Benjamin McLane Spock was an American paediatrician. Spock's book titled "Baby and Child Care", got published around the era of 1940s. His book became one of those tremendous successes. Spock was the first paediatrician to study psychoanalysis for children's needs and family issues. His ideas about childcare influenced many generations of parents who became more flexible and affectionate.
Benjamin Spock was born on 2nd May 1903. The place he took birth in was Connecticut. His parents were Benjamin Ives Spock, a long-time general counsel of the New Haven Railroad. In 1924, while studying at Yale University, he was part of the all-Yale Men's eight rowing team at the Paris Olympics. They won the Gold medal.
It's to be noted that Spock raised his voice against the Vietnam war. He took part in a lot of movements in the decade of 1970s. However, his theories were widely criticized for heavy relying on anecdotal evidence than serious academic research.
His books were also criticized for propagating permissiveness. According to the New York Times, "Baby and Child Care" was the second-best-selling book, next to the Bible. By 1998 the book sold more than 50 million copies. Spock died on 15th March 1998. Below are some of the famous Benjamin Spock Quotes.
Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.
One should always trust themselves. Initially, we may think that we don't know anything. However, you never know what your potential is unless you don't work hard to realize it. That's why it's said that trusting your potential is far more crucial than anything else.
The child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering
The parent-child relationship is an interesting one. In this, the real power comes from the child who has to make sure that the energy they hold doesn't go down anytime. A larger role is then played by parents who have to ensure that energy and enthusiasm are used in the right direction only.
What good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is usually best after all.
When mothers and fathers instinctively feel good doing things for their children, they would end up making their kids feel special. Parents always choose the best for their little toddlers. Thus, if their instinct asks them to do certain things, they should do it.
Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled.
What is happiness? It's nothing but a state of mind in which you do things that make you feel fulfilled. When you do things you always wanted to do, you feel a sense of contentment that nothing else can surpass. In that sense, happiness is doing things that make you feel fulfilled.
All the time a person is a child he is both a child and learning to be a parent. After he becomes a parent he becomes predominantly a parent reliving childhood.
Parenting and childhood are almost the same experiences if looked at carefully. When you are a child, you are both a child as well as a parent. That's because you learn to become a parent by seeing your mother or father. And after you become a parent, you become a person who recapitulates and remembers their childhood.
Most middle-class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal.
When you are in a place of privilege, you don't know what kind of atrocities people from other repressed sections have been subjected to. Most middle-class Whites of America may not know what people from marginal sections had to go through. This included rudeness and police brutality.
Few more Benjamin Spock Quotes..
There are only two things a child will share willingly; communicable diseases and its mother's age.
A child will share only two things willingly. They mostly don't like sharing toys or other favourite entities of theirs. However, they would easily catch diseases like the common cold or flu because they are more vulnerable. The other thing they would willingly share is their mother's age because of the immense love they feel for her.
To win in Vietnam, we will have to exterminate a nation.
The reference here is to the Vietnam war that was fought from 1955 to 1975. It was a war in which the USA was significantly involved. However, the war was so violent that many parts of Vietnam were exterminated. Similarly, the USA also suffered many casualties.
Perhaps a child who is fussed over gets a feeling of destiny; he thinks he is in the world for something important, and it gives him drive and confidence.
A child who feels strong emotions for something is the one who gets the feel of destiny. That particular child feels that he is in the world for some really important thing for which he feels strongly. It's this "fussed over" feeling which drives his confidence in life and boosts his morale.
When women are encouraged to be competitive, too many of them become disagreeable.
Women are mostly confined to the four walls of their household. Ever wondered what will happen when they are encouraged to be competitive? As they start becoming more self-dependent, they are labelled as being bossy or over assertive. Thus, society will never accept women's achievements fully.
We all end up at least somewhat like our parents, especially in the way we deal with our children.
We inherit mostly everything from our parents. We end up just like our parents. It's visible when we become parents and tend to raise our children in the same manner. Thus, we may deny that we don't want to become like our parents but we end up doing that.
Continue reading some more Benjamin Spock Quotes...
Your baby doesn't need a pillow for her head, and you should not use one. Likewise, it's best to keep stuffed animals out of your baby's crib or cradle; babies don't care much about them, and they may pose a suffocation
Spock is saying that pillows are not much important for any child.
Babies don't care much about them. Rather they are very suffocating for a small baby. Thus, pillows shouldn't be used much. It's always best to keep stuffed animals away from the baby's crib or cradle.
Every child senses, with all the horse sense that's in him, that any parent is angry inside when children misbehave and they dread more the anger that is rarely or never expressed openly, wondering how awful it might be.
Kids fear their parents when they do something wrong. They fear that their parents would get angry at them. Parents generally get angry when children misbehave. However, even after doing that, they frame a picture of their parents getting mad at them. This is a natural way things fold out.
The more people have studied different methods of bringing up children the more they have concluded that what good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is the best after all.
People have done a lot of studies in the field of childcare and child psychology. After all these studies, they have concluded that the best for a baby is what their parents have decided for them. Parents always choose things or eatables for kids with a lot of deliberation. Thus, their power of gauging things is just brilliant. And their kids feel in safe hands.
The main source of good discipline is growing up in a loving family, being loved and learning to love in return.
How do you find discipline in life? That's found by being raised in a loving family by some lovely people. When you live in such an environment, you tend to feel loved so much. Love is that basic necessity that can bind all the people within the family. It can make you feel disciplined.
Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity. Without creativity, there is no life.
If you don't have the freedom to do anything, how will you ever feel creative? To put your creativity on canvas, you need to feel free. If you find freedom, you can easily experiment with a lot of things. If there's no freedom to do things, there would be no freedom of creativity. Without freedom of creativity, there's no life.
Few more Benjamin Spock Quotes...
Physical punishment teaches children that the larger, stronger person has the power to get his way, whether or not he is in the right, and they may resent this in the parent-for life.
If you ever engage in corporal punishment, you are doing the worst thing. If you beat small children, you are demonstrating power relations in front of them. You tend to make them believe that the person who gives punishment is the larger one. This stereotype perpetuates in their mind, which they may resent in later life.
Respect children because they're human beings and they deserve respect, and they'll grow up to be better people.
Why do we only respect elders? Why aren't children made to feel the same way as their parents? Children are also supposed to be respected in the same way as other human beings are. If they are respected, they will grow up to be better people. They will feel proud of themselves if they get respect.
I'm not a pacifist. I was very much for the war against Hitler and I also supported the intervention in Korea, but in this war, we went in there to steal Vietnam.
Benjamin Spock is talking about the Vietnam war over here. He's saying that he supported the USA in going against Adolf Hitler. He also supported the intervention in Korea. However, the action was taken during the Vietnam War stole the country of its glory.
A human being is happiest and most successful when dedicated to a cause outside his individual, selfish satisfaction.
A child feels happy only when he/she is dedicated to a cause that's more than just making money. One should feel devoted to that cause. Humans feels happiest only when the cause they are committed to being selfless. That goal should be free of any very greedy desire. It's only then that we will find true joy.
