Happy charges. How children are worn was a large exhibition from 17 December 1993 until 28 August 1994 in the central light hall of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam.
The exhibition showed how world-wide small children are carried along in so-called child carriers, which are actually the cultural response to the fact that human beings have lost their pains in the course of evolution. Monkey boys can cling to their mothers, human children must be transported differently. Children's wearers are available in many varieties and sizes, ranging from tailored pieces of animal skin to knotted nets, beautifully woven hip and back cloths, wooden backstools with ornaments and abdominal wearers, as they are also used by modern young parents in the West. Not only was the child support itself concerned, but in a broader context also related to pregnancy, birth and care of young children. As most children's wearers are richly decorated with decorations, including a number of amulets to remotely contain diseases and other harmful influences, the religious and magical aspects of childcare are discussed.
The exhibited objects were mostly borrowed from more than ten museums at home and abroad, including the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden, the Museum of Anthropology in Rotterdam, the Museon in The Hague, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, the National Museum of Natural History in Washington and the Musee de l'Homme in Paris.
The exhibition featured a richly illustrated book of twenty-five essays by over twenty authors, in which the children's bearers are considered biologically, anthropologically, historically and technically. A second edition, as well as an English edition, appeared in 2011. The exhibition also published a small catalog. Publications
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