| There are many books on pregnancy and childbirth, but thosethat are written about the period after childbirth tend to focus,almost without exception, on the baby. Many parents interpretthis to mean that they should make this major adjustment inlife magically, that parenthood comes naturally and withoutdifficulty. The social and personal attitudes that often sur-round new parents reinforce this impression. This book grew out of our concern, as new mothers, for thelack of easily available information about the physical andemotional facts of life that a new mother faces. In talking withother mothers we were relieved to discover that they sharedour concerns, and we realized how much guilt and uneasinesscan come from feeling you are alone in what you are ex-periencing. With the hope of reaching other women who hadrecently had babies, we wrote the handbook on which this oneis based, and began distributing it in September of 197~. The response to our initial handbook has been very exciting.Hospitals and parent education groups of all sorts are order-ing it in bulk, childbirth groups are including it with theirmaterials, and new parents from around the country are writ-ing for copies. Groups of new parents are getting together togive each other support and talk about their feelings. Bothindividuals and groups report a sense of relief at having achance to share their problems with others who are makingsimilar adjustments. The positive responses we have received from so many read-ers have encouraged us to expand the first edition and tobroaden its focus. We are increasingly aware of the importanceof exploring the feelings and problems of new fathers as wellas new mothers. Men have conflicts of their own to resolve, andthey are affected by every aspect of the adjustment to parent-hood. As new opportunities open up for men and women toshare baby care as well as outside commitments, we feel strongly |
内容加载中，请稍后...
商品评论（0条）