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Suzanne Zeedyk

@suzannezeedyk

4 Dec

@childinmind

THREAD. This is crucial for us to understand. This is what James Robertson wrote about in the 1970s. This is what I wrote about in 2014. This is what @childinmind wrote about last week. CHILDREN’S PAIN BECOMES TOO MUCH FOR US ADULTS TO BEAR. So we leave them alone with it.

https://twitter.com/martinbarrow/status/1466832285345492993

2. Here is James Robertson in 1970 on Professional Anxiety. "The worker’s defence agnst pain may cause him unwittingly to avert from the child whose extreme distress is painful to see. Young childrn tend to be seen en masse, only fleetingly as people." robertsonfilms.info

3. Here is me in 2014: "Children’s distress is too sharp for us, as adults, to risk feeling ourselves. So we tell ourselves, consciously and unconsciously, that it’s not ‘that bad’, that a child will get over it."
suzannezeedyk.com/why-profession…

Read 18 tweets

Suzanne Zeedyk

@suzannezeedyk

28 Oct

@BPSOfficial

Why is it sometimes hard for members of professional groups to see how ordinary practices can be harmful to children?
A THREAD that looks back on history for some help.
Why did I want to write it? Well, t @BPSOfficial call for a ban on isolation rooms has sparked disagreement.

2. Many of you will have heard me talk about James Robertson's work in hospitals in 1950s. He was concerned about t common, ordinary policies that separated young children frm parents. He was so concerned, he made a film to help ppl see. Here's t trailer.

3. It was ordinary, accepted practice to restrict children from seeing parents until 'visiting times', which were often only on a Saturday. Children cried intensely for their parents. Eventually they would stop. The staff saw 'settling'. Robertson saw 'emotional deterioration'.

Read 22 tweets

Suzanne Zeedyk

@suzannezeedyk

28 Oct

Good Behaviour vs Bad Kids. Here's one of Robin Grille's summaries of t empirical evidence:
"Contrary to popular myth, many studies show that whn childrn expect rewards, they perform more poorly....Rewards kill creativity. They discourage risk-taking."
naturalchild.org/articles/robin…

2. "Rewards and praise condition children to seek approval; they end up doing things to impress, instead of doing things for themselves. This can hold back the development of self-motivation and makes them dependent on outside opinion." naturalchild.org/articles/robin…

3. "Rewarding children's compliance is the flip-side of punishing their disobedience. It is seduction in the place of tyranny. Many studies show that people who use more rewards also use more punishment; they are more likely to be autocratic." naturalchild.org/articles/robin…

Read 6 tweets

Suzanne Zeedyk

@suzannezeedyk

22 Oct

I was awake too early this morn, the stories I’ve been hearing circling uncomfortably around my head. What are they stories of? How our exhaustion & fear is leading us to damage young children. A THREAD on BEING BRAVE and SAYING NO.

(2) Story 1: A mum carries background worry all day at her work abt her beloved 1-year-old, because she has never seen inside the nursery where her baby now spends her day. Never even *seen* it. I wonder: How many other mums & dads are coping with the same disorienting worry?

(3) Story 2: Children are dropped off on a busy high street, next to traffic. T risk of COVID is deemed to make it too dangerous for them to come inside. I think: Okay, so the toughest moment of every day for these children is taking place amidst sensory onslaught.

Read 23 tweets

Suzanne Zeedyk

@suzannezeedyk

15 Oct

New THREAD on authoritarianism & attitudes toward children.
I woke to enthusiasm frm many of you abt my thread yesterdy on this topic, so I thought I might expand on it. I believe that understandng these links helps give depth & sense to much of what is happening in our society.

https://twitter.com/suzannezeedyk/status/1448735301254488064?s=20

2. Here is ystrdy's thread.
The most essential thing I say in it is: Fight fear.
The second most essential thing is: Adults hold beliefs about how children shd 'be'. Those beliefs are related to their sense of threat.
(Yes, that can feel surprisng.)

https://twitter.com/suzannezeedyk/status/1448735301254488064?s=20

3. Stanley Feldman is a leading political science researcher. Here is his 2020 paper, drawing on data frm 1763 Americns in 2016. His key conclusn: t more authoritarian a person is (more controlling of children), t more intolerance & threat they feel. stanleyfeldman.site44.com/Feldman_Author…

Read 23 tweets

Suzanne Zeedyk

@suzannezeedyk

14 Oct

The link between childhood & authoritarianism. A THREAD -
because there is more & more talk about the rise in authoritarianism in British culture & I think it is important to recognise the links with parenting styles.

2. Political Scientist Stephen Feldman has done classic research on authoritarianism. He argues that "authoritarian predispositions originate in t conflict betwn t values of social conformity &personal autonomy."
COVID conflicts are rich breeding grounds. jstor.org/stable/3792510

3. So how do you measure 'authoritarian predispositions'? (Note: I find the answer unnerving.) It turns out to be simple. You ask 4 questns :
Do you think it is more important for a child to: 1) have independence or respect for elders? 2) have obedience or self-reliance?...

Read 16 tweets

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