1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:11,880 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: a show that flips through the pages of history to 4 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 1: deliver old news in a new way. I'm Gay Bluesier 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:22,960 Speaker 1: and in this episode, we're talking about a landmark book 6 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: that's helped raised generations of Americans, from the Baby Boomers 7 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:43,200 Speaker 1: to Gen Z and beyond. The day was July. Dr 8 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: Benjamin spox seminal book about childcare was published for the 9 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: first time. That book, titled The Common Sense Book of 10 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: Baby and Childcare, opposed conventional wisdom that claimed kids needed 11 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: strict schedules, harsh discipline, and little affection from their parents. Instead, 12 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:07,559 Speaker 1: Doctor Spock encouraged parents to trust their own instincts about 13 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:11,040 Speaker 1: what's best for their child. While other experts on child 14 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: rearing warned parents to follow their lead or suffer the consequences, 15 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,759 Speaker 1: Doctor Spock struck a much more assuring tone. His message 16 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,680 Speaker 1: to parents was a simple one. You know more than 17 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: you think you do. Benjamin McLane Spock was born on 18 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: May second, nineteen o three, in New Haven, Connecticut. His 19 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: first experience with childcare came when he was a child himself. 20 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: As he often helped look after his five younger siblings. 21 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 1: Born to a wealthy and well connected family, Spock later 22 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 1: attended elite schools such as Phillips and Over Academy and 23 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: Yale University. Just as his father had done. Spock studied 24 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: literature and history at Yale and also joined the college 25 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: crew team. His lanky six ft four or frame made 26 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: him an ideal oarsman, so much so that in nineteen 27 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: twenty four, he and his team actually represented the United 28 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,960 Speaker 1: States at the Olympic Games in Paris. He won a 29 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: gold medal in the men's eight event and continued rowing 30 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: for the rest of his life. After graduating college, Spok 31 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,919 Speaker 1: attended the Yale School of Medicine for two years, then 32 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:27,239 Speaker 1: transferred to Columbia University's College of Physicians. There, he earned 33 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: his m d and graduated first in his class in 34 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty nine. Later that year, he moved to New 35 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: York City with his first wife, Jane Cheney, and began 36 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: practicing pediatric medicine. Spock was a skilled and knowledgeable physician, 37 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: but he still felt something had been missing from his 38 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,400 Speaker 1: pediatric training. He had learned all about the physical and 39 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,399 Speaker 1: mental development of children, but the emotional aspects of their 40 00:02:53,440 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: lives had been glossed over as an incidental part of 41 00:02:56,840 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: his profession. However, Spock believed he could better serve his 42 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: young patients if he had a firmer understanding of their psychology. 43 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: To that end, he enrolled at the New York Psychoanalytic 44 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: Institute and spent six years studying the subject. He continued 45 00:03:13,919 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: to work as a pediatrician throughout the nineteen thirties and 46 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: early forties, but had to step away from his private 47 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: practice when he joined the medical core of the U. S. 48 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: Navy Reserves during World War Two. After the war, doctor 49 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,360 Speaker 1: Spock decided to try his hand at teaching, and in 50 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: his spare time, he and his wife Jane worked on 51 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: what ultimately became the Common Sense Book of Baby and Childcare. 52 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: Beginning in the early nineteen hundreds, many child psychologists advised 53 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: a tough love approach to raising children. This included letting 54 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: kids cry themselves to sleep and avoiding overt displays of 55 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: parental affection. For example, John B. Watson, one of the 56 00:03:55,720 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: founders of behaviorism, urged parents to quote never never hug 57 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 1: and kiss them, never let them sit in your lap. 58 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: If you must kiss them once on the forehead when 59 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: they say good night, shake hands with them in the morning. 60 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: One of Spock's goals was to provide an alternative to 61 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: this detached approach to child rearing and start contrast. His 62 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:24,359 Speaker 1: book encouraged more interaction between parents and children. He also 63 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,160 Speaker 1: counseled parents to be more flexible about meeting their child's needs. 64 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: If a child was hungry before the scheduled meal time, 65 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: feed them early. If they expressed fear or sadness, give 66 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: them comfort instead of withholding affection, offer it consistently. Pick 67 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: them up, hold them, kiss them, Let the child know 68 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 1: their loved. This advice might sound obvious or even trite today, 69 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: but it was downright revolutionary in NY six. These fresh 70 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,839 Speaker 1: ideas couldn't have come in a better time either. The 71 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: Great Depression and World War Two delivered a one two 72 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: punch to America's birthrate, but with the war's end in 73 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 1: nineteen forty five, the country was free to make up 74 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: for lost time. The result was the so called baby Boom, 75 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 1: a period stretching from nineteen forty six to nineteen sixty 76 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: four in which more than seventy six million babies were 77 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 1: born in the US. The first edition of spos book 78 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,359 Speaker 1: was released right at the start of the boom, and 79 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: many post war parents eagerly embraced its new, more nurturing 80 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:33,719 Speaker 1: approach to childcare. The paperback version of The Common Sense 81 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 1: Book of Baby and Childcare was sold for a mere 82 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 1: twenty five cents and became a best seller shortly after 83 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 1: its release. Since then, the book has been revised and 84 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,560 Speaker 1: reissued numerous times. It's been translated into forty nine different languages, 85 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,480 Speaker 1: and has sold well over fifty million copies worldwide. Doctor 86 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: Spock went on to ride five more books on childcare, 87 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,240 Speaker 1: though none were anywhere near as successful or influence show 88 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: as his first. In the nineteen sixties, he returned to 89 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 1: national prominence as an activist, taking a stand against nuclear 90 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: proliferation and the military escalation in Vietnam. Spock retired from 91 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: medicine in nineteen sixty eight, but continued writing and lecturing 92 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,719 Speaker 1: at universities for another three decades. His final book on 93 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: pediatrics was released in ninet, three years before his death 94 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:29,719 Speaker 1: at the age of ninety four. It's no exaggeration to 95 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,480 Speaker 1: say that doctor spos ideas changed the way children were 96 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: raised in the United States, but not everyone agreed that 97 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: change was for the better. Many conservatives bristled at his softer, 98 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: more permissive style of parenting and later blamed spos book 99 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 1: for the defiant generation of the nineteen sixties. It's worth noting, though, 100 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:54,719 Speaker 1: that the first edition of the book wasn't progressive across 101 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 1: the board. Most of its advice was directed solely and 102 00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: mother's reinforcing the traditional idea that fathers would and should 103 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:07,159 Speaker 1: play a secondary role in raising their children. That restrictive 104 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: view was amended in later editions, along with several recommendations 105 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: that were eventually discredited. Chief among those was the advice 106 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: to put babies to sleep on their stomachs. That practice 107 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: was later connected with a greater incidence of sudden infant 108 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: death syndrome or SIDS, and was subsequently warned against by 109 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: Dr Spock and many others that said, the need for 110 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: occasional revision doesn't undo the significance of the Common Sense 111 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: Book of Baby and Childcare. Anyone lucky enough to have 112 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: never doubted their parents love for them will know exactly 113 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: what I mean. I'm gay, bluesier, and hopefully you now 114 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 115 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today's episode. Consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, 116 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d i HC Show. You can 117 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 1: also rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or 118 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: you can write to me directly at this day at 119 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,800 Speaker 1: I heeart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for 120 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see 121 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:19,760 Speaker 1: you back here again tomorrow for another day in history class.