22 Facts About Child Life in The American Colonies

This boy was painted with his pet, a flying 
squirrel, by John Singleton Copley in 1765.

       Below are 22 facts about how children lived in the American colonies.

1. Children under six years of age wore "puddings" around their waists and heads. Puddings were stuffed pillows shaped to fit around the waist or head. If a baby fell, the pillow would cushion that fall and hopefully prevent accidents that might permanently damage the child.
2. Children wore fashions that looked just like their parents clothing only in miniature, once they turned six years old.
3. Children's clothing was sewn by their family members or someone in their own community. Those clothes were made of wool, linen or cotton.
4. Adults dyed the fabric used to make clothing for their family with berries, roots or flowers
5. Little girls learned to knit and spin when they were quite young and boys learned to weave.
6. Girls kept their hair covered most of the time with different types of hats and scarves. 
7. Young boys kept their hair long, just like the girls did. However, they wore wigs if they were not doing farm work or if they were living and working in town!
8. Native Americans taught colonists how to survive and thrive by planting and harvesting corn, maple syrup, pumpkins and squash. The colonists supplemented their diets with fish, wild game, pigs, eggs and chickens. Immigrants and ship captains brought beans and seeds for planting in America on their journeys to the colonies as well.
9. In colonial times, children could not always find fresh water; they did not have indoor plumbing and very often did not have wells near their homes. So they drank hard cider and beer. But these alcoholic drinks, although fermented, did not contain high percentages of alcohol; these liquids were similar to those drank in Bible times by ordinary folk.  The fermentation process killed bacteria but it did not include methods of boiling/aging which give modern alcohol higher levels of fermentation. The colonists gave children beers/ciders that were consumed quickly and daily. In the Bible this drink is called "shekhar."
10. Children had to learn many table manners in colonial America. As a general rule if a child came to the same table the adult sat at, they were expected not to talk and to stand and to eat with their fingers!
11. Your dinner plate was made of wood and called a "trencher." You would have to share all of the food put on to it with your siblings. Children were not given their very own plates of food unless they were alone without brothers and sisters.
12. Boys and girls attended early education schools together. Their first school was called a "Dame" school. It was the place were both genders would learn to read and write from a hornbook. Their teacher was usually a woman. 
13. After colonial children finished Dame school, the boys would continue on in more advanced classes without the girls. Girls were then taught or to run a household, sew, spin, cook and clean at home. 
14. A wealthy family may choose to send their 16 year old daughter to a finishing school. In that kind of school girls learned how to embroider and embellish fabrics, how to play instruments (usually a harpsichord or English guitar), how to behave socially in order to marry a wealthy husband and how to administer accounts sometimes within the context of a home. 
15. The law in most American colonies dictated that boys had to attend school. These schools were not renowned for their comforts. Most of them had one small room, a fireplace and hard wooden benches. Few were comfortable. These schools were called ''grammar'' schools.
16. In grammar schools, boys would study Latin, Math and Literature. Then if they had no plans to become a lawyer, a clergyman, or enter into commerce, they would leave this school at the age of 10-14 to become an apprentice to a blacksmith or a carpenter etc...
17. Some boys would opt to go to sea as a cabin boy. Onboard ships they would run errands, handle the sails, do menial labor like swab the decks and carry gunpowder during battles at sea.
18. Boys from wealthy colonial families would go to college to learn a important trade for society. Many of them would travel to Europe to attend a private college if their parents could afford to send them. The earliest colonial colleges in America included Harvard and William & Mary.
19. Whenever children became sick in those days, they would be put to bed in a warm place. They would receive some kind of medicine made from herbs either by their mother or a local establishment called an "apothecary.''
20. If a child was out after dark they could very well be disciplined by the town's "watchman." The town watchman did more than just keep the public informed of the time. He watched over the streets at night and kept children at home safe with their parents too.
21. On Sundays, colonials attended either a town meetinghouse or a church to hear sermons. Children attended these activities with their parents. Sometimes children lived too far away to go to a church on Sundays. Instead, they would read and study the Bible at home with their parents.
22. Children did not play as much as you do today. They had less time for it because they helped their parents with chores. When they did play, the loved social games like tag and blind-man's buff. They also loved singing games using English rhymes and played with simple toys like hoops and sticks. Boys had pocket knives for whittling and sling shots for shooting rocks at targets; girls had dolls for dressing and pretending with too. 

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