Family and childhood on the pages of children’s magazines during the time of the Polish People’s Republic [Rodzina i dzieciństwo na łamach czasopism dziecięcych w Polskiej Rzeczpospolitej Ludowej]

Abstract

The study takes up the subject matter of the image of the family and family relationships which were presented in children’s magazines such as “Świerszczyk” and “Płomyczek” issued during the time of the Polish People’s Republic. The editorial office’s aim was to bring joy and warmth to the child’s everyday life by reading the mentioned magazines. Education issues in the family are presented in clearly defined sections and mainly concern: a mutual care between family members, for example, during a disease; leisure activities, maintaining contact with a family living in the countryside or in another city; helping with field work; parents’ professional work; school problems and dealing with them in a family; the relationship with grandparents; the relationship between siblings, parents and children, celebrating public holidays and anniversaries which were forgotten during the period of socialism. At the same time, it should be noted that in the decades since the year 1945, on the pages of children’s magazines, one can observe a clear influence of political factors which were defining the functioning of families in our country, for example, the economic plans made by the government of the day as well as holidays and public celebrations carried out according to the Soviet way of thinking. On the pages of children’s magazines, a planned preparation for life in a socialist family was carried out efficiently and it was embedded deep in the Marxist-Leninist ideology. The children’s magazines, thoroughly censored, were an effective weapon of indoctrination carried out by the socialist state. It should be emphasized that the children’s magazines in the time of the Polish People’s Republic, as well as school books, were used to educate the citizens of the socialist state.