore something called a “pudding’ around their heads. Thus when they fell, their heads were padded.
Surprising modern, children also had walkers with trays for toys, and they sat in high chairs. Their toys would be wooden blocks, carved animals, or small poppets.
What did older children wear?
When children reached the age of 4-5, they were old enough to wear clothing similar to their parents. This was called breeching for the boys.
If you were a girl, you would wear: a coif or hat on the head, a smock or shift under everything, petticoats, tied-on pockets, a skirt, an apron, a waistcoat, a neckerchief, knitted stockings, and latchet shoes. An older girl might wear stays and of course, the children would go barefoot in warm weather.
If you were a boy, you would wear: a hat, a linen shirt, a wool jacket or doublet, woolen breeches, knitted stockings, and latchet shoes
In the year 1317, a young and pious squire named Benedict Russell is sent to the English-held garrison of Berwick-upon-Tweed, a town sitting on the border between Scotland and England. The town’s strategic position and relative wealth had previously resulted in a succession of raids, sieges and takeovers during centuries of war between these two countries. Three years earlier to Benedict’s arrival, the Scots, led by Robert the Bruce, had won a massive victory at the battle of Bannockburn and were raiding over the border. Edward II decided to send reinforcements to Berwick in case of an attack.
Fiona Watson is a medieval historian and writer specializing in medieval warfare in particular, and Scottish history more generally. A former senior lecturer at the University of Stirling, she fronted a ten-part BBC television history of Scotland in 2001 and has made numerous radio programs, including a series on The Enlightenment and another using original sources to highlight the experience of war across the ages entitled Voices from the Front. She is currently a presenter of Making History on BBC Radio 4. Her books include Under the Hammer: Edward I and Scotland, 1286-1307 (1997), Scotland: A History 8000 BC – AD 2000 (2001) and Macbeth: A True Story (2010).
They ate what the adults ate: salted (dried) beef, salted ling or codfish, oats, peas and some ground wheat, pickled food, dried fruit, cheese until it became too moldy, and hard biscuits (hardtack). They drank water until it became fouled, then they drank beer.
Older boys helped their fathers prepare the fields for planting, sow seeds, weed the fields, and harvest the crops. They learned to tend livestock, hunt, fish, and do woodworking – in other words, they were trained to be the head of a household.
Girls trained in household chores, and there were plenty of those: they planted and weeded the garden; helped prepare all the meals; worked in the fields during planting time; helped make soap and candles; learned to spin, dye, and weave wool; learned to harvest flax and weave linen; sewed clothing from the linen and wool; mended and washed clothes, learned to knit mittens, socks, scarves; churned 
butter; ground corn into meal; and learned to make cheese. Women and girls also slaughtered smaller animals for food and preserved meat and fish. When girls were older, they learned how to make beer. I personally think the girls worked harder. 
I had never read any of Alex Craigie’s books, the premise of this one was enticing. I was not disappointed – what I read stuck with me long after I read the last page. The author is a compelling author. She wrote the book in response to her experience with care homes – what we call retirement homes here in the US.
Alex Craigie is the pen name of Trish Power. She has lived for many years in a peaceful village between Pembroke and Tenby in southwest Wales, with a wonderful family all living locally. She was ten when her first play was performed at school. It was in rhyming couplets and written in pencil in a book with imperial weights and measures printed on the back. When her children were young, she wrote short stories for magazines before returning to the teaching job that she loved.
Harald Johnson is an author of both fiction and nonfiction, a publisher, and a lifelong swimmer—who actually swam nonstop around New York’s Manhattan island. His debut novel (New York 1609, 2018) was the first-ever to explore the birth of New York City (and Manhattan) from its earliest beginnings. His most recent novel series plunges the reader back 40,000 years to the age of Neanderthals. And back!
It’s been a long while since I’ve posted anything, but my two-legged has made a lot of changes in her life, which I’ve been trying to accommodate. It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve done my best.
I managed to resist all her attempts, right up until the time when things in the house started disappearing into cardboard cartons (which I thought were for me to play in). One morning, she swooped me off the bed and carried me down the hall to the bathroom and before you knew it, I was in that plastic contraption. She’d been carrying me down the hall several times a week for a while, and she lulled me into contentment. It was just a ploy. I won’t fall for it again.
This new place isn’t too bad. My cat tree appeared in the place where she works, right in front of a large glass window so I can watch the birds at their feeder and try to get at the squirrels that wander up on the patio. I scratch that glass pretty good when I see them but so far haven’t been able to get through. It also has a rug that I’ve done my best to destroy by picking, but so far it’s held up annoyingly.
It’s also where I sleep at night, in between rounds of fighting with a stuffed rat or a squirrel or a bone that I’ve ripped apart.
She complains when the battles on the bed wake her up, but I’m only protecting her.
Second, I now have two grandchildren, whose presence blesses me with smiles and laughter every day. Eli is almost two and a happy kid with interests in all sorts of things: birds, cars and trucks, drawing, music. I love playing with him – something I recall having little time to do with his mother and uncle when they were growing up. Too busy attending to their needs – so that’s what grandparents are for! Alexandra is too young, not yet two months, but her little round baby face makes me want to protect her from all the bumps in life. I do wonder what will come of them, especially since I am an older grandmother and won’t be around for most of their lifetime.
Seven, how wonderful it is to get into a pool and just swim. Laps and laps that clear the mind and help focus on life’s tangles. And how to untangle them.
n still be enjoyable.
SaylingAway 