What's the best way to raise your children? Can you tell what your personal parenting style is and what practices you've adopted from trends, developed over time?
Are we immune to following trends when it comes to parenting decisions we make? If we look back on what parents have been told throughout the ages, one constant is clear. There has always been a "right way" to raise your children.
In the 1920s and 1930s, experts such as Frederic and Mary Truby King and John B Watson devised routine-based approaches. Alongside a governmental push to reduce infant mortality, they emphasised nutrition, fresh-air and most importantly, discipline. These experts warned against "too much motherly love". Their methods were common practice in Britain until the 1950s and focused on strict routines that included leaving the baby outside for an hour each day, limiting cuddles to 10 minutes per day and the ever prevalent advice of letting a baby "cry it out".
