Some parents dislike children

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33932, 27 August 1975, Page 6

Some parents dislike children

Many people felt that) anyone could turn to mothering but. in fact,) some parent? frankly] did not like their chil-j dren. Dr J. R. E. Dobson. Head of the Depart-, nient of Psycholoical) Medicine of the North] Canterbury Hospital Board, said yesterday.

Dr Dobson told members of the Early Childhood Care and Development convention that an American. Professor C. H. Kempe, had found that there were tragic consequences because society did not find it socially acceptable to let parents say they did not like their children.

Dr Dobson was speaking on the topic “The Rejected Young Child.” He said rejection was a severe manifestation of the state of being unwanted. This went right back to conception, he said. "Although not nearly enough is known about the decisions and the problems that face women with unwanted pregnancies, or how they cope with the children who were unwanted at the time an abortion is sought, some recent research has begun to examine these issues,” he said. One such study concluded “that although many women who are refused abortions do adjust to their situation and grow to love the child, I about half would still have | preferred an abortion. A j large minority suffer considerable distress and a small ; minority eventually develop , severe disturbance.”

■ Many studies indicated; ithat the rejected or unloved 1 ! child suffered various behav-l lioural problems throughout! i his life. Parental hostility

had a particularly harmful! effect on a child’s later development, especially on his ability to give, as an adult, unselfish loving care to his own children, one study had found. The parental hostility per-i petuated itself from one gen-; eration to another in “an extremely vicious cycle.” Child abuse, or baby battering, was often a more immediate and direct effect of an unwanted conception, Dr Dobson said. “Inflicting severe physical injury on children under two years is perhaps the most dramatic form of rejection.” Dr Dobson said one study had found that the inconvenience of an unwanted illegitimate child was the most common motive responsible for child murder. One of the factors which had contributed in a demonstrable, measurable way to an adverse environment in early childhood was family size, Dr Dobson said. This could also be "a remediable factor.” “American and British studies indicate, with some consistency, that delinquents are derived from larger than ; average families, and overburdening of the mother is a frequent cause of unsatisfac- | tory upbringing of the children,”

Dr Dobson quoted the I author of a book, '‘Who bei comes a Delinquent,” as say- ' ing that family planning ■was a basic necessity. This meant training in the use of contraceptives and free distribution of material at readily accessible points in shopping centres. It was not good enough for the agencies to leave it to parents to seek advice. Training for both sexes should begin at school. Dr Dobson quoted the author as saying. _