Being a parent is an ancient art. And it seems we could learn a thing or two about child rearing by going back to the days of the hunter-gatherers.
Today's practice of leaving babies to cry, keeping them in buggies and car seats for long periods and not allowing them the freedom to roam outdoors is raising a dysfunctional generation, a psychologist claims.
Early societies had better ideas about being a parent than many 21st century families, according to Professor Darcia Narvaez.
Happy families: Early societies had better ideas about being a parent than many 21st century families, Professor Darcia Narvaez claims
Professor Narvaez led three American studies, including one looking at the parents of three year olds and how they compare with the child rearing of foraging hunter-gatherer societies of the past.
She found that unlike parents nowadays, ancient communities relied on extended families to look after their children or, as she said, 'people beyond mum and dad who also love the child'.
They were also more likely to promptly respond to a baby's crying and fussing.
'Warm, responsive care-giving like this keeps the infant's brain calm in the years it is forming its personality and response to the world,' said Professor Narvaez, who is based at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
'At the same time, our distant ancestors spent much of their time being held and caressed by their mother, forming a close bond. They were not spanked.'
Children also spent much more time outside playing and exploring rather than being kept indoors by themselves.
Studies have shown that children who don't spend enough time playing are more likely to develop hyperactivity and mental health problems, the psychologist said.
Breastfeeding is also an area of difference. Centuries ago, mothers would breastfeed children until the age of around five.
Humans have been foraging hunter-gatherers for most of their history. Farming gradually began to take over from the time of the last Ice Age 13,000 years ago, although some hunter-gatherer societies remain.
The findings, to be presented at a U.S. conference next month, run counter to current advice from parenting gurus to allow 'controlled crying' and to isolate misbehaving children on a 'naughty step' or in their rooms.
Professor Narvaez pointed to studies showing a decline in the well-being of American children over the past 50 years.
Separate research in Britain has also suggested an increase in mental health problems among children.
'There's an epidemic of anxiety among the young,' she said. 'Kids who don't get the emotional nurturing they need in early life tend to be more self-centred. They don't have the same compassion- related emotions as kids who were raised by warm, responsive families.'
Early societies had better ideas about being a parent than many 21st century families, according to Professor Darcia Narvaez. Their children were cuddled and carried about, never left to cry, spent lots of time outdoors and were breastfed for years rather than months.
In general, we think of them as brutes without much to offer. However, according to a report, Neanderthals had something down pat that modern man can appreciate: Parenting. Penny Spikins, an archeologist at the University of York, found that cavemen were — despite what we think — really good parents.
"The chimp-like ancestor was like a power athlete," said Dan Lieberman, a biological anthropologist at Harvard University. "Much stronger and faster than humans, but they had no endurance."
For example, caretakers probably carried babies much more than modern parents do in the developed world. Hadza mothers, Crittenden has observed, often carry their babies in cloth slings for most of the day from birth through weaning (usually 2-3 years).
Babies' sleeping alone is a new concept. Our prehistoric ancestors knew a crying baby could attract predators, so babies were held close, sleeping with their mothers and nursing on demand.
“One of the reasons our ancestors were so 'healthy' is they didn't go to a shop to get their food. They were out walking, hunting and gathering. The energy they expended just to get their food was part of the health benefit,” Ms Dorey says. “They didn't sit around all day.
Scientists used fragments of a fossilized Neanderthal pelvis to reconstruct the birth canal. Though its shape is different from that of modern humans, the researchers concluded that it would have been similarly painful for the ancient hominids to give birth.
A Neanderthal had a wider pelvis and lower center of gravity than hom*o sapiens, which would have made him a powerful grappler. That doesn't mean, however, that we would be an easy kill for our extinct relative. hom*o sapiens probably has a longer reach, on average, than Neanderthals did, and more stamina.
The Stone Age people died - in respect to present - very early. Poor hygiene, illnesses, bad nourishment and burden of labour lead to an average life expectancy of 20-25 years. Many children already died in their first 4 years. In the Bronze and Iron Age, the adults already got a bit older: 30-45 years old.
Compared to modern humans, Stone Age humans and human ancestors may have been primitive—but they were far more sophisticated than the grunting cavemen often depicted on screen. In fact, early humans were ingenious problem-solvers who managed to survive and thrive in hostile environments.
Their research predicted what time in their lives ancient humans procreated from the types of DNA mutations they passed on. Their analysis found that, on average, humans had children aged 26.9 years old. The average was 31 years old for men and 23 for women, said The Telegraph.
And the size and shape of our pelvises are constrained by our bipedal way of getting around in the world. If they got much bigger, mothers wouldn't walk as well. So babies' brains could only get so big and still fit through the birth canal, the conventional wisdom holds.
Though cradles existed for millennia to hold infants during the day, babies slept with their mothers at night for most of human history, and still do in many parts of the world.
Prehistoric babies were bottle-fed with animal milk more than 3,000 years ago, according to new evidence. Archaeologists found traces of animal fats inside ancient clay vessels, giving a rare insight into the diets of Bronze and Iron Age infants.
Co-sleeping-infants sharing the mother's sleep space-has prevailed throughout human evolution, and continued over the centuries of western civilization despite controversy and blame of co-sleeping mothers for the deaths of their infants.
For tens of thousands of years, people tended to bury their dead, says Fanny Bocquentin at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris. There is also evidence that Neanderthals buried their dead about 70,000 years ago.
How did motherhood look in the prehistoric era? New research uncovers the essential role that prehistoric mothers played in driving population growth during the Neolithic period. Approximately 7,500 years ago, humans made spoons from animal bones to feed their babies with additional nourishment, other than breast milk.
“We then applied this model to our human ancestors to determine what age our ancestors procreated.” According to the study, the average age that humans had children throughout the past 250,000 years is 26.9. Fathers were consistently older, at 30.7 years on average, whereas mothers were 23.2 years on average.
However, despite the pressure some may have felt to buy the perfect box of chocolates, scientific research leads us to believe that the emotion of love did not exist in early humans. From an evolutionary perspective, the main role of an organism is to reproduce.
The evidence that Neanderthals nursed their young until they were 2.5 years through sickness and cold spells suggests Neanderthal moms took care of their young as intensively as modern mothers do. Now, researchers are eager to try these methods of studying growth in other types of humans.
Address: Suite 490 606 Hammes Ferry, Carterhaven, IL 62290
Phone: +8557035444877
Job: Forward IT Agent
Hobby: Fishing, Flying, Jewelry making, Digital arts, Sand art, Parkour, tabletop games
Introduction: My name is Otha Schamberger, I am a vast, good, healthy, cheerful, energetic, gorgeous, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
