Figure 1.--Here we see a mother doing areat job of wrangling her young children our for a park outing, probably about 1900, perhaps New York's Central Park. To the rright are two young children. The boy wearing a white tunic suit. Behindd him, we think, is his sister wearing a white dress.

Park outings during the Edwardian era continued to be important events in the daily life of nursery-bound children. The pattern set in the Victorian period continued into the Edwardian era until the disruptions of the First World War (1914-18) brought about social and economic changes that changed child-rearing practices, especially the practice of confining small children to a nursery run by a nanny. Daily or periodic park outings for Edardian children, however, to the major public and local public and private parks continued to be the highlight of many children's day. Some of the better known parks are discussed on the Victorian park outing page. Visits to these parks were often the most exciting event of the day for the children. I believe continued to be the nanny's duty to take the children. I believe it was rather rare for the affluent Edwardian mothers, as it had been or Victorian mothers, to supervise the children on these outings. I also think it was not the job of the governess who was primarily responsible for instruction, although she may have been involved with the outings of the older children. There may have well been some differences between countries. French and Italian mothers, for example, may have been more involved in raising the children as they do not seem to have insisted on confining the children so strictly to the nursery as the English.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits]
[Sailor hats] [Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits] [Rompers] [Tunics] [Smocks] [Pinafores]

Created: 5:18 AM 7/12/2022
Last updated: 5:18 AM 7/12/2022