Date: Fri 22-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SUZANN

Quick Words:

T.-Berry-Brazelton-children

Full Text:

Brazelton Urges America To Value Its Children More

(with cuta)

BY SUZANNA NYBERG

DANBURY -- At a recent lecture at Western Connecticut State University,

internationally known pediatrician Dr T. Berry Brazelton made a passionate

appeal for American society to do more on behalf of children and their

families.

Since traveling the country in the early 1990s for the National Commission of

Children, Dr Brazelton has concluded that the United States is the least child

and family oriented country in the world.

"Every European country is years ahead of us," he said. "They pay attention to

child care."

Dr Brazelton would like to see the US move in the direction of countries such

as France by staffing child care centers with highly trained workers and

paying them well. "It's absurd what we pay people," he said. He would also

like to see the ratios of teachers to children lowered in the classroom until

they reach a manageable size as well as to see a classroom that emphasizes

nurturing over curriculum. "We don't need to have a curriculum in place until

children are older," he said. "We need to encourage interaction and

socialization."

The capacity of even young children to interact and connect with others

continually amazes Dr Brazelton. He spoke of seven-month-old babies rubbing

each others' feet as a way of becoming acquainted and showed films of infants

not more than ten days old wriggling to get their mother's attention. "At

three days, a baby will choose her mother's voice over any other woman's

voice," Dr Brazelton said. "At ten days, she can choose her mother's face."

The pediatrician has observed babies the world over who demonstrate such

abilities: Asian babies, he noted, will follow a moving object with their eyes

for up to 30 minutes; babies in Kenya are so excited at life that they reach

for objects at only a couple of days. "We need to get excited for children and

value their motor development and their enthusiasm," he said.

Dr Brazelton worries particularly about African American children, whose

parents, in their anxiety to make sure their children fit in with the dominant

culture, try to curb their exuberance. He also worries that as this culture

does not celebrate the exciting things newborns can do, it also does not

celebrate its diversity. "We see our diversity as a negative, not a positive,"

he said.

For Dr Brazelton, there are many other biases by which we live that need to be

changed. Americans, he said, tend to believe that the family is a

self-sufficient unit, and that if it cannot maintain its self-sufficiency,

something is wrong with that unit, not the culture itself. "The pioneer days

are over," he said. "That model no longer works. It will be tragic for us all

if we don't help families."

A Mother Is `Good Enough'

Another bias that needs to be eradicated, Dr Brazelton thinks, is that women

should remain at home with their children, and that if they don't stay home,

children will suffer.

"For 70 percent of American families, this idea is not possible." he said. Dr

Brazelton believes that we have created a culture in which women can succeed

at home or in the workplace, but they do not receive enough financial and

moral support. He also said that often women will come to him bemoaning that

they are only mothers, without careers. "Being a mother should be good

enough," he said.

Instead of investing ourselves in outmoded concepts that do not suffice for

this age, Dr Brazelton supports quality child care. Although he suspects that

his vision will not be realized in his lifetime, he thinks that with enough

political pressure the country can head in a more pro-child direction.

He has spoken with both the President and First Lady regarding a viable child

care system. Also, he has commended Hillary Rodham Clinton for her efforts in

support of the Family and Medical Leave Act which was passed in 1993. "This

was an important gesture toward American families," he said. "But it has only

affected five percent of the population." Dr Brazelton claimed that while the

bill may have made some corporate leaders wonder what they could be doing for

families, it has not had a great impact because most parents do not dare to

take advantage of it.

Need For Childcare

Dr Brazelton has even lectured President Clinton regarding welfare reform

legislation. "We can't let women go to work without first taking care of their

children," he said. "No woman will leave her kids in a child care center she

does not trust."

Dr Brazelton hopes that the Kennedy-Hatch Bill, pending childcare legislation

to be funded with money from tobacco companies, will take steps to improve

child care and health care for women and their children.

According to Dr Brazelton, 40 percent of American children receive no

preventive health care. At a time when they most need a supportive medical

outreach system, they are getting neither regular check-ups nor immunizations.

Dr Brazelton attributes the problem not to parental negligence or ignorance,

but to insensitivity on the part of health care providers. "Parents don't see

that they get anything back but hours of waiting and a screaming kid," he

said. He believes that we need to make office visits conducive to a return by

scheduling appointments when parents of similarly aged children can be

together, by greeting the child, and by offering her toys. These seemingly

little things, he stresses, can mean much. "We need to use the development and

excitement at each new stage of growth as a language for preventive health

care," he said.

Ultimately, the direction in which we move, Dr Brazelton believes, will be

indicative of our values. "Right now, we value war, aggression, and money,

none of which we really want to hand down to kids," he said. "We either must

get back to values or we need to find some."