This was in todays Adelaide Advertiser, might be of interest to some cheers Megan
Our culture of isolation By MELISSA KING 07sep04 THE Western style of "push-away parenting" was a cultural experiment in which children could be the losers, a visiting professor said yesterday. Meredith Small, professor of anthropology at Cornell University in New York, said the Western parenting culture of "doing it on your own" was isolating and could teach babies and children they could not rely on their parents. Professor Small, who addressed the first National Parenting Conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre, said Western cultures tended to hope for independent, self-reliant children. Other cultures kept children close to their parents and extended families. Western practices included not letting babies sleep with parents, allowing babies to cry more and believing babies should not be carried all the time. "Everybody thinks that their culture is doing it the right way," Professor Small said. "But Western nations have the oddest parenting style when you look around the rest of the world." She said Western parenting styles began with the "puritan ethic" of northern America and were strengthened at the time of the industrial revolution. "We choose in Western culture for women to work . . . there is a trade-off for this choice," she said. She said babies in Western cultures tended to cry more and some of those placed in long day-care developed behavioural problems. "I think we're running an experiment in our culture," Professor Small said. She believed what was best for children was "physical and emotional connection", without which they could become adults with commitment problems. "We have to find more flexible ways to do this – we have to push for babies and children in the workforce," she said. A keynote speaker yesterday at the three-day conference, organised by Child and Youth Health, was Christine Puckering, a senior research fellow at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. She outlined "mellow parenting", an approach introduced in Britain 12 years ago to help parents and children under five develop better relationships. The program has been used with families where post-natal depression, abusive relationships or substance abuse led to difficulties for children. "I would love to bring it to Australia; I can't think of anything better," she said. This message was sent through MyMail http://www.mymail.com.au -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
