Abstract ♦ The issues of child development and upbringing, of attitudes to children and parenthood are taking on a greater importance in the modern world. Psychology admits the connection between a child’s image, childhood limits and cultural-historic features of a society.
The article takes a look at how age limits of childhood were perceived in medieval Russia. This period marks a reference point for our research, as it provided the earliest written sources on attitudes to children and their upbringing. The sources we have used include sermons, apocrypha, canon books, travel diaries and other ancient Russian literary monuments.
On the basis of these sources we have distinguished and described the following age periods as perceived in medieval Russia: from birth until the age of 6–7 (a baby, an infant); from 6–7 until 12 (a child or ‘chado’); from 12 until 15 (adolescence). Before reaching the age of 6–7 a child was not supposed to be involved in work or any other social activities and stayed under custody of his/her relatives. Children’s main activity was game, and the main duty of adults, to take care of them. At the age of 6–7 children began learning to read and write, as well as take their part of family chores, while handicraft training did not begin until the age of 12–15. Adolescents were taught the rules of social behavior, as well as personal responsibility, and after the age of 15 they were taught to accept responsibility for their families.
Studying the attitudes to children’s evolution and the perceptions of their age characteristics will help us put in proper perspective the modern tendencies in age periodization changes in psychology and pedagogy.
Keywords: age periodization, childhood, childhood periodization, medieval Russia, Russian upbringing traditions, rites of age.
Filippova Galina Grigorievna, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Department of General Psychology and History of Psychology, Moscow University for the Humanities; Member, Russian Psychology Society; Full member and tutor, Professional Psychotherapeutic League of Russia; Member, Russian Association of Human Reproduction. Postal address: 5 Yunosti St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 111395. Tel.: +7 (499) 374-67-20. E-mail:
Vasilenko Elena Vladimirovna, Postgraduate student, Department of General Psychology and History of Psychology, Moscow University for the Humanities. Postal address: 5 Yunosti St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 111395. Tel.: +7 (499) 374-67-20. E-mail: . Research advisor: G. G. Filippova, Doctor of Psychology, Professor.
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