Station: [4] Childhood: Play and Schooling to Provide Role Models

F: Toys used to be real treasures! A doll, a nodding dog or a rocking horse would accompany a girl or boy throughout their childhood. These days, children receive ever larger numbers of toys for their birthdays or at Christmas time. But in the past, there would have been a new dress for the child's single doll, or a new coat of paint for a wooden animal. There weren't as many toys, and the existing ones saw a great deal more use.

M: Rooms just for the children, which we now expect most families to have as a matter of course, were also uncommon. Children played outside – with marbles, spinning tops or skittles. Or simply with whatever they found in the farmyard or the fields.

F: But items like a wash board or a miniature sewing machine tell their own tale: childhood was meant to prepare the youngsters for adult life. Toys were designed to help them imitate the appropriate role models and acquire the proper skills. Girls were to become hard-working housewives and mothers who were careful with money, while young boys were to become soldiers, sturdy sailors or at least capable craftsmen and farmers able to manage their businesses. 

M: A beautifully furnished home – as represented here by the doll's house – was probably something every child in Bürgel dreamt of.