Opvoeden is een kunst. De Socialistische Vooruitziende Vrouwen over kinderopvoeding, 1945-19601

Abstract

After the Second World War, obedience to parental authority and regard for children's physical and moral health were the main concerns of early child rearing in Flanders. In the fifties it became clear that there were also alternative ways to achieve these goals. American pedagogical thinkers, whose work was translated into Dutch, defended an non-authoritarian, free and child-centred education in which tenderness and physical contact were basic features. In this article we examine how the most important socialist women's organisation, Socialistische Vooruitziende Vrouwen (Prevoyant Socialist Women), delineated their own educational model in this changing field. In their child-rearing advice to members, the organisation integrated ideas from both 'traditional' and 'modern' educational models, while emphasizing socialist and feminist convictions.