>In medieval times, children and adults "lived in the same social and intellectual world" (p. 36). Children dressed the same as adults, shared the same labor and pastimes (gambling was considered a normal childhood pursuit), and with literacy confined to special classes (the monks, for example) had similar intellectual levels. Few children attended school. Children were not shielded from the harsh realities and shameful secrets of the adult world. Adults did not conceal their sexual drives, nor was there a high level of "civilized" mores defining certain behavior, body functions and characteristics as distasteful. "Without a well-developed idea of shame, childhood cannot exist" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Postman#Informing_Ourselves_to_Death