Just how much is enough?
Fifty years ago the analyst and parenting expert Donald Winnicott first documented his idea of the 'good-enough mother'; the mother who wasn’t perfect and was free, to some extent, to fail. His writings were revolutionary because he argued that failing was in fact a necessary part of parenting, and through the failure of the parent the child realises the limits of its own power and the reality of an imperfect world.
Nowadays, with a proliferation of parenting manuals and TV shows, Winnicott’s message seems to have been lost. Many parents and in particular mothers still feel guilty about not living up to an ideal for their children.
Jenni is joined by Christina Hardyment, social historian of parenting and Valerie Sinason, child psychotherapist and adult psychoanalyst, to discuss what happened to the idea of the good-enough parent?
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