"A governess is a woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny (formerly called a nurse), she concentrates ...
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on teaching children, rather than caring for their physical needs. Her charges are of school age rather than babies.
The position of governess used to be common in well-off European families before the First World War, especially in the countryside where no suitable school existed nearby. Parents´ preference to educate their children at home—rather than send them away to boarding school for months at a time—varied across time and countries. Governesses were usually in charge of girls and younger boys. When a boy was old enough, he left his governess for a tutor or a school." - (en.wikipedia.org 07.08.2021)