understood betsy by dorothy canfield fisher

and well.Īunt Frances is well meaning, but her technique is more than questionable.Īunt Frances was afraid of a great many things herself, and she knew how to sympathize with timidity. She also loved the little girl with all her heart, and longed, above everything in the world, to protect her from all harm and to keep her happy and strong.

Aunt Frances (down in the bottom of her own mind) thought that her mother had never really understood her, and she meant to do better by Elizabeth Ann. She was especially anxious to share all the little girl’s thoughts, because she felt that the trouble with most children is that they are not understood, and she was determined that she would thoroughly understand Elizabeth Ann down to the bottom of her little mind. Aunt Frances shared in all Elizabeth Ann’s doings and even in all her thoughts. She and her Aunt Frances were simply inseparable. And Elizabeth Ann got the benefit of it all. So you can see that by the time Elizabeth Ann was nine years old Aunt Frances must have known all that anybody can know about how to bring up children. And she took a correspondence course in mothercraft from a school in Chicago which teaches that business by mail. And she joined a Mothers’ Club which met once a week. Younger Aunt Frances in particular becomes completely wrapped up in mothering the child, lavishing all of her vast reserves of unused adoration on Elizabeth Ann’s tiny person.Īs soon as the baby came there to live, Aunt Frances stopped reading novels and magazines, and re-read one book after another which told her how to bring up children. Little Elizabeth Ann is orphaned at the tender age of six months, and is eagerly adopted by an aunt and great-aunt, Frances and Harriet. Since Dorothy Canfield was already very involved in women’s rights and educational reform, the Montessori philosophy meshed well with her other interests, and Understood Betsy, which can be read simply as an amusing story, can also be interpreted as an enthusiastic promotion of allowing a child to self-educate and self-regulate, while under a benevolent hands-off adult mentorship. The Montessori Method stressed self determination and self regulation in all aspects of a child’s life, and operated under the assumption that if given access to a suitable space with appropriate materials, tools, toys and books, a child would develop a high degree of self motivation and a natural sense of order. This is a charming juvenile novel written by Dorothy Canfield Fisher after she had become deeply interested in Maria Montessori’s innovative theories of child rearing and education while on a visit to Italy. This edition: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964. Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield ~ 1916.

Understood betsy by dorothy canfield fisher