Full Description
Parenting today is virtually synonymous with worry. We want to ensure that our children are healthy, that they get a good education, and that they grow up to be able to cope with the challenges of modern life. In our anxiety, we are keenly aware of our inability to know what is best for our children. When should we toilet train? What is the best way to encourage a fussy child to eat? How should we protect our children from disease and injury?
Before the nineteenth century, maternal instinct-a mother's "natural know-how"-was considered the only tool necessary for effective childrearing. Over the past two hundred years, however, science has entered the realm of motherhood in increasingly significant ways. In Perfect Motherhood, Rima D. Apple shows how the growing belief that mothers need to be savvy about the latest scientific directives has shifted the role of expert away from the mother and toward the professional establishment. Apple, however, argues that most women today are finding ways to negotiate among the abundance of scientific recommendations, their own knowledge, and the reality of their daily lives.
Contents
Redefining motherhood"Follow the lead of physicians": Motherhood in the late nineteenth century"Mamma's scientificshe knows all the laws": Motherhood in the early twentieth century"Follow my instructions exactly": Experts to mothers in the interwar period and during World War II"The modern way": Mothers, circa 1920-1945"Now I know that an authority has the same opinion as mine": Motherhood in the postwar period"Use it to guide, not to dictate": Motherhood in the late twentieth centuryConclusion: "I wanted to do it right."
