Concerning Children

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 1860-1935Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 343K words
Chapters: 35

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Concerning Children by Charlotte Perkins GilmanAuthor: Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 1860-1935,Language: English, Class: HQ: Social sciences: The family, Marriage, Sex and Gender, Release Date: Aug 11, 2012

Editor's review

This work is Gilman's collection of essays on child-rearing from the perspective of sociology and family education, a rare text within early feminist thought that examines children as independent individuals. Its value lies not in offering specific parenting techniques but in proposing a conceptual framework: how environment, habit, and the social division of labor shape children, and how adult authority is imposed on them without reflection. Gilman's prose is direct and argumentative, carrying the optimism and reasoning temperament of early twentieth-century progressives; it reads more like social commentary than a warm parenting manual. For today's readers, some of its views on children appear dated or overly idealistic, yet its emphasis on "children's rights" and on "upbringing as a social problem" remains illuminating. It is suitable as supplementary reading in intellectual history and the history of family education, and for readers willing to compare it with contemporary parenting discourse as they read.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of family education and early feminist thought
Teachers and researchers who wish to reflect on child-rearing concepts from a social perspective
Readers who enjoy argumentative essays and can accept the tone of an older text
Students who need English public-domain educational texts for extended reading

Not a good fit for

Parents who want immediately usable parenting techniques and checklists
General readers expecting warm narratives or children's storybooks
Readers unfamiliar with the early twentieth-century social context and unwilling to look up background information

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and the opening of each chapter first to grasp Gilman's core arguments before going into details.
After each chapter, write down one point of similarity or difference with contemporary parenting concepts to avoid accepting everything wholesale.
Read alongside Gilman's other social commentary to understand the trajectory of her thought.
The English original has an older tone; when encountering long sentences, first identify the main clause, then return to the modifiers.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a parenting manual?

No. It is closer to social commentary and conceptual essays, discussing children's place in the family and society, adult authority, and the child-rearing environment, rather than step-by-step parenting methods. If you want concrete practical advice, you will need to consult modern parenting books as well.

Can readers with average English read it?

The text consists of early twentieth-century English essays with long sentences and dense argumentation; the vocabulary is not obscure, but the tone is old-fashioned. Readers with intermediate or above English reading ability who are willing to look up background information can attempt it; if you mainly read in Chinese, you may first learn about Gilman's intellectual background before deciding.

Are the book's views still applicable today?

Some views on children and assumptions about the division of family labor appear idealistic or outdated, but its questioning of adult authority and its approach of treating upbringing as a social problem still have reference value. Read with historical context in mind, distinguishing transferable questions from specific conclusions.

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About the author

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 1860-1935 Author

Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) was an American writer, social thinker, and pioneer of feminism. A prolific author, she is represented in this library by 11 works. She is best known for the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, which uses a first-person narrative to portray a woman's mental distress under marriage and medical authority, in a cold, restrained style rich in symbolism. Her social-theoretical works, including Women and Economics, The Man-Made World, Concerning Children, and The Home: Its Work and Influence, systematically examine gender division of labor, economic independence, and child-rearing, in clear and forcefully argued prose. The utopian novel Herland and the novel The Crux express her visions of social reform through narrative. Public information on the details of her life is limited, but these works clearly show her distinctive style of combining literary creation with social critique, and her profound influence on later women's writing and social thought.