Hey everyone, I have been reading this book called 'the Children's Book' and I came across this passage: "There are mothers who are warm, and devoted, and self-sacrificing, and resourceful and endlessly good tempered and loving. Then there are the other kind, who are often not mothers, but only stepmothers, who are unkind, and proud, and love some children (their own) better others, and treat children like kitchen-servants, and will not let them play, or dream." - Now this book was set in Edwardian times I think (I could be wrong here).
I have come across a few posts saying who would want to be a stepmother when they are seen as evil. This passage certainly shows that.
I was wondering if anyone knows exactly where this image came from? Did it begin as a religious backlash against divorce? Was it a product of the time where you did need your bk's to have precedence for inheriting land etc?
I'm very interested to discover the origins.