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Benjamin Spock

Benjamin Spock Quotes

Pediatrician

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Famous Benjamin Spock Quotes

“A word about TV: If a television is on, an infant will stare at it. This is not a sign of advanced development. TV entertains at a cost. Young children easily become dependent on the TV for stimulation and lose some of their natural drive to explore. A child with a plastic cup and spoon, a few wooden blocks, and a board book can think up fifty creative ways to use those objects; a child in front of a TV can only do one thing.”

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Book:Baby and Child Care
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“It's an ideal existence. Out in the open. Berating the president of he United States... I'm free to thwart and torment the authorities - that is to say, I can get out my hostilities - because I'm protected in my conscience by the knowledge that what I'm doing is morally right. I've never been so relaxed. I've never been so happy.”

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Author:Benjamin Spock
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“Does sex education encourage sex? Many parents are afraid that talking about sex with their teenagers will be taken as permission for the teen to have sex. Nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, the more children learn abour sexuality from talking with their parents and teachers and reading accurate books, the less they feel compelled to find out for themselves.”

IfsFeelsChildrenDoeBookReadingSexParentTalkingTakenTeacherSexualityTeenagerAccuratePermissionCompelledSex EducationParents And Teachers
Author:Benjamin Spock
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“I think that parents ought to get some idea of how the so- called "experts" have changed their advice over the decades, so that they won't take them deadly seriously, and so that if the parent has the strong feeling, "I don't like this advice," the parent won't feel compelled to follow it. . . . So don't worry about trying to do a perfect job. There is no perfect job. There is no one way of raising your children.”

IfsThinkingWayFeelsTryingChildrenIdeasFeelingsJobsStrongParentPerfectWorryAdviceChangedOughtOur ChildrenDecadesOne WayYour ChildrenExpertsCompelledStrong FeelingNew ParentsPerfect Job
Author:Benjamin Spock
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“I wanted to be supportive of parents rather than to scold them. The book set out very deliberately to counteract some of the rigidities of pediatric tradition, particularly in infant feeding. It emphasized the importance of great differences between individual babies, of the need for flexibility and of the lack of necessity to worry constantly about spoiling.”

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Author:Benjamin Spock
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“Parental trust is extremely important in the guidance of adolescent children as they get further and further away from the direct supervision of their parents and teachers. I don't mean that trust without clear guidance is enough, but guidance without trust is worthless.”

MeanChildrenImportantEnoughParentClearTeacherDirectGuidanceWorthlessParentalSupervisionParents And TeachersWithout Trust
Book:Raising Children in a Difficult Time
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“Democracy appears to me potentially a higher form of political organization than any kind of dictatorship. But if it turns out that in America, which could afford a decent living for everyone, the comfortable majority is willing to condone the misery and abuse of a minority for an indefinite period, the exploitation by the majority becomes as repugnant as exploitation by an oligarchy, and democracy loses half its supposed superiority.”

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Author:Benjamin Spock
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“This present system by which industry is motivated exclusively by the quest for maximal profits - though it may have helped a great deal to develop, to industrialize our country so rapidly and so successfully - now it's clearly passed its usefulness. It is keeping us from achieving the ideal society that we should have. We say industry must produce to improve the quality of life for all our people.”

PeopleShouldMayCountryDealsQualityAchieveProduceIndustryIdealsShould HaveProfitOur CountryMotivatedQuestsQuality Of LifeUsefulnessIdeal Society
Author:Benjamin Spock
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“Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do.”

ThinkingKnowsPhilosophyKidsFamilyKnowledgeKnowingSelf EsteemPositiveTrustConfidenceSelf LoveEncouragementParentingIntuitionSelf ConfidenceEsteemGrayEncouragingTrust YourselfLoving YourselfHave ConfidenceBoostJust Be YourselfChakraBoost Self ConfidenceBoost Self EsteemBelief In SelfBest SelfHunchesSelf Esteem And ConfidenceConfidence In YourselfYou Think You KnowSelf TrustConfidence BoostingChild CareTrust Your InstinctsBoost Your ConfidenceTrust IssuesBoost Your Self EsteemI Trust YouBelief In YourselfConfidence And LoveInspiring Self EsteemInspirational ConfidenceSelf Confidence MotivationalTrust MyselfTrust And BelieveDorian GreyInspirational Self EsteemInstinct IntuitionPortrait Of Dorian GraySharing KnowledgeConfidence LoveNew ParentsRaise Self EsteemTrust Your IntuitionTrust Your HeartTime For YourselfWords Of ConfidenceFunny ExamPediatrician
Author:Benjamin Spock
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“What good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is usually best after all.”

FeelsMotherFatherParentInspireBabyMomInstinctParentingIntuitionPregnancyMother And FatherBeing A ParentHunchesGood MotherGood ParentGood ParentingBeautiful BabyAmazing ParentsInspirational BabyBest ParentsNew Baby InspirationalBeing A Good ParentMother And Baby
Book:Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care: 9th Edition
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“When I was 88 years old, I gave up meat entirely and switched to a plant foods diet following a slight stroke. During the following months, I not only lost 50 pounds, but gained strength in my legs and picked up stamina. Now, at age 93, I'm on the same plant-based diet, and I still don't eat any meat or dairy products. I either swim, walk, or paddle a canoe daily and I feel the best I've felt since my heart problems began.”

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Author:Benjamin Spock
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