The psychological, educational and
scientific interest in children and how to raise them “correctly” is a relatively new phenomenon —
just over 100 years old. In fact, it was only in the late 1800s that
pediatrics, infant care and child psychology actually became subjects of
scientific interest. The American Pediatric Society was established in 1887 in
order to provide the general public with educative information on various
infant issues.
The belief
that scientific principles could be applied to child rearing produced new kinds
of child-rearing manuals, the most influential of which was Dr. Luther Emmett
Holt's “The Care and Feeding of
Children,” first published in 1894.
Holt
emphasized rigid scheduling of feeding, bathing, sleeping, and bowel movements
and advised mothers to guard vigilantly against germs and undue stimulation of
infants: “Babies under six months
old should never be played with; and the less of it at any time the better for
the infant.”
Quite
the opposite of what is deemed appropriate today!
READ MORE: Is it just us or are kids strange?
By 1928, behaviorist John Watson wrote the famous “Psychological
Care of Infant and Child.” Watson’s keys to raising productive members of
society were based on the following: keep children under strict behavioral
control by requiring instant obedience and demanding chores; withhold affection
so as to not spoil children; women should reject and abandon their motherly
instinct to bond and nurture their children on an emotional level.
"Treat them as though they were
young adults,” he writes. “Dress them; bathe them with care and circumspection.
Let your behavior always be objective and kindly firm. Never hug and kiss them,
never let them sit on your lap ... Shake hands with them in the morning.”
In 1946, Benjamin Spock, a representative of the Freudian psychoanalyst
view, published “Baby and Child Care.” Many
war-weary parents, scornful of the child-rearing practices of their parents and
grandparents, embraced the advice of Dr. Spock, who rejected the idea of rigid
feeding, bathing, and sleeping schedules, and told parents to pick up their
babies and enjoy them.
Since the
early 1970s, parental anxieties have greatly increased both in scope and
intensity. Many parents and laws sought to protect children from all imaginable
harm by baby-proofing their homes, using car seats, requiring bicycle helmets,
etc.
Meanwhile,
as more mothers joined the labor force, parents arranged more structured,
supervised activities for their children. Unstructured play and outdoor
activities for children aged 3 to 11 declined dramatically during this period.
READ MORE: Is your child an underachiever?
There can be
no doubt that contemporary parenting is more stressful than it was in the early
post-war era. Today's parents are beset by severe time pressures and
work-related stress, and fewer have supportive family or neighbors to help out or
monitor their children. Their children are growing up, in a sex-saturated
environment, where the allure of drugs, alcohol and materialism is promoted
through their myriad electronic sources.
Many of the “free”
spaces where earlier generations were able to play without adult supervision
have disappeared. The result has been a hovering, emotionally intense style of
parenting and a more highly organized form of child rearing, which may make it
more difficult for children to forge an independent existence and assert their
growing maturity and competence.
I recommend
the following parenting book The Irreducible Needs Of Children: What Every Child Must Have To Grow, Learn, And Flourish. Follow what these two have to say and your children
may reach their full potential and enjoy their childhoods.
As for the ease of
parenting, well that’s open for discussion.
Paul Schwartz, PhD., is a professor of psychology and education at Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, New York.
Other articles by Paul Schwartz