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CHILDREN

Looking for a job

 

 

Most of the children needed to work at an early age, under 14,due to the economic difficulties, as a consequence they had to leave school without finishing their studies. One of the most common jobs for children in our province was that of farmhands and shepherding. They spent all day long following the herd without talking to anybody else and in return they were given food, a bed in the stables, close to the animals, and a few coins.
Another job was construction, in which they needed to work many hours and the wages were very low. To enlist as a soldier was another option available, they were paid very little but at least they had a roof over their heads. Some children worked delivering newspapers, others found employment polishing boots on the streets, whilst others managed to earn some money by collecting butt –ends (cigarette ends). To find employment was more difficult for girls than it was for boys, most girls who had managed to find a job worked as housemaids, cleaning houses for the wealthy, upper-class citizens.

 

Taking vows was the solution for the children of lower-class families in order not only to avoid economic difficulties but also to get education

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LEISURE

 

 


The time for leisure was very short; there were few toys and most of them home-made (Rag dolls, wooden toys) they used to play games such as:
Football- it involves trying to kick the ball into the other team’s goal.
Throwing a spinning top: it involves spinning a spinning top and the one that continues to spin for the longest time is the winner.
Sheets: there were two ways for playing this game, one way was to push the sheet and the other into throw the sheets to the air.?
Hoop: involves pushing a hoop with a stick.
Another pastime was to sew in the streets
To play the curve-it involves jumping the curve without touching it
Some times they sing in the streets to pass the time.
Some girls sewed clothing in the streets.
Boys frequently went to the forest to catch animals.
Fishing a long the streets was another way or loose time???
  HEALTH

 


"There weren’t bathrooms nor running water, the organic residues and the rubbish where accumulated everywhere; besides, to obtain food was a problem and some children died from hunger. Rats went to the villages because of the accumulation of waste and bit the people, often transmitting diseases. Baths were infrequent and children were dirty most of the time . The unhygienic conditions and the inadequate diet caused a lot of diseases, many children died from dehydration produced by diarrhoea."


This is a photograph from the 1950s. In this photograph we can see one of my uncles washing himself inside a metal bucket. The photo was taken in the farm where my grandmother worked. As you can see the hygiene conditions were not very good, they used home-made soap, they did not wash frequently because water had to be carried and heated, besides the temperatures were often too low, however my mother’s memories of those moments are full of amusement.

From the lack of water and hygiene to the waste of natural resources. Today we think of cleanliness in another way and we have not difficulties thanks to the invention and emplacement of piped water and sewage systems. However we don’t care about the amount of water we use apart from the energy needed to heat it up. Most of our houses have even more than one bathroom and we often have a shower twice a day. What a huge step from the metal buckets to the bathtub hydro-massage and from the home-made soap to the scented toilet soaps, hair conditioners and gels.

EDUCATION
 

Children attended single-sex schools from age 6-14.The average number of students per group was over 40; all the sujects were taught on base of only one book, called “Enciclopedia Álvarez”. Let’s have a look to the contents they used to learn...

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The Body’s Senses

We are going to sing
A lovely song;
I’m going to ask you
And you will answer:
The eyes, what are they for?
The eyes are for seeing.
And touch –is for touching.
And the hearing- is to hear.
And taste- is for tasting
And smell-is for smelling
And the soul- is for feeling, loving and thinking.

Geography- draw a world map and locate inside it the races and the number of inhabitants according their race race, draw the symbols of the different religions that are practiced in the world.

Maths-A family spends every day 20,35 pesetas in food and 8,5 pesetas in other goods and commodities. If they win 1080,80 pesetas a month, How much might they save in a year?.

 

 

 

 

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