This year is our twenty-fourth anniversary of NCFR's conferring of the Certified Family Life Educator credential. And yet, formally, the field is still relatively young. But family life educators have always been around-we've just been called different things. Historically, parenting wisdom has been passed from generation to generation. Marriage advice has been offered by friends or clergy. And then there are the Old Wives' Tales.

I collect vintage family life education materials. With books and brochures, I'm sure I have over 100 now. I find them at used bookstores, on the internet and at estate sales. My oldest piece, and my treasure, is a book on the sociology of the family from the 1880s. I've got Ernest Burgess', Ernest Groves', Evelyn Duvall's and Elizabeth Forces' classic books and lots of brochures from the Children's Bureau as well as pamphlets on caring for baby that were created by hospitals to send home with new mothers. (It seems that the vintage ones were aimed at mothers.) What I expected to read when I began my collection is a compilation of laughable counsel. What I'm amazed about is just how often the vintage works got things right.

Parenting materials became more popular beginning in the 1920s, if my library is representative of the field. However, I've found that in the early 1900s, parenting advice was available in etiquette books.  I have a book called The New Book of Etiquette, by Lillian Eichler, from 1934 that has a chapter specifically about etiquette for children. It is almost 100% parent education. Here are some highlights:

It is always a great temptation for an indulgent parent to yield to a child. It is so easy to stop a fit of crying with a candy or end a fit of childish temper with a toy. But "peace at any price" is costly in child training, and is often disastrous to the child's developing personality.

It goes without saying that one must have the grace to overlook tiny faults that cannot possibly grow into bad habits. One must not nag youngsters until they fear to act naturally.

Infinite patience is required in the training of children. Never under any circumstances lose your temper, or use words the child may remember and repeat, to your embarrassment.

Another fundamental on which parents can depend in teaching language to children is the passion for repetition. The same old story told for the hundredth time delights the youngster-even more than a new story-for he likes the thrill of recognizing characters and incidents.

Mothers do children a grave injustice by forcing them to wear clothes they do not like or in which they do not feel comfortable. Every normal child is born with the urge for physical activity; and clothes that, for one reason or another, hamper this natural urge do more damage than might be supposed.

Not too bad, is it? There are "fads" in parenting opinion that have gone in and out. In the 1920s, there was real anxiety about toilet training and regularity. Beginning in the 50s, there seemed to be a new recognition in popular materials that adolescence is a distinct stage, providing "dating" guidance. True, there are some that have made me laugh-one is a brochure on menarche for girls with the title Modess... because.  (Because what? Menstruation was too taboo to mention, obviously.) The old etiquette books on "courting" protocols from the turn of the last century are now painfully dated given today's reality of STDs and hook-ups. Sadly, the vintage materials make almost no mention of Intimate Partner Violence. I have one publication on advice for new husbands that barely skirts the issue; it mainly urges men to be kind to their wives.

The future of family life education will undoubtedly be as interesting as its history. Myths are still being debunked. The Baby Einstein fad is officially over-read this article from the New York Times; Disney is now offering refunds to parents who purchased these tapes. Quoting from the article, "Despite their ubiquity, and the fact that many babies are transfixed by the videos, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no screen time at all for children under 2." Looking back is fun... looking ahead will be fun, too. I can't wait to see what the future of my field holds!

Note: In anticipation of a question I might be asked, no, I do not lend these materials. I did it once and almost didn't get them back. However, for any NCFR member who is working on a project about the history of family life education, I would be happy to go through my collection and offer references, referrals and help in any way I can.