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Witness History: The 'good enough' mother

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The 'good enough' mother

13/11/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, The 'good enough' mother

Donald Winnicott helped mothers understand babies through psychoanalysis in the 1940s.

Psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott helped shape childcare in Britain through BBC radio broadcasts in the 1940s and 50s. He suggested mothers follow their instincts and ignore rules.

Psychoanalyst and paediatrician Donald Winnicott helped shape childcare in Britain through a series of BBC radio broadcasts in the 1940s and 50s. He suggested mothers did best when they followed their instincts, got to know their babies and ignored prescribed rules. He became most famous for developing the idea of what he called ‘the good-enough mother’. He also introduced the term 'transitional object' to describe the favourite teddy that babies cling to, He suggested it represented an important phase of development, helping babies develop a sense of self, separate from their mothers. Claire Bowes has been speaking to retired psychoanalyst Jennifer Johns, who knew Donald Winnicott.

PHOTO: A mother with her baby in the 1960s. Credit: BBC.

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