Thank You Mom

The importance of proper mothering, of the   infant, in the development of personality has been well established. The infants first two years are identified as a critical period because this is a crucial stage for personality development. The infant, in this stage of development, is likely to develop a sense of trust or a sense of mistrust per Eric H Erickson. That outcome, in this stage, plays a major role for later development.

Initially, or in the early weeks of life, the child suffers from identifiable stress that comes from hunger, pain, discomfort, loud noise or rough handling. As a result, the child, in an attempt to relieve the tension or stress, can be seen as crying, or exhibiting some form of hyperactivity. Crying or hyperactivity are the only mechanisms available for the infant to express its painful tensions as talking or locomotion releases  are not yet established. This painful tension is referred to as primary anxiety.

How can a mother or anyone else be on hand to always anticipate the infant’s needs, since these needs cannot always be known? It is inevitable that the infant is repeatedly overwhelmed by the stress or primary anxiety of his needs, which he himself is powerless to satisfy. There are old wives tales regarding allowing or not allowing the child to cry during this painful period. However, there is no authoritarian external source or cookbook that has the right absolute answer for this maternal behavior.

The infant’s developmental task is to gain some control over the many uncontrollable tensions; so they become less intolerable; or so that a little delay in satisfying them becomes less of a disaster. In other words, as time goes on, the demand for the immediate satisfactions of these tensions becomes more manageable and becomes less imperious as the result of proper maternal intervention.

To Be Continued