Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
Feminists would like us to believe that today’s woman can have her cake and eat it, too. She can hold down a job through all nine months of pregnancy, hire a nanny, and return to work after a few weeks of maternity leave. Her children can graduate from daycare to elementary school, and from school to college, with barely an interruption.

What feminists cannot understand is why so many women do not take advantage of these opportunities. The number of moms who work full-time is actually declining. Why? These moms are acting on an instinctive desire to be deeply involved in their children’s lives, and research supports their decision.

The attachment theory urges that if a young child does not have a stable, uninterrupted relationship with a primary caregiver, he or she will suffer emotional and physical effects long into adulthood. Babies are wired to respond to one person who consistently cares for their needs. If the primary caregiver changes frequently, children begin to feel isolated and insecure. Dr. Brenda Hunter asks, “What happens when parents have the capacity to love their children but are absent due to death, divorce, or career demands? For a child, absence does not make the heart grow fonder. Instead, absence generates profound feelings of rejection and a yearning for love that can dominate the whole . . . life.”

And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.