Mother as the primary care giver

• Intro-

  -PCG is a person who is most responsible for an infants health, development and well-being

  -The debate suggests that there is such a thing of a PCG

  -Concerns socially sensitive topics

  -We now live in a society that promotes gender equality

  -Evidence suggests the mother is most important PCG, but what impact might this have on the opportunities of women or fathers who desperately want to care for their infants
• 1. Feeding- for (points)

  -NHS recommends infants are breastfed for at least the first 6 moths, they say breastfeeding offers the healthiest start for infants as it protects them from infections and diseases

  -NHS also claim it “can build a string emotional and physical bond between mother and baby” which is important in development-Therefore, the mother needs to be available for the infant and is essential for the infants survival-Anyone who isn’t the mother is limited to a supporting care giver role, similar to a relationship between pit crew and an F1 driver
• 1. Feeding- against (points)

  -1950’s- behaviourists promoted the view infants were classically conditioned to associate their mother with a sense of pleasure (food=pleasure, mother+food=pleasure, mother=pleasure)
• 1. Feeding- against (studies)

  -Harry Harlow- infant monkeys with 2 wire mothers, one with feeding bottle other with soft cloth, monkeys spent most time on cloth mother and clung to it when scared, demonstrating food doesn’t cause emotional bond but contact does instead

  -Schaffer and Emerson- study of human behaviour found attachments were not formed with the person who fed or spent more time with an infant but strongest attachments were with those who responded quickly and sensitively with more interaction
• 2. Freud- for (points)

  -Mother-infant relationship is of greatest importance in oral stage

  -Infants depend on mothers to satisfy libido- overindulgence or frustration can cause issues, e.g. overdependence

  -Claimed separation anxiety is caused by infants realising their bodily needs will go unsatisfied during separation

  -1938- Freud wrote that infants' relationship with mother was “unique, without parallel, laid down unilaterally for a whole lifetime as the first and strongest love object”, claiming a mother’s love acts as a prototype for every relationship the infant has in their lifetime
• 2. Freud- against (points)

  -At the time of writing, women didn’t have many rights and ideas about different roles played by mother and father may simply reflect norms and values held in that time, if he were writing today, a different picture of the father’s role may be discussed

  -Freud did recognise role of the father

  -1930- Freud claimed “I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need of a father’s protection” and recognised the importance of the need of a father in a boy’s development (Oedipus complex)
• 3. Deprivation damage (Bowlby)- for (points)

  -Maternal deprivation hypothesis- early and prolonged separation between mother and child can have lasting emotional damage and separation is likely to lead to an affectionless character (likely to become a thief and have difficulty forming relationships)

  -“Mother love in infancy is just as important for a child’s mental health as vitamins and minerals are for physical health”

  -His initial ideas were based on training as Freudian psychologist and an influence of evolutionary theory

  -Special emotional bond monotropy (leaning towards one person)
• 3. Deprivation damage (Bowlby)- against (points)

  -Although the term “maternal” was used, he didn’t necessarily mean the mother

  -1953- “A child should experience a warm, intimate and continuous relationship with his mother (or permanent mother substitute- one person who steadily “mothers” him), so mothering is not exclusive to a mother

  -Bowlby himself also showed that some children can experience no ill-effects from early separation, also, the children in his study were very ill and spent years in hospital with little contact with their parents
• 4. Social and economic implications- for

  -Change in social polity- maternity leave is traditional only offered to women but not parents are entitled to 52 weeks of shared parental leave, suggests people are moving away from the traditional view of importance of a mother as a primary care giver
• 4. Social and economic implications

  -Childcare arrangements have significant economic implications, industrialisation in the 19th and 20th century meant a need for more workers, including women, creating the debate of stay at home mothers vs mothers who go to work
• Conclusion-

  -Outdated

  1. Limited evidence that PCG should be female, only from NHS on feeding but expressed milk/formula can be fed through a bottle and form emotional attachment, research suggests women are main emotional support for infant but men have equally important role. (e.g. fathers provide challenging situations to overcome)
  2. Mistakes that children only have one PCG, but infants rely on multiple for healthy development (e.g. Bowlby- only one primary attachment figure but secondary attachments provide vital emotional safety where PCG is absent)