Description
COI Collection: Volume 8 – Your Children and You 2 Disc DVD Set
With a spike in birth rates after the Second World War, it was the job of the government’s publicity agency, the Central Office of Information (COI), to provide guidance for first-time parents on the dos and don’ts of bringing up children. The eighth volume of the COI Collection provides a fascinating survey of our ever-evolving attitudes to child-rearing, covering the ample topics of pregnancy, birth, parenting, childhood, child development, child psychology and school days.
Highlights include: Your Children and You (1946), which covers the practicalities of caring for babies and young children; Children Growing Up with Other People (1947), Margaret Thomson’s observational film about childhood and adolescence; Charley Junior’s Schooldays (1949), in which luxurious Halas and Batchelor colour animation is used to explain the workings of the new Education Act; and children’s Thought and Language (1971), which explains the development of language and reasoning of young children.
This collection also includes four bonus films from The Wellcome Library focusing on childbirth, pregnancy and maternity, three of which feature newly recorded musical accompaniments or soundscapes.
Special features
- Bathing and Dressing, Parts 1 & 2 (1935, 20 mins): a meticulous demonstration of how to bathe and change a very young baby
- Toxæmia of Pregnancy (1958, 13 mins): an informative educational film about this serious condition
- Maternity: A film of Queen Charlotte’s Hospital (1935, 15 mins): a semi-professional film showing antenatal and postnatal care in the 1930s
- Childbirth as an Athletic Feat (1939, 9 mins): this short film demonstrates a series of antenatal exercises suitable for mothers-to-be
