Guest Editorial - The Developing Family: How Is It Doing with Nurturing

Abstract

Every time I visit a culture or country different from my own I gain a new perspective on families and children. One theme I have observed in Asian cultures is the caregiving of the infant and young child by other family members. In China the maternal grandmother cares for the new baby as well as for the young parents; often the families live together. In Taiwan it is customary for the paternal grandmother to help with the newborn. In France there is a well-developed system of day nurseries supported by the government. In both Canada and the United States it has been customary for parents to do the caregiving of infants and toddlers. I therefore found it interesting to read the studies reported in this issue about the mother's perception of her experience both working and mothering. I detect a shift in our two countries, as the care of young children becomes less exclusively the responsibility of parents. David Hamburg made the assertion, while President of the Carnegie Foundation in the 1980s, that the United States is experiencing an epidemic of parental disengagement. He suggested that post-industrial society has found a non-adaptive solution for child care, expecting the family to bear full responsibility; the society, including government and private corporations, has not assumed its share of responsibility in helping families care for children, while at the same time it has created work demands on the family for regulating the economy. In the United States over 60% of women are back in the work force by the time their infant is 1 year of age. As a society we are removing caregiving as a priority from the family agenda by employing the parents, yet government/business provides little assistance for the care of children. This is an issue that must be addressed by both scholars in human development and policy makers in human service delivery.