A COMMENTARY UPON SOME RECENT CHANGES IN CHILD REARING PRACTICES1

Abstract

As one surveys the topics which we (as professional groups) set for ourselves at meetings such as this one-and as one surveys the articles we write for each other to read--one common feature in our thinking becomes conspicuous. There appears to exist a strong desire to bring together fields of inquiry which, in the past, have largely been independent of one another. Within the field of psychology generally, and even more strikingly within the area of child development, one can note continuous efforts to break down existing boundaries. In the past we were taught to think, for instance, of the social aspects of child development as an area of study existing independently, restricted to circumscribed content and pursued by specified methods appropriate to the task. Other aspects of child development, for instance intellectual development, personality development, etc., were each treated as distinct and separate fields of study. While attempts were often made to correlate the phenomena which characterize each of these fields, we did not go beyond this and were content to establish the fact that a parallel can be drawn between different areas of development. At present our emphasis is different. We stress the importance of understanding the structural and dynamic interdependence among the various developmental part-processes. We assume that physical maturation, intellectual opportunities and barriers as they exist for the child, and broader social and cultural factors all to some degree determine each other, so that no single facet of development can be described or comprehended in isolation from the rest.