noun: childhood; plural noun: childhoods

  1. the state or period of being a child.

    "he spent his childhood in Lewes"

    synonyms: youth, early years, early days, early life, infancy, babyhood, boyhood, girlhood, pre-teens, prepubescence, adolescence, teens, teenage years, young adulthood, immaturity;

    the springtime of life, one's salad days;

    minority; rarenonage, juvenility, juniority, juvenescence