Dr. Benjamin Spock: Child Care and Controversy

Dr. Spock has been at the forefront of child care since he first made a splash seven decades ago.

Dr. Benjamin Spock has been at the forefront of child care since he first made a splash seven decades ago. His advice has been religiously followed by some, dismissed as kooky by others; controversy has swirled around his ideas for decades. But despite the controversy, today – years after his death March 15, 1998 – new parents still follow his advice. They just might not realize they do.

When Dr. Spock's book Baby and Child Care was published in 1946, its simple core message was revolutionary: "Don’t be afraid to trust your own common sense." Between that and his insistence that parents should show love and affection to their children rather than constant strict discipline, Dr. Spock challenged the conventional wisdom of early 20th-century childrearing like no one else.

Today, the basic tenets of Dr. Spock's child care philosophy might seem obvious to most parents. Hug your child. Tell her she's special and loved and unique. Feed him when he's hungry. Discipline with words, not corporal punishment. But in 1946, this was new. Parents had long been encouraged not to shower their children with affection as this would make them weak and unprepared for the world. Feeding and naps were to be done on a strict schedule, regardless of the baby's immediate needs. And a child who just got a mild spanking for an offense got off easy – physical punishment was the norm. Spock changed all that with his encouragement for parents to follow their instincts, be attentive to the baby's needs, and be generous with affection.

In other areas, Dr. Spock was more responsive to changing trends and quicker to adjust his advice. In his earliest editions, he supported circumcision of male babies, which was common and rarely questioned. By the 1980s, he had reversed his position and no longer advocated circumcision, stating, "Circumcision of males is traumatic, painful, and of questionable value." Today, while circumcision is still commonly practiced, more and more parents are beginning to question it and opt out.

Dr. Spock visits Karen Anderson, the mother of quintuplets with their sibling, in October 1974. (AP Photo)

Though Dr. Spock's books are no longer the massive sensation they were in the 1940s and '50s, they influenced generations of parents – and the childcare experts of today and tomorrow. And even if a new parent in 2011 doesn't read his Baby and Child Care, it's likely that they’re still influenced by his advice. Any parents who hug and kiss their children, showing their love and encouraging their children to express their individuality, have Dr. Spock to thank.