BBC iD
News
Sport
Weather
iPlayer
TV
Radio
More‌
MAGAZINE Home
World
Video & Audio
UK England N. Ireland Scotland Wales Business Politics Health Magazine
Editors' Blog
In Pictures
Also in the News
Have Your Say
Education Sci/Environment Technology Entertainment & Arts Special Reports
4 May 2013 Last updated at 00:28
Top Stories Police hail rescued Ohio women
Six childcare gurus who have changed parenting By Alex Campbell
PM promises 'proper choice' on EU
BBC News
Ray Harryhausen, model pioneer, dies Somalia's leader hails 'new era' Accused 'took photo of dead Tia'
Features You're fired Why Scandinavia wouldn't stand for Apprentice boasts
I'm not green! The model for the Chinese Girl print tells her story
Forgotten debut The night Pavarotti gave his first performance in the UK
Windows 8 wipeout? Microsoft faces claims that its operating system is a "failure"
It's been 70 years since the idea of the "good enough mother" was popularised by psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott. Since then, there's been a plethora of parenting advice, with everything from the naughty step to a time limit on cuddling catching on. History has provided no shortage of "supernanny" figures with big ideas about how best to raise children. Childcare advice is a multi-billion pound industry with an avalanche of books, magazines, and television shows competing for credibility.
In today's Magazine The Apprentice v the Law of Jante
Shared
I was the Chinese Girl
Ray Harryhausen, model pioneer, dies
Shattered lives
I was the Chinese Girl
The Loop Here are six of the people who have had the biggest impact on parenting over the past 100 years.
Most Popular
Missing US women found after decade Imran Khan hurt in election fall
Sir Frederick Truby King Photoshop moves to subscription
Child welfare reformer Sir Frederick Truby King is credited with drastically reducing infant mortality in his native New Zealand. His research also led to a radical improvement in childhood nutrition and he was knighted in 1925 for his contribution to society. But for all of his laudable achievements, Truby King is undoubtedly best known as an early champion of enforcement parenting - with its emphasis on discipline and detachment.
Read Police hail rescued women's bravery Eddy Shah 'raped girl in hotels' Microsoft's Windows 8 under fire Tia Sharp 'killed after sex attack' Ray Harryhausen, model pioneer, dies YouTube star: charging a "bad idea" Father and son jailed over servitude The Apprentice v the Law of Jante
Generated with www.html-to-pdf.net
Page 1 / 5
I was the Chinese Girl Imran Khan hurt in election fall
Video/Audio
The key to the Truby King method was to feed babies by the clock every four hours and preferably never at night - stoically ignoring demands for sustenance in between.
'The moment no-one thought could happen' 'I saw this girl going nuts'
He recommended placing babies in their own rooms immediately and leaving them in the garden for long periods to toughen them up. He also imposed a 10-minute daily cap on cuddles.
Imran Khan injured in stage fall
Parenting was about routine and discipline. The formative months were for eating, sleeping and growing - not bonding.
'Help me, I'm Amanda Berry'
The philosophy might seem brutal to modern day doters, but childcare historian and author Hugh Cunningham says mothers were inclined to trust the experts of the era.
Find out more Archive on 4: From Donald Winnicott to the Naughty Step will be broadcast on Radio 4 at 20:00 BST on Saturday 4 May and afterwards on BBC iPlayer Archive on 4
"Not every parent at the time did it this way but they will have been aware of it.
'Nuns' arrested for smuggling cocaine
BBC News Channel Pilot describes 'uneventful' ditching 'We had to kick open the door' Cleveland FBI: 'Nightmare is over'
"A significant number of people simply thought science was telling them and therefore it was the right thing to do," he says.
Eyewitness films out of control boat
Dr Benjamin Spock Dr Benjamin Spock's Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care is one of the best-selling books of all time, having sold some 50 million since it was first published in 1946. Challenging the child-rearing orthodoxy of the early 20th Century, Dr Spock encouraged a more gentle approach to bringing up children, and told parents to trust their own instincts and common sense.
Dr Benjamin Spock 1903-1998
The Spock guide to parenting - which encouraged affection and recognised that every baby is different - went mainstream in the 1960s. It was probably a convenient time for a new style of parenting, according to psychologist Dr Aric Sigman. Mothers were increasingly getting used to household appliances and disposable nappies, which left far more time for cuddling, doting and pampering than most Trudy King parents were likely to have enjoyed. "Changes in parenting trends reflect changes in politics, the economy and the parents' needs, even though children's needs really haven't changed," says Sigman.
Donald Winnicott
As well as being the 20th Century's most famous childcare guru, Dr Spock (pictured left, with Dr Martin Luther King Jr) was a prominent radical activist in the USA in the 1960s and 1970s. Spock was vocal in his opposition to the Vietnam war and in 1968 was convicted of "aiding resistance to the draft" (the conviction was later overturned). In 1972 he stood as a presidential candidate for the People's Party, with a platform calling for free medical care, the legalisation of marijuana and the immediate withdrawal of US troops from foreign countries.
About the same time as Spock's parenting guide began shifting millions, Winnicott was beginning a stint of almost 20 years of influential broadcasts for the BBC, the first of which was in 1943. His broadcasts were aimed directly at mothers, with his "good enough mother" philosophy promoting the idea that they weren't perfect. Occasional failure was not just inevitable in parenting - it was part of the child's learning curve. Like Spock, Winnicott believed in parents' intuition. "It is when a mother trusts her judgement that she is at her best," he said. The paediatrician and psychoanalyst didn't believe in setting regimes or
Generated with www.html-to-pdf.net
Page 2 / 5
even giving instructions. He believed in understanding, not admonishing.
Winnicott's research and Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts says some parents adopt a similar style broadcasts were today. about understanding, not admonishing� "I like the principle of trusting your instincts - don't sweat the small stuff too much," she says.
Penelope Leach Continuing a growing trend for a liberal antidote to the routines and rituals of the previous generation, psychologist Penelope Leach rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. Leach's book, Your Baby and Child: From Birth to Age Five, has sold more than two million copies since its original publication in 1977, and her work remains popular with some parents. Her style is "child-centred" parenting. You had the baby, now come the sacrifices. "Whatever you are doing, however you are coping, if you listen to your child and to your own feelings, there will be something you can actually do to put things right or make the best of those that are wrong," she notes in the book's introduction.
Other modern childcare gurus Miriam Stoppard - author of range of bestselling childcare manuals Tracy Hogg ("the child whisperer") put emphasis on listening to babies Dr Tanya Byron - thinks that sleep deprivation is a major problem for children in modern age Steve Biddulph - Australian writer, specialises in the upbringing of boys
An expert in child development, Leach has more recently spoken out against "crying-it-out" techniques - advocated by some as a method of helping to establish routine. Some have described her as "legendary for making parents feel guilty".
Gina Ford The so-called Queen of Routine's parenting plans are loved and loathed but never ignored. Gina Ford's methods have been branded "absolute nonsense" by Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and led to a legal settlement with Mumsnet after some of its members posted explicitly hostile reviews
Gina Ford recommends leaving a child to cry in some circumstances
But at one point three of her books accounted for 25% of the sprawling childcare books market, and she boasts celebrity supporters such as Kate Winslet. The former maternity nurse has sold more than half a million copies of her original 1999 publication The Contented Little Baby Book. Her bestselling guide advocates a strict regime for both parent and child, broken into five-minute slots, which is built around set feeding times to establish a routine as early as possible. It recommends ignoring a crying child to help restore sleeping patterns in certain circumstances, as well as not making eye contact before bedtime to avoid excitement.
Generated with www.html-to-pdf.net
Page 3 / 5
Jo Frost Reality TV show Supernanny has reached tens of millions of viewers across 47 countries and spawned its own US spin-off - billing star professional nanny Jo Frost as a modern day Mary Poppins.
Jo Frost (centre) has spawned a global TV franchise: here she poses with the French and German 'Supernannies'
For many parents, Frost is the inspiration for the widely used "naughty step" technique. Children who are misbehaving get a warning, but if they carry on they have to sit on a step - waiting one minute for every year of age. Afterwards, they have to apologise. Other staples, which include a regular dose of finger-wagging and face-to -face ultimatums, have also infiltrated homes across the world. But while Jo Frost's no-nonsense approach appeals to many parents, it's also been criticised for being part of a culture which invades children's privacy. Tracey Jensen, lecturer in media and cultural studies at Newcastle University, told the Guardian newspaper Supernanny offers up the spectacle of the "bad enough mother", usually working-class, who is shamed before she is transformed. You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook
More on This Story In today's Magazine The Apprentice v the Law of Jante Why the Apprentice candidates' boasts would get short shrift across the North Sea in Scandinavia.
I was the Chinese Girl In 1950, a teenager in a Cape Town laundrette was spotted by a Russian artist, who made her face one of the most famous in the world
Shattered lives How many birds die as a result of colliding with windows
Magazine Regulars The Loop Your tips on parallel parking and voluntourism
10 things we didn't know last week
Generated with www.html-to-pdf.net
Quiz of the week's news
Page 4 / 5
Share this page
Services Mobile
About BBC News Connected TV
News feeds
Alerts
E-mail news
Mobile site
BBC © 2013 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
Generated with www.html-to-pdf.net
Editors' blog BBC College of Journalism News sources Editorial Guidelines Terms of Use Privacy Cookies Parental Guidance
About the BBC BBC Help Accessibility Help Contact Us
Page 5 / 5