The more psychology and general science I study, the more cross I get!!
When I came across Bowlby and the attachement theory during my counselling course I thought: why doesn't everyone know this? We now know so much about child development but this is not filtering through to all parents. Why? My own GP suggested I leave my baby to cry so that we all get a good night's sleep... Was he not aware that during the first year of life (according to a theorist called Erikson) babies learn about trust, they form an idea on how safe the world is based on their carers response to them, so letting a baby cry for an hour does not seem a good lesson to learn.
It has also been mentioned to me that most women won't want to know anyway, women have fought very hard to gain the equality we cherish today so the thought of having to stay at home with the children seems like a step backwards, but all I'm saying is that the information is out there, lets find out as much as we can about our children's development, and it's real science I'm talking about not faddish baby books...
Thanks, interesting post. Have you read a book by Margot Sunderland called What Every Parent Needs to Know? It's about the science and psychology of our little ones' developing brains and touches on a few issues you've mentioned here. Thouroughly recommended!
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't, will look it up, thanks. At the moment I'm reading Why Love Matters by Sue Gerhardt, I'm glad I've studied most of the things she covers and am familiar with attachment theory as it doesn't make for the smoothest read. But fascinating stuff!
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