ABSTRACT
Defining the nature of childhood remains difficult as debates about when childhood starts or ends, what it should contain, and what it should not, are far from settled, because we are 'heirs to so many conflicting views of childhood from the past'. A variety of news media informs us daily of the many ways in which children and their families are suffering, are denied chances to meet their own basic needs, or assert their rights. In theorising the hierarchy of needs, A. H. Maslow gave us a way of understanding human need; the 20th century saw a reconfiguration of these needs as enforceable rights. The study of childhood requires us to be aware of the inherent limitations of adopting any single perspective, to be cautious in the attempt to assert a position of objective truth. The knowledge of children is at all times understood through both our own experience of having been a child, and our now adult standpoint.
