There's strong documentary evidence to show that in the Middle Ages people regarded children as young adults, and play was frowned upon as "the Devil's idle work." Children were punished as though they were adults, and subject to terrible beatings for minor infractions. As childhood mortality was high (fewer than three children in ten would reach adulthood) many parents regarded their offspring as semi-disposable. As for village life, it was a claustrophobic mixture of gossip, slander, and endless superstition, not to mention horrific levels of child abuse by all and sundry. Not really quite the bucolic picture presented in the article.