STONE AGE PARENTING for young children
(see links to blogs below)
What are the characteristics of early life experience for our ancestors and cousins in small-band hunter gatherer communities -- the type of society that characterized 99% of human genus history?
1. Natural childbirth (no interference with timing; no separation of mother and child; baby on mother's belly after birth)
See Wenda Trevathan's book, Human Birth
2. Breastfeeding on demand, 2-5 years (average weaning at 4 years)
See Wenda Trevathan's book, Human Birth
3. Nearly constant touch in the first years of life, including co-sleeping
See James McKenna's work
4. Prompt response to the needs of the child (so that the baby does not get distressed)
See Steve Porges' work
5. Extensive maternal support for raising the child including multiple adult responsive caregivers that share the care of the child
See Sarah Hrdy's work on cooperative breeding in Mothers and Others
6. Free play in nature with multiple-aged playmates
See Peter Gray's work on play
7. Adults enjoy caring for children and encouraging positive feelings in the child
See Jean Liedoff's work, The Continuum Concept
8. Deep social relationships that encourage "intersubjectivity" and robust social brain development
See Allan Schore's and Colwyn Trevarthen's work on early caregiving
9. Little coercion of children's behavior
See Jean Liedoff's work, The Continuum Concept
MY BLOGS ON THESE AND RELATED MATTERS
BIRTH
Painkillers for Childbirth? The Few Pros and Many Cons
What's the Use of Midwives and Doulas?
What if Jesus Had Been Born in the USA?
CIRCUMCISION
Why Continue to Harm Boys from Ignorance of Male Anatomy?
What Is the Greatest Danger for an Uncircumcised Boy?
Circumcision Ethics and Economics
Circumcision: Social, Sexual, Psychological Realities
More Circumcision Myths You May Believe: Hygiene and STDs
Myths about Circumcision You Likely Believe
SLEEP
Normal Infant Sleep: Changing Patterns
Normal, Human Infant Sleep: Feeding Method and Development
Simple Ways to Calm a Crying Baby
'Let Crying Babes Lie'? So Wrong
Baby Sleep Training: Mistakes “Experts” and Parents Make
BREASTFEEDING
Talk About Breastfeeding With Your Family, Friends and Doctor
Breastmilk Wipes Out Formula: Responses to Critical Comments
In Light of Last Week's Posts: Is Pushing* Formula Evil?
The REAL Truth about Breastfeeding
5 Things You Thought You Knew about Breastfeeding
The TREMENDOUS Benefits of Doing What is Normal: Breastfeeding
Myths you probably believe about infant formula
Your assumptions about infant formula are probably wrong
It’s Breastfeeding Week: Why should you care?
PARENTING: GENERAL
What Happened to Ethics in Pediatric Medicine?
Baby-, Parent- or Life-Centered Parenting?
Ten Ways to Truly Respect Motherhood
Parents Should Know the Limitations of Science Experiments
Babies "don’t cry in Africa," why should they cry in the USA?
Blame the baby or blame the experts?
Dumb Parent(ing), Dumberer Child
Are you treating your child like a prisoner?
Undercare: The bane of American life?
Promoting Thriving in School-Aged Children: A Checklist
Is it good to make kids afraid?
Are you or your child on a (touch) starvation diet?
Mother’s touch of dead baby causes “miracle”
What Does Good Parenting Look Like? You Decide.
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
Are You a “Childist?" Test Yourself
Babies Are Needy—Does That Bug You?
Do We Need Declaration for the Rights of the Baby?
The Decline of Children and the Moral Sense
Believing "children are resilient" may be a fantasy
How America Morally Fails its Children: What Needs to Change
Increase the well-being of children around you
EVOLUTION THEORY, SMALL-BAND HUNTER-GATHERERS
Humans Are Less Violent Than Ever? Than When? And How?
Evolutionary Shockology and Human Nature
Are Individualism and Collectivism Compatible?
Evolutionary Theory's Importance: Careful with the Baseline!
What you think about evolution and human nature may be wrong
Male chimps and humans are genetically violent---NOT!
Have Westerners Fallen Off the Evolved Human Cycle?
MENTAL HEALTH
A Very Old Recipe for Happiness
Mind of a Rampage Killer: Avoiding Possible Roots
Can We Stop Confusing IQ With Intelligence?
Don’t Require a Stroke to Enjoy Peace
Adults Out of Control: The Spread of Stress Reactivity
Self-Control: (a) Innate, or (b) Dependent on Mom and Dad? (Hint: Choose B)
Recovering From “Cry It Out” Parenting as an Adult
Are you thriving? Here is a checklist
SELF DEVELOPMENT FOR MORALITY
Listening to Talk Shows Can Corrode Your Morality
The One Percent Dissolution: Your Moral Brain
Mindful Morality, the Antidote to Intuition Addiction
The Morality of Care for Our Environment
MEDIA, VIOLENCE, ETHICS
Playing violent video games: Good or bad?
MORALITY
Killing and the Vicious Imagination
Blurred Moral Vision (The Psychology of Killing – Part 2)
The Psychology of Killing and NonKilling
Science of morality? Not so fast.
Americans, the Marlboro People: Self-reliance (& comfort) in abundance
The Science of Evil and Variations in Empathy
The Moral and Cultural Psychology of Shooting a Representative
Additional sources for this information include:
Hunter-Gatherer Childhoods, edited by Barry Hewlett and Michael Lamb
The Evolution of Childhood, by Melvin Konner
Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding, by Sarah Hrdy