Dear Brian:

        It appears to me, less monitoring and more love and
values in the home are the answer to rearing and taking care of
children.

    mother who cares    Charlotte


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From:   brian j. callahan[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Monday, May 05, 1997 10:44 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: Maternal care

Juan writes:
>If this is the biased, foul way the work of Attachment Theorists is
>going to be construed, I will refrain from posting anything else on
>the issue in future.

Don't be so sensitive.  This is what happens in a public forum, which you may
now regret having started.

>What I did say is that there are ways to early detection of
>psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies in infants and preschoolers
>and that psychiatric intervention in those cases might prevent
>anti-social developments.

Right, and Matthew raised the legitimate question of whether it would be a
good idea to have a small number of experts in psychology monitoring and
intervening in child-rearing based on their (the experts') definitions of
"anti-social" and "pathological."  Surely this not an outrageous question,
but rather one you would inevitably have to answer in order to convince
people to go along with your ideas.

>It couldn't be further from the truth to assert I ever mentioned
>introducing new methods of childrearing. I only talked about
>enhancing maternal care in a frivolous world where children are
>reared by maids and au pair girls.

I don't know the figures, but I would bet only a small proportion of the
population is raised by maids and au pair girls because only a small
percentage of families can afford them.  More and more, of course, children
of all socio-economic groups are spending a great deal of time in day-care.
What do you think the effect of that is on children?

By the way, I lack a "scientific" grounding in this area, but I would guess
that in a more caring, less competetive society, more time and resources
would be devoted to the rearing of children and this would probably have a
positive impact on their behavior as adults.