Re: Childrearing Manuals
- From: John Mark Ockerbloom <ockerblo@[redacted]>
- Subject: Re: Childrearing Manuals
- Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 11:53:10 -0400
Mary Mark wrote:
> The lastest addition to the Celebration of Women Writers is a
> manual focusing on what one might term "moral education",
> the formation and direction of child & youthful character.
>
> http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/child/book/book.html
> Child, Lydia Maria Francis (1802-1880)
> The Mother's Book (1831)
There's an interesting chapter on this one about what books
children should be encouraged to read, and which ones are considered
best avoided. She covers a range of ages, from 4 to 16. Some of the
books she mentions
are well-known today, others have faded into obscurity. Peter
Parley and _Plutarch's Lives_ are recommended; Mother Goose and
_Charlotte Temple_ are warned against; Shakespeare is recommended,
as long as the Bowdler version ("The Family Shakspeare, in which
impure sentences are entirely omitted") is used. It's an interesting
look at what was being recommended for children in the early 19th century.
There's a fairly lengthly list of specific title recommendations
(some of which have also been published online by the Celebration, and are
linked to).
John