Hug the Monkey

Generation Alienation Is a World-Wide Problem

It's easy for those of us living in the dysfunctional United States to blame our indigenous culture on the growing crisis in attachment. But this story from the Bay of Plenty Times in New Zealand shows that country is experiencing a similar attachment crisis.

Writer Elaine Fisher quotes psychotherapist Augustina Driessen, who predicts that child abuse will worsen in New Zealand as kids who have been neglected, abused or ignored grow up to become parents themselves. Driessen says,

  "To break the cycle we must teach many parents how to parent, to stop them bringing up their children as they were brought up.

  "It is a privilege to have children. In extreme cases, some parents should never be allowed to have children again."

I agree. In modern society, having children shouldn't be considered a human right. It should be a privilege reserved for those who can prove they can provide for a child's emotional needs, as well as the most basic physical needs, that is, enough to eat and secure shelter.

For more on this, see "A Generation in Pain."

Upping the Oxytocin in Induced Labor

Pharmaceuticals company Abraxis Bioscience received permission from the FDA yesterday to produce oxytocin in a larger vial.  This product is used to stimulate or increase the strength of contractions during labor.

Abraxis already sells oxytocin in 1 ML and 10ML bottles. According to the company, the new 30 ML size is designed to be a "more convenient," multi-dose bottle.

The question is, will this super-sized vial at hand in the delivery room induce doctors to increase the oxytocin dose, exposing women and babies to greater hazards from this drug:  painfully strong contractions; diminished oxygen supply to the baby; a possible allergic reaction in the baby to naturally produced oxytocin.

Honor the Breast During World Breastfeeding Week

Annie of SA Parent Life has a wonderful compendium of information from multiple sources about the benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and child. World Breastfeeding Week runs from August 1 through August 7.

Initiating the oxytocin bond between mother and child, and beginning the process of brain development whereby the baby will come to associate the warmly connected feeling of oxytocin with safe intimacy.

In addition, according to Annie's blog, allowing the baby to drink colostrum, the first milk, provides crucial nutrition and immunity. She also includes a link to video of the "breast crawl," the instinctive movement of a newborn toward the breast.

See also "The Mother/Baby Attachment Gap"

Helen Fisher at World Future Society

Reason Online, the web component of Reason Magazine, has a report on the recent meeting of the World Future Society.  A keynoter was Helen Fisher, the Rutgers anthropologist and author who scanned the brains of people in the throes of romantic love, and wrote about the results in her book "Why We Love."

Ronald Bailey, the author of the Reason article, reports,

Fisher declared, "We can no longer say that we live in a traditional marriage culture." Today, the form of modern American marriages can be increasingly described as companionate or peer marriage, or a marriage between equals. She ended by pointing to some positive trends in marriage."

He provides a very good precis of her other comments, well worth a read.

See also "Get Over Romance, Already."