Wise Words: How Susan Isaacs Changed Parenting ─ Wise Words from the Past

"Harassed" writes: "Your answers to correspondents are exceedingly clear, and when I read them I say, ‘That is just the answer I should think of,’ though I believe I should have great difficulty when it came actually to putting it into words! However, I cannot answer my own problems, so will you please help me?" (August 20, 1930)

This much-needed collection brings together the columns of parenting adviser Ursula Wise, "agony aunt" for The Nursery World between 1929 and 1936, and pseudonym for the eminent educationalist and pioneering psychoanalyst Susan Isaacs.

Wise’s replies, informed by theories in education, psychology and psychoanalysis, provide an insight into the development of modern, child-centred attitudes to parenting, with remarkably fresh and relevant advice. The letters are passionate, urgent, occasionally provocative, sometimes funny, and always thoughtful. Topics from behaviour and temperament, anxieties and phobias, to play and education are explored, each theme is introduced and contextualised in contemporary parenting.

Bringing pivotal theories from the fields of education, child psychology and psychoanalysis into dialogue, this is an essential read for early years practitioners, teachers, course leaders, and those studying in the field of Early Years Education and Child Psychoanalysis. The continued relevance of Isaacs’ advice for modern parenting also makes this an enjoyable and informative read for parents. It is also an excellent resource for those interested in social history and the little known contributions made by women pioneers.

Caroline Vollans worked as a primary school teacher for fifteen years before completing clinical training in Lacanian psychoanalysis. She now works as a student counsellor in a secondary school, and provides staff supervision in nursery settings. She also works as a freelance archive researcher at The Women’s Library and contributes regularly to Nursery World.