By Caty Weaver
Broadcast: October 3, 2004
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VOICE ONE:
I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the world's most famous doctor for children, Benjamin Spock.
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VOICE ONE:
Benjamin Spock's first book caused a revolution in the way American children were raised. His book, "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care," was published in nineteen forty-six. More copies of it have been sold in the United States than any other book except the Christian Bible. The book gave advice to parents of babies and young children. The first lines of the book are famous. Doctor Spock wrote: "Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do".
VOICE TWO:
This message shocked many parents. For years, mothers had been told that they should reject their natural feelings about their babies. Before Doctor Spock's book appeared, the most popular guide to raising children was called "Psychological Care of Infant and Child." The book's writer, John B. Watson, urged extreme firmness in dealing with children. The book called for a strong structure of rules in families. It warned parents never to kiss, hug or physically comfort their children.
VOICE ONE:
Doctor Spock's book was very different. He gave gentle advice to ease the fears of new parents. Doctor Spock said his work was an effort to help parents trust their own natural abilities in caring for their children. Doctor Spock based much of his advice on the research and findings of the famous Austrian psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud. Doctor Spock's book discusses the mental and emotional development of children. It urges parents to use that information to decide how to deal with their babies when they are crying, hungry, or tired.
For example, Doctor Spock dismissed the popular idea of exactly timed feedings for babies. Baby care experts had believed that babies must be fed at the same times every day or they would grow up to be demanding children.
Doctor Spock said babies should be fed when they are hungry. He argued that babies know better than anyone about when and how much they need to eat. He did not believe that feeding babies when they cry in hunger would make them more demanding. He also believed that showing love to babies by hugging and kissing them would make them happier and more secure.
VOICE TWO:
"The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care" examined the emotional and physical growth of children. Doctor Spock said he did not want to just tell a parent what to do. He said he tried to explain what children generally are like at different times in their development so parents would know what to expect.
Doctor Spock's book did not receive much notice from the media when it was published in nineteen forty- six. Yet, seven hundred fifty thousand copies of the book were sold during the year after its release. Doctor Spock began receiving many letters of thanks from mothers around the country.
VOICE ONE:
Doctor Spock considered his mother, Mildred Spock, to be the major influence on his personal and professional life. He said his ideas about how parents should act were first formed because of her. He reacted to the way in which his mother cared for him and his brother and sisters.
Doctor Spock described his mother as extremely controlling. He said she believed all human action was the result of a physical health issue or a moral one. She never considered her children's actions were based on emotional needs.
Doctor Spock later argued against this way of thinking. Yet, he praised his mother's trust of her own knowledge of her children. In his book, "Spock on Spock," he wrote about his mother's ability to correctly identify her children's sicknesses when the doctors were wrong.
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VOICE TWO:
Benjamin Spock was born in nineteen-oh-three. He was the first of six children. The Spock family lived in New Haven, Connecticut. His father was a successful lawyer. Benjamin was a quiet child. He attended Phillips Academy, a private school in Andover, Massachusetts. Later he attended Yale University in New Haven. He joined a sports team at Yale that competed in rowing boats. In nineteen twenty-four, he and his team members competed in rowing at the Olympic Games in Paris, France. They won the gold medal.
