In order to analyze the factors that have made childhood interdisciplinary, it is critical to mention that childhood presents a historical, social, and cultural connotation (Qvortrup 2007, p.399). Such a structured view of childhood goes beyond the simple understanding of child, or its plural children. The broad perspective of childhood takes into consideration of the groups and individuals that fall under a certain age group. One challenge of studying childhood is the availability of simplified definition. Some people view childhood as a distinct stage with a certain form of separation. Apparently, redefining these limiting notions of childhood can serve to propel childhood from the marginal position that it has been accorded to the core of knowledge. It would prove easier to make attempts of theorizing age in a similar way as many have theorized gender. This is possible because age is an aspect defined by an array of factors. .
The limitations of understanding childhood have become evident in the recent past. There is confusion in addressing childhood by the different disciplines because of the diverse connotations implied by the singularity and the plurality of the term. Use in its plurality, the term may denote the differences, and similarities that govern childhood. In other disciplines, scholars have wondered whether the use of the term should be refer to a similar age in all cultures and regions (James 2010, p. 490). As anthropologists and sociologists have discovered in the recent past, childhood differs across different regions and cultures. Psychologists have highlighted that the cognitive processes that define childhood are quite diverse depending on the environment. Scholars of child development have also described factors that affect the growth of children. the use of childhoods in different disciplines seeks to highlight the effect of the multiple factors that serve to define childhood.
