From Infancy to Adulthood: The Emotional Problems of the Child
Good Fit
- Parents of babies and small children
- Readers interested in the historical style of child-rearing books of the 1970s–80s
- Anyone who likes a warm guide written in short questions and answers
Not a Fit
- Those seeking current, evidence-based child-development information
- Those seeking a professional treatment protocol
- Anyone expecting up-to-date paediatric guidance on putting babies to sleep and letting them cry
In the first chapter Salk notes the burden of emotional disorders on society and that treatment in adults is long and often fruitless, and builds his view on this: intervention should come in the earliest childhood, through parents. He writes that parents are «well-meaning but full of wrong information» and defines the aim of the book as helping parents to deal with their children's emotional problems. A normal emotional problem is a small crisis everyone meets; when solved properly it strengthens the person.
In the chapter on the newborn the author, in question-and-answer form, describes the baby's sensory abilities (sight, hearing, touch) and recommends stimulating the baby «continually but in measure», picking the baby up and responding when it cries. He rejects the principle of «let it cry»: in his view unanswered crying in the first nine or ten months creates in the baby the feeling that «people cannot be trusted». He also writes that in choosing between breast and bottle what matters is that the mother is comfortable and happy.
Relying on observations of animals (the lamb and its mother) the author argues that there is a «critical period» for the mother–child bond immediately after birth and criticises separating the baby from the mother in hospitals. He holds that the father's taking part in caring for the baby is «absolutely and indisputably» necessary and explains the father's «wish for a son» by biological and subconscious influences; this part looks both historical and stereotyped to a modern reader.
At the start of the third chapter it is written that the best carers of a child are its parents and that biology and hormones support this. In the case of a «broken bond» the author writes that the baby will develop behaviours such as withdrawal and self-stimulation and may even «turn into a kind of schizophrenia» — a claim weakly founded scientifically that must be read with care.
- The chapters begin with short questions put by parents and continue with detailed answers
- Animal research and the author's clinical observations are brought as examples
- The language is warm and advisory
- The basic arguments rest on the psychology of the 1970s and may look doubtful today
A plain, practical approach to children's emotions and fears — reviewed on our site
A book on children's fears for parents and educators — reviewed on our site
At the end of the part read the author asks: «Should a father change his child's nappy and feed him?» and answers: «Absolutely and indisputably, yes». He writes that men who prepare for fatherhood before the child is born are closer to their children, and that active participation of the father in «painless childbirth» strengthens this bond. What follows is outside the scope of this review.
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