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3 - Mother and Child: Preparing for a Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2011

By
Ronald G. Barr
Edited by
Daniel P. Keating
Ronald G. Barr
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
Daniel P. Keating
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
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Summary

INTRODUCTION

In trying to understand what helps the lives of human infants get off to a good start, we have concentrated on the quite remarkable and particular relationship that occurs between mothers and their infants in the first few days and weeks of life. Of course, everyone is interested in mother-infant relationships, but the word “relationship” can take on many meanings. For most, the term conjures up a picture of a mother lovingly holding her infant in her arms, perhaps in an en face position in which they are looking directly into each other's eyes. The assumption is that this is a manifestation of a maternal nature of loving and supportive caring that the mother is hardwired to provide. However, in Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's thoughtful critique (Hrdy, 1999), she challenges the assumption that there is any such thing as an “essential” mothering nature. She argues that mothering, as with many other aspects of animal behavior, is subject to choices (or trade-offs) that may differ depending on the experiences and contexts in which mothering is taking place.

If Hrdy's position is correct, then the implications for understanding what gets the lives of human infants off to a good start are enormous. Among other things, the argument implies that good mothering is not guaranteed, but rather that it is contingent on a variety of factors, only some of which we know very much about.

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Nature and Nurture in Early Child Development , pp. 70 - 96
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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References

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