Fear of the Future: Victorian Childhood's EvolutionMain MenuIntroductionChildhoodSection IntroductionMoralitySection IntroductionGender and Victorian ChildhoodSection IntroductionClass and Victorian ChildhoodSection IntroductionColonial Child and Victorian ChildhoodSection IntroductionTimelineBibliography, References, and Further ReadingsLaura Fitzpatrick9f1bb1740dab097ebf17c64d01d58ab175a1992c
"Advice on the Management of Children in Early Infancy"
12016-11-23T11:28:46-05:00Laura Fitzpatrick9f1bb1740dab097ebf17c64d01d58ab175a1992c617Introductionplain2016-12-16T12:57:13-05:00Laura Fitzpatrick9f1bb1740dab097ebf17c64d01d58ab175a1992cChildhoodSection IntroductionPublished in 1851 in The Critic, about Thomas Barrett, M.R.C.S. from Bath’s book Advice on the Management of Children in Early Infancy, this review praises Barrett’s book as incredibly important in doing more than raising children “safely only, but healthily.” More than this though, is the publication was paired with a review of Mrs. Alfred Gatty’s The Fairy Godmother, and other Tales. The review praises the shift from “instruct[ing] the heads” of children to “improving their hearts” (original emphasis). Juxtaposed together as such, they pose an interesting and telling emphasis of shifts in the period when dealing with childhood. Together, these two pieces indicated that Victorians are slowly shifting to consider literature's influence on children's education as well as thinking through what they can do to raise healthy and fulfilled children. As an editor never juxtaposes things without reason, we can get a firm sense that these pieces work in tandem to create a discussion about how childhood should change toward less factual towards more ethical and playful instruction. Together it is a call towards not just literature that changes both also basic parental instruction towards a society more concerned with how what they teach influences children to act in the world.