Our modern concept of family has made an important contribution to the development of childhood. Parents pass on their knowledge to relatives in hopes of raising successful adults. John Locke makes these observations in his “Second Treatise on Government.” However, during classical Greece, Plato abolished our concept of family in his book “Republic”. The main difference between these two theologians' vision of the family is the relationship between family and government. In the first case, parents are the primary authority over their children until they reach the age of reason, and then the law becomes the authority over all adults. In the other, the government has the only influence on the child. Although Locke and Plate explore the idea of ​​family differently, they both share the same goal of creating a just, working society. In Locke's "Second Treatise on Government", Locke states his belief, "all men by nature are equal (287), However he states that children “are not born into a state of equality, though they are born into it (289) ” When children are born, their parents have some authority over them. The authority is temporary until the child reaches the age of reason. Locke explains using the biblical reference of Adam of force than of reason, but his children were born naturally in a state of ignorance and without reason making them alien to the law of reason. Locke states that man is not born free because he is not born knowing the law. Man is free only when is familiar with the law of reason because, as Locke states, “the law is not intended to abolish or limit, but to preserve and enlarge liberty (289)”. childhood in... middle of paper ......efs by John Locke and Plato. Locke emphasized the importance that parents have in the development of their children. When a child is born, a temporary government is created in which parents have authority over their children until the child reaches the age of reason. This perspective allows family and government to work together to produce a just society. In Plato's “Republic,” children are taken from their mothers at birth and raised by the government, making the entire society their family. Plato states that the family and the city cannot be separate entities working together for the betterment of society, but must be one and the same. Works Cited Plato. Republic. Trans. Alan Bloom. New York: Basic Books, 1968. John Locke, “The Second Treatise of Government” in Political Writings, ed. David Woten. (Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing House, 2003)