Romanians
\ngave up the Oriental style and fashion and quickly adopted Western fashions
\nradically changing their dressing style and the interior decorations of their
\nhomes. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Women
\nquickly embraced the Western trends and proved to be the main promoters of
\nthese changes in the Romanian society. Furthermore, the change in mentalities
\nallowed women to get more involved in social activities destined for children
\nand not only. So, in the first half of the 19th century children
\nbenefitted from improved education and standard of living in comparison to the
\nprevious generations. Well-off families in the aforementioned principalities started
\nhiring German, English or French tutors for their children, which replaced the
\nprevious Greek private teachers they used to have. Bourgeois families in these
\ntwo regions inhabited by Romanians had their own approach in the education of
\ntheir offspring. Here is now at the microphone Nicoleta Roman, researcher with
\nthe Nicolae Iorga Institute of History:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There was the emerging bourgeoisie, made up mainly of traders trying
The issue of childhood
<\/p>\n We should not forget to mention the
<\/p>\n
Journalist, writer, political leader
There was in early 19th century a tendency of
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The modernization of Wallachia and Moldavia, two principalities inhabited by Romanians commenced in the 19th century. And besides the institutional and economic changes, mentalities, habits and manners were also subject to transformation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":123226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[42667,29948,28904,45687,37340,19347,34421],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-170000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-childhood","tag-children","tag-education","tag-femininity","tag-moldavia","tag-romania","tag-wallachia"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nto imitate the aristocrats in these regions. And in this case, these children’s
\nchildhood was somehow protected by the involvement of their parents who
\ninvested in their education in order to improve their status and the status of
\ntheir families. And it was that investment that made the difference between the
\nchildren coming from the rich families and aristocracy and the rest.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nin the rural areas in the first half of the 19th century is still
\nunder the scrutiny of the historians. However, what is known for certain is
\nthat the struggle for survival in that area didn’t prove beneficial to the
\nprocess of transformations of Wallachia and Moldavia in early 19th
\ncentury. Changes in people’s outlook on childhood and the status of women were
\nquite sluggish in the rural world and the young boyars who were the engine of these
\nchanges had their own outlook on education, mainly supervised by their mothers,
\nwho thus become the promoters of new ideas in this area. Here is again at the
\nmicrophone Nicoleta Roman: <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nyoung generation of revolutionaries of 1848 or their associates who had made it
\nto major positions in state structures. They had different approaches in terms
\nof education and a series of state-funded social policies regarding education
\nor social assistance started to emerge. The growing interest in children
\neducation shed a new light on childhood as compared to the previous years,
\nmaking children more visible in society. There was also that feeling of
\nnational identity and the C.A. Rosetti – Mary Grant couple was a case in point.
\nThat was a cosmopolitan couple who loved their children very much and tried to
\ninstill this feeling of national identity in them, including through the names
\nthey had given to them. Their first daughter was named Liberty and we’ve learnt
\nthat the aforementioned feeling was also shared by their friends, the Golescu
\nand Bratianu families. So, the elite changed and so did its approach to children
\neducation. The spirit of the 18th century had been replaced by one
\nfocusing on how those children could represent the nation better and how they
\ncould assume the values of a certain nation.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nand revolutionary Constantin Alexandru Rosetti aka C.A.Rosetti in 1847 married Mary
\nGrant, a Scotswoman who was working as a governess. The couple was to become an
\nexample not only for their cosmopolitan style but also for the fact they tried
\nto fairly share the household tasks and chores. They had a joint contribution
\nto their children’s education and worked together over their publications. Mary
\nGrant rapidly adopted the ideals of modernizing the Romanian space at that
\ntime. And as Nicoleta Roman pointed out she wasn’t the only woman changing her
\nstatus in those years. <\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
\nprofessionalizing some aspects in a woman’s life. The woman could become a
\nmidwife, a teacher or a babysitter. These were paid activities and started
\nbeing integrated in the state system. So women started taking off from the
\nprivate field and finding their own way in life without giving up families or
\nhouseholds. They started gaining public recognition. At the same time, women
\nfrom the upper classes got involved in the process of founding charity
\nassociations and charity actions. Some of them got involved in the process of
\nediting various publications. The 19th century saw a significant
\nimprovement in terms of women’s involvement in society than the previous one. <\/span>(bill)<\/span><\/p>\n