US paediatrician
and writer on child care. His Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care 1946
urged less rigidity in bringing up children than had been advised by previous
generations of writers on the subject, but this was misunderstood as advocating
permissiveness. He was also active in the peace movement, especially during
the Vietnam War.
In his later work he stressed that his common-sense approach had not implied
rejecting all discipline, but that his main aim was to give parents the
confidence to trust their own judgement rather than rely on books by experts
who did not know a particular child. |