The article presents the initial findings of a study on guidelines for the education of the problem child, as found in handbooks on children's hygiene written by Brazilian physicians. These books, whose target audience comprised the mothers and teachers who were in charge of educating these children, sought to explain the origin of the most common behavioral problems and offered instructions on how to overcome these difficulties, which jeopardized the child's development and also its adjustment to family and school. A preliminary analysis of two manuals approached from the perspective of the theoretical framework of Foucault and other authors on governmentality suggests that the books in question endeavored first and foremost to orient adults to make good use of power in their relations with children.
hygiene handbooks; child care; history of children and the family; problem child; governmentality