Benjamin McLane Spock (May 2, 1903 – March 15, 1998) was an American pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the biggest best-sellers of all time. Its revolutionary message to mothers was that "you know more than you think you do."
Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand children"s needs and family dynamics. His ideas about childcare influenced several generations of parents to be more flexible and affectionate with their children, and to treat them as individuals, whereas the previous conventional wisdom had been that child rearing should focus on building discipline, and that, e.g., babies should not be "spoiled" by picking them up when they cried.
In addition to his pediatric work, Spock was an activist in the New Left and anti Vietnam War movements during the 1960"s and early 1970"s. At the time his books were criticized by Vietnam War supporters for allegedly propagating permissiveness and an expectation of instant gratifications that led young people to join the these movements a charge Spock denied. Spock also won an Olympic gold medal in rowing in 1924 while attending Yale University.
His life covered most of the last century. His influence will reach far into the next. He was, and will always be, a man for all children.
The man who would become, somewhat to his own astonishment, the most trusted pediatrician and best-selling author of all time was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on May 2, 1903. As the eldest of six children, Benjamin McLane Spock was immersed in the world of childcare at an early age, helping to change diapers, babysit, feed, and otherwise attend to his siblings. His parents, a prominent lawyer and a devoted mother, ran a strict household and harbored high expectations for their offspring.
Benjamin Spock readily absorbed these standards, attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and then Yale University, like his father before him. At Yale, Spock studied literature and history and excelled in athletics, even earning a spot on the Olympic rowing crew that won a gold medal at the 1924 games. He attended the Yale School of Medicine for two years and then transferred to Columbia University"s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, where he graduated first in his class in 1929. By that time, he had married Jane Cheney and soon had two sons, Michael and John.
While specializing in pediatrics, Spock realized that he could best help his young patients and their parents if he gained a greater understanding of their psychological needs and family dynamics. With the dedication and intensity that marked his every endeavor, he studied psychoanalysis for six years, making him the only practicing pediatrician of his time with this combination of training. The more he talked with parents and studied the psychological and emotional aspects of childhood, the more convinced he became that much of the prevailing wisdom of the day was flawed. And, in 1946, he was given the chance to publish his iconoclastic views in The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, a tome he penned for Pocket Books that initially sold for a modest 25 cents. During Spock"s long lifetime, his book would be translated into 39 languages and sell more than 50 million copies, making it second in sales only to the Bible.
Spock"s ideas have become such a part and parcel of the parenting landscape that it"s easy to forget how revolutionary they were. In post-war America, parents were in awe of doctors and other childcare professionals; Spock assured them that parents were the true experts on their own children. They had been told that picking up infants when they cried would only spoil them; Spock countered that cuddling babies and bestowing affection on children would only make them happier and more secure. Instead of adhering to strict, one-size-fits-all dictates on everything from discipline to toilet training, Spock urged parents to be flexible and see their children as individuals.
Perhaps most revolutionary of all, he suggested that parenting could be fun, that mothers and fathers could actually enjoy their children and steer a course in which their own needs and wishes also were met. All this and much more, including a wealth of helpful medical advice, was delivered in a friendly, reassuring, and common-sense manner completely at odds with the cold authoritarianism favored by most other parenting books of the time.
With characteristic modesty, Spock never would have predicted the overwhelming success that Baby and Child Care would come to enjoy. He once admitted that if he had known that his editors were entrusting him with producing the most influential parenting book ever written, he would have replied, "I don"t know enough." As it turned out, he knew plenty--Baby and Child Care was an instant success with parents and struck a chord with other progressive doctors and childcare practitioners. During Spock"s long lifetime, the book would go through seven editions, be translated into 39 languages, and sell more than 50 million copies, making it second in sales only to the Bible.
As his celebrity grew in the "50s and "60s, Spock worked feverishly on behalf of children and parents. He taught child development at Western Reserve University (now Case Western) in Cleveland, Ohio, for 12 years, wrote many other books on childcare, and lectured around the world. He even had a television program devoted to the concerns of families. Dr. Spock had become a household name.
As the Cold War escalated and American troops were sent to Vietnam, he became a vocal political activist, speaking out for disarmament and against the war in Southeast Asia. To Spock, this was just another way of protecting the young people to whom he was so devoted. His political views made him unpopular in some circles and hurt the sales of Baby and Child Care, but he persisted, convinced that politics was an essential part of pediatrics. He participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations well into his 80s and 90s, and ran for President on a third-party ticket in 1972, speaking out on issues concerning working families, children, and minorities.
In 1976, he married his second wife, Mary Morgan, who became a valued collaborator. They traveled the country, lecturing and writing, and co-authored the memoir Spock on Spock in 1985. A man who witnessed the birth of the automobile as well as the Internet, Spock prided himself in keeping up with the times, a fact that"s reflected in the many revisions of Baby and Child Care in which he incorporated the latest medical developments and dealt with emerging social issues such as working mothers, daycare centers, and single parenthood. Throughout his life, Spock remained a tireless and courageous advocate for children and families, and his legacy will remain a source of knowledge and inspiration for parents for generations to come.
Quotes:
All the time a person is a child he is both a child and learning to be a parent. After he becomes a parent he becomes predominantly a parent reliving childhood.
Benjamin Spock
Every child senses, with all the horse sense that"s in him, that any parent is angry inside when children misbehave and they dread more the anger that is rarely or never expressed openly, wondering how awful it might be.
Benjamin Spock
Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled.
Benjamin Spock
I was proud of the youths who opposed the war in Vietnam because they were my babies.
Benjamin Spock
I would say that the surest measure of a man"s or a woman"s maturity is the harmony, style, joy, and dignity he creates in his marriage, and the pleasure and inspiration he provides for his spouse.
Benjamin Spock
I"m not a pacifist. I was very much for the war against Hitler and I also supported the intervention in Korea, but in this war we went in there to steal Vietnam.
Benjamin Spock
In automobile terms, the child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.
Benjamin Spock
In our country today, very few children are raised to believe that their principal destiny is to serve their family, their country, or God.
Benjamin Spock
Most middle-class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal.
Benjamin Spock
Perhaps a child who is fussed over gets a feeling of destiny; he thinks he is the world for something important, and it gives him drive and confidence.
Benjamin Spock
The child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.
Benjamin Spock
The more people have studied different methods of bringing up children the more they have come to the conclusion that what good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is the best after all.
Benjamin Spock
There are only two things a child will share willingly; communicable diseases and its mother"s age.
Benjamin Spock
To win in Vietnam, we will have to exterminate a nation.
Benjamin Spock
Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do.
Benjamin Spock
What good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is usually best after all.
Benjamin Spock
What is the use of physicians like myself trying to help parents to bring up children healthy and happy, to have them killed in such numbers for a cause that is ignoble?
Benjamin Spock
When women are encouraged to be competitive, too many of them become disagreeable.
Benjamin Spock
You know more than you think you do.
Benjamin Spock
