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| Anne Geddes |
Don't be afraid of your baby
Your baby is born to be a reasonable, friendly human being. Don't be afraid to love her and enjoy her. Every baby needs to be smiled at, talked to, played with, fondled - gently and lovingly - just as much as she needs vitamins and calories. That's what will make her a person who loves people and enjoys life. The baby who doesn't get any loving will grow up cold and unresponsive.
Spoiling doesn't come from being good to a baby in a sensible way, and it doesn't come all of a sudden. Spoiling comes on gradually.
Enjoy children as they are - that's how they'll grow up best
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| Anne Geddes |
Every baby's face is different from every other's and may be slow in doing careful, skillfull things with her fingers, or in talking. But babies who are advanced in their physical activities may be very slow in teething and vice versa. That's why children who have never been quite accepted by their parents, who have always felt that they were not quite right, will grow up lacking confidence. They'll never be able to make full use of what brains, what physical atractiveness they have. If they start life with a handicap, physical or mental, it will be multiplied tenfold by the time they are grown up.
Babies aren't frail
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| Anne Geddes |
"I'm so afraid I'll hurt her if I don't handle her right", a parent often says about her first baby. You don't have to worry; you have a pretty tough baby. She has a strong instinct to struggle and yell, if she has pains or if she is hungry or needs to sleep. She can care for herself pretty well for a person who can't say a word and knows nothing about the world.
Text source: Dr. Spock 's Baby and Child Care -Beanjamin Spock and Michael Rothenberg