Childhood in Walker’s poem is established in Line 1 with “[w]hen I was a child (Line 1). As a theme, childhood stands for the moments of the past that set the foundation for adulthood in terms of beliefs and understanding of the world. The speaker in “Childhood” recounts a memory that represents the speaker’s upbringing. The memory is the knowledge of “red miners” (Line 1), indicating the speaker brushed shoulders with the men who worked the mines. Far from a childhood built on playing in parks, going to school, and socializing with friends, the speaker’s childhood instead is rooted in the “Ishkooda mines” (Line 4) where they watched men “come down red hills to their camps” (Line 3). The speaker’s childhood is full of fear, terror, and a ragged, dissatisfied community.

Written from the perspective of an adult reflecting on their childhood, the theme of childhood in Walker’s poem represents the moments one remembers that make one into an adult. In the case of “Childhood,” the moments are stark, depressing, and dark. They’re grounded in the harsh honesty of the conditions that those who worked the mines (and their families) lived in.