For a long period, children were not viewed as actors. This was m a inly rndue to the con ceptua lization of children biologically excl udin g the socio cultura l as pec ts of children. Such a pproach limited our perceptions of rnchildren as passive recipi ents of soc ial structures. rnThis study tries to provide a compa rative a n a lysis on th e rnconceptualizations of children a nd childhood in the town of Debre Ma rkos (Easte rn Gojjam, Amhara region) a nd its a dj ace nt rura l areas. rnThe data is mainly based on qua litative method by u sing various rnmeth ods of da ta gath erin g tools s u ch as in-depth inte rview, focus group rndiscu ssion, case studies and dia ries. rnAccording to the research results,' children of the rura l a nd urba n a reas rna re affected by va rious structures of the society like age , gender, rnre ligion, and educa tion . Neve rtheless, these structures h ave diffe rent rneffects for rural a nd urba n children . The research underlines that rnstru ctures cannot determine the activities of children even though th ey rnhave large impacts. rnThe study, moreover, depicts how the rura l a nd urba n child ren share rnthe dominant loca l cultural schema. In this regard, children play a n rnimportant role in the production a nd reproduction of the local cultural rnschema. They reproduce different cultural schemas such as patron client relations, gender roles, hiera rchical, a nd egalitaria n relations, etc. rnThis implies that children a re ac tors who promote cultura l continuity rna nd ch ange in their localities.