Practical Child Training Part 1

Whilst I was visiting my family in America over Christmas I happened to note a book on the shelf ‘Practical Child Training’. Dated from 1917 it was produced by The Parents Association.

I have found the pages on this SO INTERESTING in light of our current approach/trajectory towards education and the parent/teacher vs. child divide/s that I have decided I am going to do a series of 5 minute videos speaking through what is on the pages. (You can see the first here on twitter and here on substack)

I *believe* The New York Parents Society may be a pre-cursor to what we now see as Parents Councils and Associations in schools. What struck me most in this volume is how they lead with the importance of imagination, and the cultivating of imagination of children. The primary way in which they see this being achieved is in the telling, sharing and reading of stories. And that they note that the cultivation of imagination serves one for life. The second thing that strikes me about this volume is that this is seen as being the role of the parent. Much has been written about and observed (not least by Joanna Williams wonderful report ‘Teachers or Parents’ and our interview here) is how the role of the parent is being subsumed by what is expected of schools and more specifically teachers.

This leads me to the question: what kind of stories are your children being fed? What is the nutrition (or not) that they are getting? I was just speaking to a group in Devon called Protect & Teach about the problem with indoctrination in the politicised books filling our library shelves. Diane McCadie, Librarian and UK Columnist was there who has reported a lot on this.

Most people do not realise that the ‘age rating’ for books is not down to content but to ‘reading age’. There are no restrictions or filters on children’s books. This is how sexualised books have been able to permeate our children’s library sections. But it’s actually more pressing than that -because these books are not only grossly inappropriate and potentially damaging to children, they are also terrible quality. In the case of ‘Practical Child Training’ does one suppose these poor quality books are going to lead our children into magical flights of fancy? Are these stories going to sustain children in their later years? I suspect not.

I shall be exploring this topic via the Practical Child Training Volume in the next few weeks. If interested please pay attention to my Substack Notes, Twitter, or Rumble Channel. (You Tube Channel in progress!). I shall create a compilation for a long form post once through whole book!