The Rise and Fall of “Experts”

TYPE the words “parenting” and “advice” into one popular search engine on the Internet, and over 26 million references instantly appear. If you took only one minute to look up and read each one, your child would grow up and leave home before you could even finish.

Before the days of pediatricians, child psychologists, and the Internet, where did parents go for advice? Generally, they looked to their extended family. Mothers, fathers, aunts, and uncles were ready and able to offer guidance, financial aid, and babysitting services. But in many lands, a massive population shift from rural to city life has almost completely severed such close family ties. All too often today, mothers and fathers find themselves handling the challenges of parenting alone.

This is undoubtedly one reason why the modern child-care industry has grown so rapidly. Another reason is a widespread faith in science. By the late 1800’s, the American public was already becoming convinced that science could improve every aspect of human life. Why not child rearing? So when the American National Congress of Mothers publicly bewailed “the incompetency of parents” in 1899, a parade of “scientific experts” quickly appeared on the scene. They promised to help struggling mothers and fathers find their way.

Parenting by the Book

Yet, what have these experts accomplished? Are the parents of today less anxious and better equipped to raise their children than those of yesteryear? Not according to one recent poll in Britain. It revealed that about 35 percent of parents with young children are still searching for advice they can trust. Others feel that they have little choice but to follow their own instincts.

In her book Raising America: Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children, Ann Hulbert traces the history of professional literature on child rearing. Hulbert, herself a mother of two, points out that few of the experts’ findings were based on well-grounded science. Rather, their advice appears to have been influenced more by their own life experience than by any objective data. In retrospect, it seems that much of what they wrote was faddish, contradictory, and sometimes downright bizarre.

So where does that leave parents today? Frankly, many are confused, confronted as they are with more advice, opinions, and controversies than ever before. However, not all parents feel that they are adrift. Parents the world over are benefiting from an ancient source of wisdom that is still proving to be a wellspring of reliable advice, as the following article will show.