“Given Freudian assumptions about the nature of children and the biological predestination of mothers, it is unthinkable for mothers voluntarily to leave their babies in others' care, without guilt about the baby's well-being and a sense of self-deprivation. Mothers need their babies for their own mental health, and babies need their mothers for their mental health--a reciprocal and symbiotic relationship.” NeedsWellsChildrenSelfCareMotherGivenBabyGuiltMental HealthWell BeingAssumptionSense Of SelfUnthinkableDeprivationReciprocalPredestination Author:Sandra Scarr
“We know that babies develop as well in nonmaternal as in maternal care, as long as the care is of good quality. The issue is not who gives the care but the quality of that care,... The guilt trip is, in my view, a hangover of another era and of unacknowledged tactics to keep women in their proper place--at home full-time.” KnowsGivingWellsLongHomeCareViewsQualityIssuesBabyGuiltErasTacticsHangoverGood QualityGuilt Trip Author:Sandra Scarr
“Mothers and fathers act in mostly similar ways toward their young children. Psychologists are still highlighting small differencesrather than the overwhelming similarities in parents' behaviors. I think this is a hangover from the 1950s re-emergence of father as a parent. He has to be special. The best summary of the evidence on mothers and fathers with their babies is that young children of both sexes, in most circumstances, like both parents equally well. Fathers, like mothers, are good parents first and gender representatives second.” ThinkingWayFirstsWellsChildrenStillsYoungMotherFatherSexParentSpecialBabyCircumstancesBehaviorEvidenceGenderOverwhelmingRepresentativesPsychologistSimilarityYoung ChildrenEmergenceMother And FatherHangoverSummaryGood ParentLike A MotherHighlighting Author:Sandra Scarr
“A healthy newborn has been delivered in a more or less satisfying fashion. The baby is feeding well, has short nails and a clean bottom, and has not drowned. What now?” WellsHas BeensFashionBabyHealthyCleanBottomSatisfyingNailsFeedingNewborn Author:Sandra Scarr
