In the summer of 1849,
Hoffmann & Campe
published a book entitled “
Muttersorgen und Mutterfreuden.
Worte der Liebe und des Ernstes über Kindheitspflege. Von einer Mutter. Mit einer
Vorrede vom Seminardirector
Diesterweg“
[“A Mother’s Cares and Joys. Words of Love and Seriousness about Childhood Care.
From a mother. With a preface by Seminardirector
Diesterweg.”]. The
author was
Johanna Goldschmidt from
Hamburg, who
presented her thoughts on child rearing in eleven chapters and a total of 220 pages.
Her ideas were influenced by her personal experiences as a
mother as well as by the movement of reform pedagogy. In his
preface the well-known pedagogue
Adolph Diesterweg praised
the simple and clear style of the manuscript, writing that a “place of honor”
should be given to the manuscript (Preface, p. XI). He subsequently began a
correspondence with
Johanna
Goldschmidt. In their mutual exchange, the two deepened the discussion
about ideas on early childhood education.
In contrast to previous publications,
Johanna Goldschmidt
focused on the infant and thus on the early phase of the toddler, which had
previously been neglected in educational considerations.
Johanna Goldschmidt, A Mother’s Cares and Joys. Words of Love and Seriousness about Childhood Care. From a mother. With a preface by Seminardirector Dr. Diesterweg, Hamburg 1849. (translated by Insa Kummer), edited in: Key Documents of German-Jewish History,
<https://dx.doi.org/10.23691/jgo:source-221.en.v1> [December 06, 2024].