Secular medieval paintings, when they are not depicting the madonna and child, display the trials and tribulations of ordinary life. But children are rarely depicted.

Even the typical madonna from the middle ages rarely pictures empathy for the infant in her arms. (Compare the typical medieval Madonna with a much later Madonna from the Renaissance.)

With the rise in wealth that accompanied the Renaissance, children began more commonly to survive childhood, and came to be treasured as individuals from an earlier age, taught to be useful, and undoubtedly dressed up to be prized.

Compare again the medieval Madonna with a modern depiction of mother and child. Today's child is no commodity!

For more on the role of children in the family in the late middle ages, I recommend Barbara Tuchman's book The Calamitous 14th Century.