THE BABY IN THE HOUSE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 718, 17 April 1953, Page 5

THE BABY IN THE HOUSE

Sir,-Although the speaker in a fecent programme from _3YA, "Foundations of Mental Health," is a doctor and psychiatrist of wide repute, he is not a mother. While respecting his views on practical nurture, and even conceding that in some respects they affected me, I was depressed at the possible results they might produce, In stating that the household should adapt itself to the needs of the baby, I wondered what sort of a wearisome muddle a young mother might land herself into, The behaviour of a young baby can at first be baffling, and defies interpretation from the angle of "needs" by the inexperienced. With no other guide than the desire to deny the child ‘nothing, an over-anxious mother may easily end by upsetting him altogether. She will find herself trying first one method and then another, and her uncertainty and anxiety will communicate itself to the child and interrupt his natural ability to settle to a routine. I want to make a plea here for the value of a routine-a carefully-planned, flexible, but consistently-followed routine. As a mother I am convinced that the real needs of a normal child can be met within its loose framework; that in

seeking to establish it with gentleness, patience, and perseverance in the earliest stages, the danger is lessened of: misinterpreting the child’s demands. I have known a child fed so often, and erratically, &hat she developed a chronic eolic, and the complex results of her disturbed behaviour so dominated the household that the mether and everyone else became worn out. This was a conscientious attempt to follow such advice as the speaker gave.. By all means let us deny our children no love, but let us advance cautiously, and not throw overboard the valuable guides of the past 20 years’ experience Otherwise, though advancing theoretically, we will simply be reverting’ in practice to the trial and error of our grandmothers’ days.

FESTINA

LENTE

(Christchurch).