The Village
February 26th 2008 23:04
Psychologists have said that socialization in young babies is not required until 6 months of age. It is even suggested that socialization before that can create confusion about who the primary caregiver is.
Of course, if we looka t history and the ways in which humans used to raise their children it would seem that a lot of people would disagree. There are quite a few ways to look at children and their upbringing but we will concentrate at looking at the idea behind "The Village" (not so long ago in Western Societies we used to think of children as little adults and no allowances were made).
The Village concept is still heavily used in Aboriginal Communities where the women look after the children while the men go off to hunt. Stereotypical right? Well yes but let's explore the concept a little bit further.
Traditionally the women were the gatherers and looked after the land (harvesting etc). They also looked after the children in the village as a whole with all the women sharing the load. The men went off to hunt and also to protect the village and they were safe in the knowledge that their children were properly being cared for. With so many women looking after the children there was always a spare pair of hands available. It was also easier to cocoon off the baby and mother from all outside stresses ensuring that both were properly relaxed. Psychologists do agree that a good, stable and stress free environment is important.
Doesn't sound so bad anymore?????
Let's take a look at modern day society.....
Mum's expected to turn up to the Delivery suite pushing. Bub's is born and you get chucked out of the hospital 4 days later and there's no or little buffer between Mum and the outside world. Often there's little or no support available to Mum except within the family and what Dad can offer (assuming he's not too busy at work).. Mum takes on all the stresses of cooking, cleaning, earning money (in some cases) if only to name a few.
Doesn't sound so good......
So have we actually gone forwards or backwards in parenting?
Of course, if we looka t history and the ways in which humans used to raise their children it would seem that a lot of people would disagree. There are quite a few ways to look at children and their upbringing but we will concentrate at looking at the idea behind "The Village" (not so long ago in Western Societies we used to think of children as little adults and no allowances were made).
The Village concept is still heavily used in Aboriginal Communities where the women look after the children while the men go off to hunt. Stereotypical right? Well yes but let's explore the concept a little bit further.
Traditionally the women were the gatherers and looked after the land (harvesting etc). They also looked after the children in the village as a whole with all the women sharing the load. The men went off to hunt and also to protect the village and they were safe in the knowledge that their children were properly being cared for. With so many women looking after the children there was always a spare pair of hands available. It was also easier to cocoon off the baby and mother from all outside stresses ensuring that both were properly relaxed. Psychologists do agree that a good, stable and stress free environment is important.
Doesn't sound so bad anymore?????
Let's take a look at modern day society.....
Mum's expected to turn up to the Delivery suite pushing. Bub's is born and you get chucked out of the hospital 4 days later and there's no or little buffer between Mum and the outside world. Often there's little or no support available to Mum except within the family and what Dad can offer (assuming he's not too busy at work).. Mum takes on all the stresses of cooking, cleaning, earning money (in some cases) if only to name a few.
Doesn't sound so good......
So have we actually gone forwards or backwards in parenting?
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