Like many of us (50 million to be precise) I was raised on Dr. Spock. In my house he had a God-like status on the bookshelf in the hallway.
So, when I noticed this weekend that Dr. Spock’s wife had written me a note, I was, well, kvelling.
Let me explain.
I wrote a column for The Forward about how bizarro it is that all the parenting manuals that my friends and I read are written by men. (As opposed to the self-lacerating momoirs that women write about how French and Chinese mothers are so much better than us.) In it I write:
It’s shocking to me that while the world of childrearing (and definitely childbearing) is still mostly considered the domain of women, the books my friends and I read “instructing” us on how to do it are written by men. It’s a bit like how most of the top chefs in the world are men even though women do most of the cooking in the home. It’s not that these books are bad, but it seems curious that we treat these male doctors like our rebbes.
The first comment posted on the piece is by Dr. Spock’s wife, Mary Morgan. And it’s really sweet. And she says that my mom should be proud. Jeez!
Read the Forward piece here!
