It seems all the toddler-aged kids these days (Western/American anyway, I can't speak to other cultures) all act similarly - squabbling with siblings, slapping each other, throwing fits during bike rides and their parents having to bring them home. I am not speaking of poor parenting here; it just seems like an innate quality of kids that age is to scream a lot and be really difficult and just...poorly behaved, because they don't know what manners are yet! 3 year olds are just mean to their siblings for the most part!

However, has this the case throughout history? I have trouble imagining it in past eras. Is there evidence of kids acting this way in ancient Rome or in Victorian households? Or did past eras use corporal punishment to force kids to go against (what seems to be) their innate nature to squabble and scream at their siblings? Did toddlers of older times understand manners far before modern kids do (which seems to start to be around 4 or 5 now)? Or has this always been the case, but other eras never bothered to document it?

(I understand that in some eras and upper-class households, kids were handled by nurses during the "doesn't understand manners yet" age range. However that doesn't mean that the kids didn't act that way, it just means it was seen less in upper-class society, I would think? So I am not necessarily referring to whether the children were seen behaving that way).

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I would love to learn more! Thank you.