I heard something very interesting on my favorite radio program This American Life on NPR.
"Hard as it is to believe, during the early Twentieth Century, a whole school of mental health professionals decided that unconditional love was a terrible thing to give a child. The government printed pamphlets warning mothers against the dangers of holding their kids. The head of the American Psychological Association and even a mothers' organization endorsed the position that mothers were dangerous—until psychologist Harry Harlow set out to prove them wrong, through a series of experiments with monkeys."
Leave it to monkeys to teach us stupid humans that it's a good thing to love our kids.
It was a good episode about the joys and trials of being a parent it's titled 'unconditional love' which is what it takes to be a parent. I recommend a listen if you are interested http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1204
BTW You can download free podcasts of This American Life on itunes each week. Or they play on NPR on the weekends.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Why I love Monkeys
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2 comments:
Very interesting, Marjorie! I actually teach about Harlow's experiments in Child Development. Did you know that colleges used to raise babies from orphanages in their home economics departments and then put them up for adoption when they were a year or two old. Parents would pay good money for a top-of-the-line baby. Amazing that it took people so long to figure out that that wasn't so ethical. Babies definitely need the bonding and care that one consistent caregiver can provide!
I'll have to give it a listen when I have an uninterrupted block of time tomorrow. Sometimes I hear things like this and I think, "Really? Someone actually thought that and convinced a room full of seemingly intelligent people to agree with them? Really? Hm..."
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