Jak nie postępować z dziećmi, czyli błędy w opiece i wychowaniu ukazane w literaturze poradnikowej dla rodziców z okresu Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej

Abstract

The interwar period (1918–1939) on the Polish publishing market, was the time of mingling of the advice books presenting a conservative and progressive attitude to upbringing. Both in the publications recommending traditional educational methods, based mainly on strict discipline, and in the guide books promoting upbringing which takes into account the individuality and distinct character of child’s psyche – apart from guidelines, advice and information – one could find numerous words of criticism pointed at parents. Around a hundred of educational handbooks were published in the period of the Second Republic of Poland. A part of them were translations of books originating from foreign, mainly German pedagogical literature. Their authors were most often educationists and doctors; quite many books were written by clergymen. Advice literature for parents from the interwar period represented very different types. The majority of books were written in the form of advice or warnings directed straight to parents; large group were publications in the form of short stories, in which various problems and the means of solving them were offered; still others had a form of letters or memories, or they were collections of loose remarks concerning care and upbringing. There were also publications in which several of the mentioned forms appeared simultaneously. A frequently used technique was drawing upon personal experience or one’s own pedagogical or medical practice. That was presumably supposed to lend credibility towards the author and establish trust towards the methods of conduct he/she recommended. The scope of issues touched upon by the then advice books was incredibly broad. The advice was related to the matters connected with everyday hygiene and nourishment of children as well as moral, religious and patriotic upbringing. Some of the books were devoted completely to the selected aspects of care and upbringing, other, in turn, formed a collection of advice from many fields. A simple, understandable language of the majority of publications may attest to a broad audiences whom the authors of advice books from the interwar period tried to reach with their remarks and counsel. The far greater part of books was meant for both parents, and only few indicated mothers as their exclusive addressee. Those were primarily the publications devoted to hygiene and nourishment of children as well as formation of their religious attitudes. What is interesting, the reproaches concerning committed mistakes were always pointed at mothers as the persons who were directly involved in and responsible for the upbringing process.