DR. SPOCK PLANTED THE SEEDS OF SOCIALISM

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD Neo Traditionalist

Newsweek’s cover story on February 14, 2009,  “We Are All Socialists Now” was shocking to see in print.  This attention getter is certainly premature although it does dramatically state the road we are traveling. It is true today that many Americans are not disturbed by the phenomenal growth of government and its intrusion into our daily lives.

Just a few years ago America overwhelmingly understood the ultimate devastation to a nation’s freedom and prosperity of following the unworkable, phony promises of socialism. The mention of “American socialism” was taboo. As our affluence has grown our appreciation of the nightmare unrealistic notions has faded. The lack of knowledge of history, the media’s infatuation with socialism and especially the way we are raising our children for the past 60 years are the reasons socialism has become more acceptable to Americans.

The permissive/materialistic approach to child rearing started by Dr. Benjamin Spock after WWII has lain the foundation for dependency on the government. His advice influenced not only the “baby boomer era” after WWII but also our child rearing practices up to the present. The permissive/materialistic philosophy he promoted was a radical departure from our traditional child rearing practices. It has made us more susceptible for a “something for nothing-take care of me for life” attitude.

Dr. Spock’s guidelines are a compatible formula for raising adults to conform to a socialistic agenda. Children under this approach are taught they are equal to parents and other adults. In a democratic family, members have an equal vote regardless of their abilities and responsibilities. Children are convinced they are entitled to anything they want by asking or by demanding it.

This unrealistic idea encourages children to do and get what they want without having to contribute anything. Instead of learning to be givers to the family and society, these princes and princesses become debaters and manipulators pushing the envelope to get what they want. Children raised in this manner have little appreciation and understanding of the cost of their existence. Ultimately it produces instant gratification, credit consumers with a warped sense of how the real world functions.

One of the reasons this type of child rearing became so fashionable with parents is that it takes them off the hook for having to work at parenting. There was no more need to instill traditional moral values that require close supervision, firmness and disciplining until the child reaches adulthood.

The primary goal of parents who follow Spock is for them to be the child’s friend not to prepare him to function as an adult. This allows parents to have more time for personal enjoyment and pursuits without the burden of everyday responsibilities and hassles of raising their children. The parents do pay the price of doing things for their children that the traditionally raised would easily do for themselves. These parents do not realize if they invested the time in teaching the skills and habits to do things for themselves when the child was young they would no longer have to constantly manage their children’s lives.

The children and grandchildren of “baby boomers” are even more removed from the traditional moral training of right and wrong, personal responsibility and the work ethic. This lack of reality training makes these future adults more willing to accept the loss of personal freedom for a material bribe. The self-reliance of traditional childhood has been lost in the instant gratification and no limits world created by Spock’s child rearing approach.

It is no wonder that consciously or unconsciously Dr. Spock’s parenting would encourage acceptance of a socialistic world. In 1972 Dr. Spock ran for president on the People’s Party platform. He called for a guaranteed median income for families, legalized abortion, homosexuality, marijuana and called for an immediate withdrawal from Vietnam.

The present child development experts who mostly promote permissive/materialistic practices are being exposed for their inability to produce strong, self-reliant and hard working adults. These inadequacies of this philosophy are hard to gloss over in a more competitive world.

In economic prosperity, parents can afford to be complacent about their child’s productivity. They can use their resources to buy expensive gifts and “experts” who can attempt to correct their lack of diligence in parenting.

Tough times demand more steadfast parents who have no illusions that their money can purchase their child’s success. Parent’s complacency is replaced by urgency when they no longer have the resources to buy their child’s future.

The economic correction of living beyond our means that is now taking place will serve a positive unintended consequence. Parents will be forced to understand that they have knowledge that their children do not have.  They will have more clarity of the responsibility they have to share this with their children.

Parents must again be parents. They must insist that the child do quality work in all activities especially the ones the child dislikes or finds difficult. Parent’s finite time with their child should be primarily devoted to preparing them to be decent human beings who persevere to accomplish whatever they set their sights on.

The way we rock the cradle does determine our national character and future.

Weak, helpless, dependent citizens are the essential ingredient for a small group of power elites  succeeding in robbing us of our freedoms by imposing a totalitarian state.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting.  He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.

Visit: www.drmaglio.com.