Child development
Childcare varies dramatically across cultures. While many global communities prefer children aged 7–10 for designated caregiving responsibilities, children no younger than 12 are preferred in the Western world where paid childcare is common. For example, very young children in Zaire regularly use machetes safely and skillfully while American middle-class adults do not trust their young children with knives. Child development is not just biological or psychological—it is also a cultural process and it is not universal. In countries where children are given more responsibility the adults serve as "occasional supervisors" and children take pride in their responsibilities.