This article serves as an introduction to a special issue of Irish Economic and Social History (Vol. 47) that illuminates the diversity of childhoods experienced by children growing up in Ireland and in the Irish diaspora between the mid 16th and early 20th centuries. The article explores the development of the history of children and childhood in Ireland as a growing area of academic enquiry and discusses the problems and challenges associated with studying children and childhood in the past. It also contextualises the articles included in the special issue of the journal, which demonstrate how age, class, gender, geography, religion and ethnicity combined with adult control to influence the lives of children ranging from infancy to early adolescence. Adult control was reflected in decisions made regarding the feeding, fostering, educating, employing, entertaining and punishing of children. Such decisions could have lifelong consequences for the children concerned. This introductory article highlights the central role of adults in influencing, controlling and representing children's lives but also provides insight into the diverse experiences of Irish childhoods during five centuries.