Original version

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

Witness History

Podcasts

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: History

History as told by the people who were there

History as told by the people who were there.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service

Witness History: The 'good enough' mother

Documentaries

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.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Witness History

The 'good enough' mother

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

About BBC World Service