Both Progressive reformers and an emerging cadre of social scientists fostered a new conception of children as a discrete rank within early twentieth century society. The 1910s saw the advent of a separate juvenile court.system, compulsory education laws, child labor laws, laws mandating the purity of milk, institutions for delinquent boys and wayward girls, and the prohibition of the sale of. alcohol and tobacco to minors. While psychologists disputed about whether bad behavior resulted from faulty genetics or improper upbringing, vast resources were given to studying child development and to creating social conditions that would prevent delinquency.

A host of clubs and activities for children that became popular in the 1910s gained "scientific" sanction for providing the proper kind of influence and necessary structure for healthy socialization. The Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts of America, with their creeds of honesty...