專八人文知識需知的美國名人--本杰明·斯波克

　　改變美國家長的Benjamin Spock

　　本杰明·麥克林·斯波克是一名美國兒科醫(yī)師。自哥倫比亞大學(xué)取得醫(yī)學(xué)博士學(xué)位之后，斯波克致力于兒科研究，并教授精神病學(xué)和兒童發(fā)展學(xué)。斯波克于1946年出版的的《嬰幼兒保健常識》(亦譯作《斯波克育兒經(jīng)》)在很長的一段時間內(nèi)都是暢銷書，影響了幾代父母。斯波克是第一個積極研究并運用精神分析的兒科醫(yī)師。他主張父母在對于嬰幼兒的教育中應(yīng)該運用理解和靈活的方式，而不是肉體懲罰。除了在兒科學(xué)方面的積極工作之外，斯波克還積極從事反越戰(zhàn)活動。于耶魯大學(xué)就讀期間，斯波克還在1924年巴黎奧運會時的賽艇運動項目中榮獲了奧林匹克金牌。

　　Benjamin McLane Spock (May 2, 1903 – March 15, 1998) was an American pediatrician whosebook Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the biggest best-sellers of all time. Itsrevolutionary message to mothers was that "you know more than you think you do."

　　Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand children's needs andfamily dynamics. His ideas about childcare influenced several generations of parents to be moreflexible and affectionate with their children, and to treat them as individuals, whereas the previousconventional wisdom had been that child rearing should focus on building discipline, and that, e.g.,babies should not be "spoiled" by picking them up when they cried.

　　In addition to his pediatric work, Spock was an activist in the New Left and anti Vietnam Warmovements during the 1960's and early 1970's. At the time his books were criticized by VietnamWar supporters for allegedly propagating permissiveness and an expectation of instantgratifications that led young people to join the these movements a charge Spock denied. Spockalso won an Olympic gold medal in rowing in 1924 while attending Yale University.

　　His life covered most of the last century. His influence will reach far into the next. He was, and willalways be, a man for all children.

　　The man who would become, somewhat to his own astonishment, the most trusted pediatricianand best-selling author of all time was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on May 2, 1903. As theeldest of six children, Benjamin McLane Spock was immersed in the world of childcare at an earlyage, helping to change diapers, babysit, feed, and otherwise attend to his siblings. His parents, aprominent lawyer and a devoted mother, ran a strict household and harbored high expectationsfor their offspring.

　　Benjamin Spock readily absorbed these standards, attending Phillips Academy in Andover,Massachusetts, and then Yale University, like his father before him. At Yale, Spock studied literatureand history and excelled in athletics, even earning a spot on the Olympic rowing crew that won agold medal at the 1924 games. He attended the Yale School of Medicine for two years and thentransferred to Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, where hegraduated first in his class in 1929. By that time, he had married Jane Cheney and soon had twosons, Michael and John.

　　While specializing in pediatrics, Spock realized that he could best help his young patients and theirparents if he gained a greater understanding of their psychological needs and family dynamics.With the dedication and intensity that marked his every endeavor, he studied psychoanalysis forsix years, making him the only practicing pediatrician of his time with this combination of training.The more he talked with parents and studied the psychological and emotional aspects ofchildhood, the more convinced he became that much of the prevailing wisdom of the day wasflawed. And, in 1946, he was given the chance to publish his iconoclastic views in The CommonSense Book of Baby and Child Care, a tome he penned for Pocket Books that initially sold for amodest 25 cents. During Spock's long lifetime, his book would be translated into 39 languages andsell more than 50 million copies, making it second in sales only to the Bible.

　　Spock's ideas have become such a part and parcel of the parenting landscape that it's easy toforget how revolutionary they were. In post-war America, parents were in awe of doctors andother childcare professionals; Spock assured them that parents were the true experts on their ownchildren. They had been told that picking up infants when they cried would only spoil them; Spockcountered that cuddling babies and bestowing affection on children would only make them happierand more secure. Instead of adhering to strict, one-size-fits-all dictates on everything fromdiscipline to toilet training, Spock urged parents to be flexible and see their children as individuals.

　　Perhaps most revolutionary of all, he suggested that parenting could be fun, that mothers andfathers could actually enjoy their children and steer a course in which their own needs and wishesalso were met. All this and much more, including a wealth of helpful medical advice, was delivered ina friendly, reassuring, and common-sense manner completely at odds with the coldauthoritarianism favored by most other parenting books of the time.

　　With characteristic modesty, Spock never would have predicted the overwhelming success thatBaby and Child Care would come to enjoy. He once admitted that if he had known that his editorswere entrusting him with producing the most influential parenting book ever written, he wouldhave replied, "I don't know enough." As it turned out, he knew plenty--Baby and Child Care wasan instant success with parents and struck a chord with other progressive doctors and childcarepractitioners. During Spock's long lifetime, the book would go through seven editions, betranslated into 39 languages, and sell more than 50 million copies, making it second in sales only tothe Bible.

　　As his celebrity grew in the '50s and '60s, Spock worked feverishly on behalf of children andparents. He taught child development at Western Reserve University (now Case Western) inCleveland, Ohio, for 12 years, wrote many other books on childcare, and lectured around theworld. He even had a television program devoted to the concerns of families. Dr. Spock hadbecome a household name.

　　As the Cold War escalated and American troops were sent to Vietnam, he became a vocal politicalactivist, speaking out for disarmament and against the war in Southeast Asia. To Spock, this wasjust another way of protecting the young people to whom he was so devoted. His political viewsmade him unpopular in some circles and hurt the sales of Baby and Child Care, but he persisted,convinced that politics was an essential part of pediatrics. He participated in anti-nucleardemonstrations well into his 80s and 90s, and ran for President on a third-party ticket in 1972,speaking out on issues concerning working families, children, and minorities.

　　In 1976, he married his second wife, Mary Morgan, who became a valued collaborator. Theytraveled the country, lecturing and writing, and co-authored the memoir Spock on Spock in 1985.A man who witnessed the birth of the automobile as well as the Internet, Spock prided himself inkeeping up with the times, a fact that's reflected in the many revisions of Baby and Child Care inwhich he incorporated the latest medical developments and dealt with emerging social issues suchas working mothers, daycare centers, and single parenthood. Throughout his life, Spock remaineda tireless and courageous advocate for children and families, and his legacy will remain a source ofknowledge and inspiration for parents for generations to come.

　　Quotes:

　　All the time a person is a child he is both a child and learning to be a parent. After he becomes aparent he becomes predominantly a parent reliving childhood.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　Every child senses, with all the horse sense that's in him, that any parent is angry inside whenchildren misbehave and they dread more the anger that is rarely or never expressed openly,wondering how awful it might be.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　Happiness is mostly a by-product of doing what makes us feel fulfilled.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　I was proud of the youths who opposed the war in Vietnam because they were my babies.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　I would say that the surest measure of a man's or a woman's maturity is the harmony, style, joy,and dignity he creates in his marriage, and the pleasure and inspiration he provides for his spouse.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　I'm not a pacifist. I was very much for the war against Hitler and I also supported the interventionin Korea, but in this war we went in there to steal Vietnam.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　In automobile terms, the child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　In our country today, very few children are raised to believe that their principal destiny is to servetheir family, their country, or God.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　Most middle-class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinelysuspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　Perhaps a child who is fussed over gets a feeling of destiny; he thinks he is the world for somethingimportant, and it gives him drive and confidence.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　The child supplies the power but the parents have to do the steering.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　The more people have studied different methods of bringing up children the more they have cometo the conclusion that what good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies isthe best after all.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　There are only two things a child will share willingly; communicable diseases and its mother's age.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　To win in Vietnam, we will have to exterminate a nation.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　Trust yourself, you know more than you think you do.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　What good mothers and fathers instinctively feel like doing for their babies is usually best after all.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　What is the use of physicians like myself trying to help parents to bring up children healthy andhappy, to have them killed in such numbers for a cause that is ignoble?

　　Benjamin Spock

　　When women are encouraged to be competitive, too many of them become disagreeable.

　　Benjamin Spock

　　You know more than you think you do.

　　Benjamin Spock