Kinderspelen 1847

Jan Schuitemaker’s "Kinderspelen" translates to Children’s Games. This print from a children's magazine visualizes childhood in the 19th century. The images portray a world where the experiences of children are distinct from the adult world. Each scene shows children engaging in different kinds of play from blind man’s buff to seesaw. It's tempting to view these images through a lens of nostalgia, to see a simpler time. However, what stories do these images not tell? Where are the children who worked in factories or fields? In a society that was rapidly industrializing, childhood itself was changing. The children shown here were probably middle class. They were receiving an education. They had leisure time. For them, childhood was a period of innocence and play. Yet, this was not the case for all children. These images of youthful innocence are a reminder of the complex and often unequal realities of the past, urging us to reflect on who is included and excluded from society’s narratives.