The history of childhood has a particular poignancy, because all humans are so deeply involved with their own childhood years. Given the inescapable moralizing surrounding the subject, Puritans have been especially vulnerable to accusations of cruelty and self-deception, and their disdain for their neighbors has invited psychological reductionism by avenging historians. Were the more sadistic members of society simply being drawn together by a theology whose sourness justified their cruelty? No doubt psychological factors are always involved with attitudes toward children, but the Puritan authors show such marked differences in tone and approach that there is no hint of a common psychological pathology, whatever the predilections of individual authors. In fact, the Puritans’ realistic portrayal of children was in contrast with the stereotyped images of childhood found among their contemporaries, and an examination of Puritan humor for children suggests a saner balance in their approach than has been noticed previously.
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