"Babyhood"

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews the book "Babyhood" by Paul Reiser which describes his experience of becoming a father and dealing with the role of parent. It shows how although the book is based primarily on his experience as a father, it also offers a description of his observations of his son. It analyzes these observations by comparing them to some of the theories of developmental psychology. It examines how Reiser not only observes his son but perceives him as well and how these perceptions are not always psychologically correct, but they are correct in as far as they represent what Reiser believes as the father. It is an interesting account of how the parent without an understanding of developmental psychology perceives their child.

From the Paper:

"Reiser describes the continuing development of the baby as they develop to the playing stage. As Reiser (127) describes, "It seems that the key parenting skill you need to develop when entertaining your new child is the ability to Distract." Reiser (127) calls this "Baby Point of View" based on the concept that everything is new to the child and therefore, interesting to the child. This observation can be related to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, where at this stage, Piaget says that the child's behavior is based on looking, seeing and feeling, rather than thinking. This theory of cognitive development effectively explains Reiser's observation that the child is easily distracted based on the fact that this period is one of observation."

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