The Mother and the Child

MP3 Audio CD. The Mother and the Child

THE MOTHER AND THE CHILD

Maria Montessori, M.D., Rome, Italy

The mothers of today take far more intelli- gent care of their children than did the mothers of the past, and this is not because they love their children more but because the science of medicine, by establishing rules for child hygiene, has materially aided the mission of motherhood. Thus the treatment ac- corded the child has brought great change to the mission of motherhood. Above all, it has vitally transformed some of the principles, that is to say, some of the ideas as to the real influence that we may have on a child as he develops. Let us rapidly survey these transformations. What used to take place? Perhaps there are some who still remember having seen cer- tain practices, considered a universal dogma at one time. The child was wrapped in swaddling clothes to avoid having crooked legs; his tongue had to be clipped so that he might some day talk; he always wore a cap to keep his ears from standing out; care was always taken to lay the baby down in such positions as not to run the risk of doing permanent in- jury to his delicate head; the good mothers also rubbed the little newborn baby's nose so that it would grow long and slender and not remain too short and stumpy; they even put gold ear-rings on him at birth because this supposedly made his sight keener. In some countries these practices are doubtless forgotten, but in some they are still in use. Who does not remember the means used to help the child in learning to walk? In the first months—at a time of life when the nerve paths are not yet developed and it is impossible for the child to co-ordinate his movements —mothers would waste several half hours a day trying to teach the child to walk. They held the babe by his body and used the dis- ordered movements of the little feet to delude themselves into thinking that these were the beginnings of walking, and b