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Child- Mother Relationship: The child- mother relationship-child relationship is so crucial to the baby because he is almost entirely dependent on his child- mother relationship. During the first two years he has few satisfactions other than his close relationship with her, and to a lesser extent with the rest of the family. He cannot turn to friends for solace because his social environment is limited. When his child- mother relationship fails to give him the affection he needs he has nowhere to turn.
1. An unloving child- mother relationship is probably more likely to part with a child; the child may sense her lack of affection.
2. The child is not easy to love; in fretting for his child- mother relationship he tends to reject others; if he does become attached to someone else, he is greedy and jealous in the relationship.
3. On his return to his child- mother relationship, he may fail to recognize her, or reject her outright, or behave in a possessive and whining manner.
Giving up the pleasure of nursing is a real problem for the infant. Nursing contributes to the sense of "togetherness" between child- mother relationship and child. Weaning disrupts an emotional relation that has been a source of satisfaction from infancy. However, many well-adjusted children have been fed from the beginning with a bottle, or even with a cup. The important factor is the parent-child relation in the situation as a whole, not in any single process such as weaning. If an affectionate relation has been established between child and child- mother relationship, the child is likely to accept weaning as a somewhat unpleasant part of a generally satisfying relationship. |
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