The purpose of this article is to analyze holistic development elements affecting infants from the perspective of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s naturalistic education ideas. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel The Secret Garden shows the process in which ch...
The purpose of this article is to analyze holistic development elements affecting infants from the perspective of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s naturalistic education ideas. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel The Secret Garden shows the process in which children achieve their self-esteem and positive thinking through physical exercise, social interaction, and cultivating their gardens. In this novel, Burnett reflects her empirical opinion that body-mind connectivity makes children develop healthily and holistically. This paper examines the medical and social aspects of Burnett’s era and verifies how they influence her cognition, inspiration, and perceptions of treatment. This study also discusses how physical activities such as gardening in nature affect children’s brains, feelings, behaviors and confidence. Fundamentally, Rousseau’s naturalistic education portrayed in Emile can be understood as a trend of human social development. That is, one in which people strive to raise their children as socially adept and, therefore, good and noble in accordance with nature