ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the first biography of Susan Isaacs regarding her incalculable contribution to the theory and practice of the education of young children. With her mother's death Susan's early childhood may be said to have ended, though she received much kindness from her eldest sister, Bessie. Susan always thought of Bessie as her 'mother-sister'. Her vivid memories of the sensitivity of childhood were to be used again and again in the way she advised parents and teachers to explain things to children, or on how to handle difficulties in their upbringing. Her awareness of how conflicting the feelings of children can be also developed very early in her life because, in loyalty to her much loved sister Bessie, she withdrew from her stepmother and could not allow herself to show affection for her. Susan certainly had a reputation for 'naughtiness' at school as well as at home.
