tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post8398863156721583066..comments2024-01-13T19:31:57.599-08:00Comments on Cave Mother: The Continuum Concept - Jean LiedloffCave Motherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08489375502067939290noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post-20772602506835149302017-02-23T04:53:11.964-08:002017-02-23T04:53:11.964-08:00Hey Cave Mother, thanks for writing the post. I kn...Hey Cave Mother, thanks for writing the post. I know you made this comment years ago but having read the book recently I wanted to pick up on your comment: <br /><br />"I forgot to mention the funniest bit - she justifies her recommendation of co-sleeping by saying she co-slept with a monkey that she adopted! Hmmm, not sure how relevant that is Jean."<br /><br />In my understanding she wasn't justifying co-sleeping, she was simply sharing that experience in comparison to the fears that parents have about crushing a baby whilst co-sleeping. Saying she was quite conscious that the monkey was there and the first couple of nights were a little disturbed because of it but after that you gain an awareness of the baby, therefore those fears we've been led to believe are not something that should put us off co-sharing.<br /><br />I have to admit though I was hooked on the book and it really resonated with me. I wish to raise my baby this way, but the downfall will be the tribal setting. As much as I am very much an Earth mother, wanting to get back to the roots of civilization being naked and natural in everyday life, unfortunately I have been raised in a modern world and some comforts I would struggle shaking. That being said, in my area there's also a massive lack of awareness for these ideologies so people look at me like I'm an alien saying I want to wear my baby and don't want to use a pram. <br /><br />However, it won't stop me from following my instinct. I love travelling and so once I'm in a position to I will find my tribe somewhere in the world to be with other like minded families who get it!Jenniferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06357537195076212475noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post-6079678304800503532011-07-25T07:16:42.283-07:002011-07-25T07:16:42.283-07:00Take and leave what you like of The Continuum. You...Take and leave what you like of The Continuum. You may want to apply all principles or just take a little of its inate wisdom. Whatever gets you through the night..it's alright.<br />Having been a friend of the author for many years it is not correct to say it is one of the "original attachment parenting texts", Jean did not like her work compared to attachment parenting and if you time line the release of her book she was fairly plagerised. However the end result was good for the new era of parenting post Spock. She did say scheduled feeding came from well meaning tho misguided parents. I think that is very relevant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post-82084804593357877212009-07-26T10:40:20.433-07:002009-07-26T10:40:20.433-07:00The Continuum Concept has influenced my parenting ...The Continuum Concept has influenced my parenting style a great deal. But yes, she does tend to instill guilt if you don't get it perfect. I've gotten over the guilt part, and I try to take what I can from the example of the Yequana people, which I do think is more than just the points she emphasized. In fact, I recently read about a study that showed that children who spend a lot of time outdoors have better personalities and are better at sharing. So obviously all that fresh all is doing something for them. And of course the whole village aspect. It's impossible to live a perfect continuum life when we live in isolated nuclear families.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post-1846843817423119192009-07-11T15:10:10.047-07:002009-07-11T15:10:10.047-07:00I've heard a lot about this book. Think I'...I've heard a lot about this book. Think I'll read it.Darcelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08124410098799138873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post-51356308057559958052009-07-11T08:38:19.619-07:002009-07-11T08:38:19.619-07:00Really interesting review and I might just borrow ...Really interesting review and I might just borrow it from the library. I love to read about different parenting methods, even if they differ from my own. Great post.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754562741952800845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post-18970430931948100192009-07-09T13:09:37.189-07:002009-07-09T13:09:37.189-07:00I guess any approach needs to be checked against c...I guess any approach needs to be checked against common sense. <br />I haven't read this book, but with every book I read I found useful bits and those that I didn't agree with. Best thing is to adapt to one's own instinctive feeling of what's right and what isn't. Being open to change one's view is part of that. Like, both hubby and I vowed never to cosleep and threw that vow over board very quickly ;). Both of us. It worked a treat.cartsidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07443437791014670129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post-53226687048760803452009-07-09T08:45:34.579-07:002009-07-09T08:45:34.579-07:00docwitch and Jessica - you both allude to the guil...docwitch and Jessica - you both allude to the guilt we can be made to feel by books like this. I <i>was</i> made to feel guilty by some of the stuff it said and I am someone who has tried to parent like she wants me to. There was a very harrowing bit about newborn babies placed in cots and there was me feeling really bad about putting Cave Baby in a moses basket for her first night. The shame!<br /><br />I forgot to mention the funniest bit - she justifies her recommendation of co-sleeping by saying she co-slept with a monkey that she adopted! Hmmm, not sure how relevant that is Jean.Cave Motherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08489375502067939290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post-12242463496880381982009-07-08T18:33:25.014-07:002009-07-08T18:33:25.014-07:00Terrific review! I haven't read the book, but...Terrific review! I haven't read the book, but based on your summary, the Continuum Concept is also based on a village raising a child, am I right? In as much, it's a LOT easier to keep an infant in your arms until she's crawling when there are aunts, uncles, siblings, and friends around. <br /><br />The West is so far removed from a community family that it sometimes seems impossible to me that we'll ever get back to our roots. <br /><br />Those of us who are sensitive to this sleep with our babies, wear them as much as humanly possible, and try to be as gentle and humane with the resources available. At the end of a few hours, a mother alone in a house will eventually have to put her baby down, and possibly for prolonged periods of time (to cook, shower, whatever).<br /><br />I love that books like this exist.Jessica - This is Worthwhilehttp://www.thisisworthwhile.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post-66208476222472945812009-07-08T17:56:13.235-07:002009-07-08T17:56:13.235-07:00Good post. There's a lot worth taking on board...Good post. There's a lot worth taking on board from this book, but I tend to agree with you when you say:<br /><br />"But I suspect that if I voiced my misgivings to Jean Liedloff she would say, "Ah, but you would say that because your continuum is broken so you don't understand." She really has the perfect argument - everyone in the West is damaged so none of us are qualified to disagree with her".<br /><br />Also, although I am someone who is pro attachment parenting, this theory, and the way Leidloff and the like lay it out, can be guilt-inducing to those parents who have little choice in whether they can follow this method.<br /><br /> It's an approach that is often taken up by the fairly privileged (educated, middle classes of which I belong myself), certainly not exclusively, but for those parents who have to go and work, or who may suffer illness or for whatever reason cannot adopt attachment parenting, it's a pretty bleak and dire prognosis (in fact, quite damning in many ways) for their children if we are to believe everything the Liedoff et al says. <br /><br />I think you also raise a very relevant and crucial point when you question how do we know that the source of the Yequana's happiness is their childhoods, (although commonsense would suggest that this is the case to a certain degree), and not their food, enviro, etc? It's a bit of a paternalistic, Western template that Liedoff has taken and applied to a culture in order to draw the conclusions that she's drawn. I have real issues with these kinds of idealisations (and 'othering') of "primitive" cultures.Antoinettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10279365115311331326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000103105398415784.post-32998557070898338352009-07-08T12:06:36.700-07:002009-07-08T12:06:36.700-07:00I also feel this book is quoted like billy-o in ma...I also feel this book is quoted like billy-o in many books I've read! Anything that brings parents one step closer to loving their babies the was we were programmed to is ok with me :-)allgrownuphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15558724767417950811noreply@blogger.com