Recent studies on the correspondence between Dutch children and parents from 1770 to 1850 have highlighted the contrast between the natural characteristics of the child and his social responsibilities. During the 1990s and 2000s, major studies on the history of childhood, mothers and parenthood became milestones in this research. This development has continued in recent years around topics including gender and relationships between children and adults but also, and even more innovatively, between children themselves. The fact that these new parents were astonished about their new and unexpected feelings demonstrates that parental emotions for a child were by no means a matter of certainty. Educators and philosophers have long been interested in the question of the extent of closeness between parents and children as part of their education. Numerous philosophers established educational principles which parents were expected to follow.