Story on NPR about the book Loving Every Child.
For today’s parents, the plethora of advice and how-to guides can seem intimidating.
But years before Dr. Benjamin Spock and other gurus of child-rearing came on the scene, a renowned pediatrician in Poland pioneered the field by advocating that parents simply trust their instincts.
Janusz Korczak was a Jew born in 1878 in Warsaw. He went on to become a physician and one of Poland’s most famous writers – not only of parenting guides, but of children’s books, too. Listen or read full story here.
Excerpt from the book:
Where is happiness? What exactly is it? Do you know the way to it? Are there those who might know? Will you be equal to the task? How can one anticipate the future and offer protection?
The child is like a butterfly hovering above a raging torrent of life. How to imbue her with toughness without encumbering her lightness in flight; how to temper her without wetting her wings? Should one offer one’s own example, help, advice, and words? But what if she rejects them all?
Just remember: A child hungry for advice and direction will absorb it, digest it, and assimilate it. Overfed with moral rules the child will suffer from nausea.
As a parent, you say: “Who is the child to become?” A warrior or just a worker, a leader or one of the followers? Or will she simply want to be happy?
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