The aim of this study was to study the portrayal of children’s agency in parenting literature in the first half of the 20th century. Questions this study asked was how the importance of agency was portrayed as well as how the authors portrayed education as it relates to the Swedish school system’s mission of nurturing. The study did this by analysing four authors: Ellen Key, Alva Myrdal, Urban Hjärne, and Benjamin Spock according to the theories of Qvortrup as well as the definition of agency. Findings indicated that all the authors encouraged an agency to some extent. Furthermore, all except one author agreed upon the importance of schooling and the nurturing mission of schools were important. Key differed in this as she believed homeschooling was superior to public schooling since it could harm children’s agency. The authors passionately indicate that the subject about raising children must have been important during their time since they all have a strong opinion on the subject matter. Finally, this implies that they thought that there wasn’t sufficient information or discussion about childrearing.