Throughout countless generations, parents have sought advice on parenting. They have turned to friends, psychiatrists, pediatricians, books, and largely today to the internet and blogs to gather guidance on how to parent their children. One of the most notorious childcare advice icons, Dr. Benjamin Spock, first wrote his book about raising children all the way back in 1946, and it is inarguable that it was one of the most influential and best-selling books ever written on childcare and that much of his original advice is still relevant to parents today.
Dr. Benjamin Spock, born in 1903, was an American pediatrician, a childcare educator, author, and political activist. Spock’s college education began with studies in English Literature at Yale and then he switched his focus to medical school and transferred to Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1927 to complete his degree, with a focus in psychoanalytical theory and practice (Sullivan 78). He then worked as a pediatric physician in New York, while also teaching pediatrics at Cornell Medical College. It was at that time, in 1943, when he began the writings for his first and most popular book, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Childcare, published in 1946. (Encyclopedia of World Biography).
Dr. Spock continued his training in psychoanalysis and dedicated much of his career to figuring out how important the emotional well-being of children was to their development and growth into adulthood (Sullivan 79). In 1953, during the time his book was extremely popular, he co-founded the Arsenal Family and Children’s Center in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville district with child development specialist Margaret McFarland to focus on healthy child development. It is still there today and carries out the vision of Spock. It was said, “’He believed that the emotional well-being of children was at least as important as their physical health,’ by Keairns, who became the director of the center in 1968. ‘His attitude was that we should not wait for emotional problems and then treat them, but develop an atmosphere in which they did not occur in the first place. And the way to do that was to work with families and strengthen the family environment via a friendly neighborhood center…’” (Kiester).
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In his quest to continue to learn about the psychology of children, he also established a child development clinic at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic with where he conducted research in the healthy development of children and provided training for psychiatrists and pediatricians. During this time, he continued to become a household name and his book sold over 500,000 copies in just the first six months of publication. He became very popular for his childcare advice and even had a weekly 30-minute program on NBC a monthly column in Ladies’ Home Journal (Kiester).
Spock wrote or co-wrote 14 books in total, but the most well known and successful book, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Childcare, is still one of the best-selling volumes in history (Pace). In 2019, it was said to have been “second in the U.S., only to the Bible” (Gunderman). It sold almost one million copies per year and by the time he died in 1998, more than fifty million copies had been sold worldwide and it had been translated into thirty-nine languages. At the time of his last interview in 1994, it was the second best-selling nonfiction book in the U.S. (Verbeek, Interview). The current 10th edition that is being sold and still contains the basis of Spock’s core parenting advice has been revised by Dr. Robert Needleman and was most recently published in 2018.
The overall message Spock relayed to mothers was that they knew more than they thought they did and they should trust their instincts. Even though some experts did not agree with Spock’s approach, parents continued to buy his books and liked what he had to say. “In the opening chapter of the book, first published in hardcover in 1946 with the title ‘’The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care,’’ Dr. Spock counseled his readers not to ‘’take too seriously all that the neighbors say.’” and ‘”Don’t be afraid to trust your own common sense,” he wrote. ”What good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is usually best.’’” (Pace).
The foundation of Dr. Spock’s advice was psychoanalysis and he was of the first pediatricians to use that to understand both children’s needs and family dynamics and then translated his findings into practical advice for parents (Sullivan 75,79). For example, prior child behavioral experts, such as Dr. John B. Watson in 1928 and many others at that time, strongly advised parents on regular strict feeding times for babies. Dr. Spock encouraged a flexible approach based on his studies into the psychological development of infants. He “explained that, for the infant, ‘feeding is his great joy.’ A baby nurses not only ‘because he is hungry,’ but also ‘because he loves to suck,’ and ‘he gets his early ideas about life from the way feeding goes.’” In summary, he told parents to feed their baby when there were signs the baby seemed hungry and not based on a schedule (Sullivan 81-82).
Dr. Spock approached parenting very differently than previous experts and claimed parents ultimately knew what to do, as they had been having and raising children for a long time before people like Watson came along. Spock had a radically different opinion than most. He advocated for parents to trust themselves and their instincts and that the basics of good parenting was watching each child and figuring out his or her interests, needs and abilities and then parenting based on those uniquenesses during each stage of the child’s development. He told parents to use mistakes as opportunities to learn. (Gunderman)
It is clear that not much has changed over time and Spock’s original core advice is still relevant today. It is evident simply in the fact that since 1946 there have been 10 editions of his book published and there is a current website, www.drspock.com, full of Dr. Spock advice that dates back to much of what was written in his very popular Baby and Childcare book. The website claims, “For more than seventy years, parents have relied on the expert advice of renowned pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock.” and calls it a “timeless classic”. (BABY & CHILDCARE 10TH EDITION). Amazon has this most recent edition listed as #9 in the category of Babysitting, Day Care & Childcare on its Best Sellers Rank (Amazon).
According to James Sullivan in 1995 in an article he wrote for the Syracuse University’s Newsletter, the first generation of children who were raised according to Dr. Spock’s teachings were now parents and grandparents themselves and they, too, were taking the advice of Dr. Spock just as their parents and grandparents did (Sullivan 89).
The basis of Spock’s original advice that did not change over time is seen in the preface of the most recent publication of his book, Dr. Spock’s Baby and Childcare, Tenth Edition, published in 2018, stating, “Dr. Spock trusted parents to chart their own course with love and common sense, and a little expert guidance. If the information in this book helps you navigate parenthood with a little more confidence, it will have done its job.” (Spock and Needleman 21)
An article in Time Magazine, written on the 65th anniversary of the first publication of Dr. Spock’s famous book, Laura Blue outlined the following basic common sense ideas of the book that are still in practice and comforting parents today as they tackle parenthood:
- Trust your instinct
- “Trust yourself,” he told new parents. “You know more than you think you do.
- Routines are nice, but babies don’t need strict a regimen
- Routines are good but don’t need a strict schedule without flexibility.
- Follow baby’s cues. They will let you know when they are hungry or tired.
- Don’t fret if your baby acts funny; Freud can explain it
- Spock studied well-known psychologist Sigmund Freud when wanting to learn about psychology in order to understand child development. One of Freud’s famous positions on human behavior was that it was largely “the product of unconscious sexual drives, determined in no small part by childhood experience.”
- Ideas about good parenting should evolve
- Spock continued to evolve his own advice and updated his book
- Babies need love
- Prior to Spock, parents had been warned about spoiling their babies if they kissed them or rocked them too much
- Spock taught his readers that babies were little people and had emotional needs that parents should enjoy, rather than treating them like adults
Steph Byce, in an article on Legacy.com also talked about the common sense ideas of Spock, stating, ‘And even if a new parent in 2011 doesn’t read his Baby and Child Care, it’s likely that they’re still influenced by his advice. Any parents who hug and kiss their children, showing their love and encouraging their children to express their individuality, have Dr. Spock to thank.” She goes on to explain that his advice is common sense and new parents are following his advice but just may not realize they are.
In 2018, there was an article written as part of a series entitled “Parenting in an Uncertain Age”. The author claimed that Dr. Spock would be a calming presence to the anxiety-ridden parents today who often feel like they are not doing a good job raising their children. She went on to say that mother’s today closely watch how their friends parent, read medical journals and popular magazines, and scour the internet for blogs about child-rearing and advice from experts and peers regarding topics like potty training, mother-child attachment and methods to get their children to sleep. The amount of information is overwhelming, often conflicting, and continues to change. This has caused parents to be very anxious about how to raise their children the “right” way.
The article puts forth a thought that perhaps the common-sense approach of Spock could possibly make a comeback. It goes on to say that parents today would probably feel assured that they know more than they think they do and that trying their best is often good enough if they listened to Dr. Spock. It concludes by stating, “If children should not be bullied, neither should their parents. Most of all, we want to remember that in a world that, like our own, was filled with anxiety, Spock urged parents to view their children as sources of joy.” (Fass).
Dr. Spock dedicated his life and career to understanding the psychological needs of children and educating parents on all aspects of raising their children. There are many pieces of his original advice, dating back to his first book in 1946, that have not changed and are still relevant and used by parents today.
