purplefern—glad you enjoyed the ‘Mothers and Others’ book by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy!
I agree that we see a fair amount of variety in child rearing practices across cultures and time, with varying weights on maternal care, paternal care, and ‘alloparental care’ by other people, which can include close relatives, friends, or neighbors—often female, but of either sex. Modern life does make it difficult to organize informal alloparenting networks, but I guess paid child care and school try to fill the gaps.
purplefern—glad you enjoyed the ‘Mothers and Others’ book by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy!
I agree that we see a fair amount of variety in child rearing practices across cultures and time, with varying weights on maternal care, paternal care, and ‘alloparental care’ by other people, which can include close relatives, friends, or neighbors—often female, but of either sex. Modern life does make it difficult to organize informal alloparenting networks, but I guess paid child care and school try to fill the gaps.