CONTINUUM CONCEPT JEAN LIEDLOFF PDF
The continuum concept is an idea, coined by Jean Liedloff in her book The Continuum Concept, that human beings have an innate set of expectations that. The Continuum Concept has ratings and reviews. Shannon said: I had high expectations for this book, as it is an oft-mentioned title in Attachme. Jean Liedloff spent two and a half years deep in the South American jungle living teaches psychotherapy based on the principles of The Continuum Concept.
| Author: | Shaktizahn Taujas |
| Country: | Pacific Islands |
| Language: | English (Spanish) |
| Genre: | Career |
| Published (Last): | 20 August 2014 |
| Pages: | 317 |
| PDF File Size: | 5.53 Mb |
| ePub File Size: | 13.22 Mb |
| ISBN: | 759-4-67965-378-7 |
| Downloads: | 17360 |
| Price: | Free* [*Free Regsitration Required] |
| Uploader: | Dutaur |
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again.
Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. A landmark treatise on how humanity lives versus how we should, what we’ve lost with our “progress,” and how we can reclaim our true nature Jean Liedloff, an American writer, spent two and a half years in the South American jungle living with Stone Age Indians.
The experience demolished her Western preconceptions of how we liedlogf live and led her to a radically different vi A landmark treatise on how humanity lives versus how we should, what we’ve lost with our “progress,” and how we can reclaim our true nature Jean Liedloff, an American writer, spent two and a half years in the South American jungle living with Stone Age Indians.
The experience demolished her Western preconceptions of how we should live and led her to a radically different view of what human nature really is. She offers a new understanding of how we have lost much of uean natural well-being and shows us practical ways to regain it for our children and for ourselves. Paperbackpages.
Classics in Child Development. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Continuum Conceptplease sign up.
Where did those last negative reviews come from? They did not exist lideloff. Probably someone who want power over the people has discovered the importance of this book for new parents and anyone else too. Just read it and see for yourself. It is a must read for everyone. There are some fantastic reviews below to read. And one more thing: It is perfect and could not have been written better.
How come I can not post a review? See 2 questions about The Continuum Concept….
Lists with This Book. Jan 08, Shannon rated it liked it Shelves: I had high expectations for this book, as it is an oft-mentioned title in Attachment Parenting circles and has its own following as a parenting style in and of itself. Continuum Concept parenting and Attachment Parenting are not the same thing, but there is some overlap.
Though the book does contain many intriguing ideas, I found myself overall quite disappointed. The book, written in with an introduction added inis based on the author’s experiences spending continuun time with an I had high expectations for this book, as it is an oft-mentioned title in Attachment Parenting circles and has its own following as a ocncept style liedolff and of itself.
The book, conitnuum in with an introduction added inis based on the author’s experiences spending extended time with an indigenous people in Venezuela, the Yequana. Based on her observations, she concludes that their way of life is more in harmony with the natural way that humans are meant to live, in accordance with the evolution of our species, than the lifestyle of modern Western society.
Continuum concept – Wikipedia
She claims that the natural state of the Yequana is happiness, a primary example being that they do not have a word for “work” and they enjoy everything they do.
She devotes a significant portion of the book to describing the subjective experience that she imagines an infant in each respective culture goes through, and the remainder of the book critiquing specific aspects of modern child-rearing and explaining how specific personality characteristics and modern problems are specifically the result of being deprived of the jeam arms” stage.
The fatal flaw of this book is conginuum the ideas presented are purely the theories and opinions of the author. The author has absolutely no qualifications other than her personal experience with this particular group of people: Throughout the entire book there was only one citation. In fact she is overtly anti-intellectual, stating that jeean overuse of intellect in the modern world has, to our detriment, taken over our natural instincts as humans.
There may be some truth to this, but I found it ironic that someone writing a book primarily about the importance of following one’s instinct in the care of infants is not even a mother herself. There were certainly several parts concepf her book that my “motherly instinct” just flat out rejected.
Some of the claims of the author cooncept since been shown to be true by research, however others contradict the findings of research. Her own cultural bias is apparent in her assumption that homosexuality is a pathology and the assumption of the existence of “God”. However the opinions of the author in this book are presented as if they are objective fact.
It would have been more accurate if every sentence in the book was preceded with “I think,” “I believe,” or “My theory is. In short, they stem from her imagination.
Maybe there is truth to them, but maybe not; there is no way of knowing. I wonder if Yequana mothers, let alone infants of either culture, would agree with these descriptions.
While interesting to think about as a hypothesis or possibility, they don’t have much value beyond the speculative. Another big problem with this book is that all of the author’s assumptions about human nature and what is natural to our species come from her unscientific experience and observation of just one indigenous culture.
Anthropologists have shown us that there is actually quite significant diversity among indigenous cultures, and Liedloff herself comments how different the neighboring indigenous cultures were from the Yequana. All cultures are unique, and adapted to their particular circumstances. She clearly idealizes all the features of the Yequana culture and assumes that modern culture would be better off by adopting them, but this is not necessarily the case. For example, she critiques parents for “chasing” their toddlers to keep them from harm or from wandering off, and the example she gives is of seeing modern parents do this in New York’s Central Park!
Maybe if I lived in an indigenous village surrounded by familiar places and trusted community members I could allow a toddler to wander as they pleased, but in a dangerous urban environment like NEW YORK CITY, I would definitely be keeping a protective watch on my child. The comparison of such different settings continjum doesn’t make sense. A specific critique I have of the parenting style that lied,off author advocates is her critique of modern Western parents being too “child-centered.
In addition to some “out liedlooff arms” time being important to physical development such as learning to crawl and sit, which start gradually from a very young ageI think that direct interaction and attention are a quite natural way of welcoming a child conncept the family and community, and communicating to them their inherent worth as a person.
The way Liedloff describes it, she seems to advocate just completely ignoring young babies as one goes about their daily life. Not only do I think this is not healthy for the baby or the parent-child bond, but anyone who has ever had a baby can tell you it’s not realistic. Babies have constant needs and are completely dependent on lliedloff caregivers to fulfill them- eating, sleeping, comforting, and toileting, are all things babies cannot do themselves, let alone laundry, bathing, and other tasks that are inherent to baby care.
But the biggest disagreement I have with the author’s criticism to being “child-centered” is that it directly contradicts one of the most central aspects of Attachment Parenting, being responsive to your child. Research has demonstrated the importance of caretakers being attentive to an infant’s cues and responding in a caring, consistent jezn in order to establish a secure attachment. It is one of the central tenants of Attachment Parenting and its importance has been demonstrated in psychological research.
That said, I did find many of the concet ideas quite intriguing. For example, I agree with the author about the importance of keeping young babies close to their mothers’ bodies at nearly all times. Indeed, the importance of this has been demonstrated by studies done on touch, attachment, co-sleeping, and so forth.
However, I think concep isolates this particular issue excessively, rather than acknowledging it as one ingredient lkedloff an overall approach to parenting. Other important factors include growing up in an environment of conceptt love, acceptance, and belonging, caretakers who respond in a consistent and caring way, positive examples and relationships with family and community, breastfeeding, and a positive birth experience, to name a few. Just carrying your baby all the time is not enough; all aspects of parenting have an impact on babies and the adults that they grow into.
I thought her interpretation of personality quirks to be very interesting, for example a person being very messy because they are seeking the fulfilment of deprived infantile needs though someone taking care of them and loving them unconditionally despite their flaws. My subjective opinion note my qualification! Another idea I liked about the book was the concept ledloff children, like all humans, are social animals and they do what they think is expected of them.
They instinctively want to fit in and please their parents.
Continuum concept
She gives an example that sometimes parents give them messages like “Don’t touch that, you’ll hurt yourself” and the message the children hear is that the parent expects them to hurt themselves at some point, and so they do. I do think that expectations are powerful and the language we use is important. But again, this is one factor in a complex system of influences, and needs to be considered in context.
It appears even the things I like about the book have serious qualifications. So if there is so much to criticize about this book, why does it have such a strong following? What made it so popular?
I think the reason is that it makes the reader question the status quo of the way we treat babies in our society in a powerful way. This was probably groundbreaking in the time it was written, and is still groundbreaking today for people who haven’t been exposed to ideas outside of the mainstream.
Just the idea of putting oneself in the “shoes” of a baby and imagining what they might go through is important. Asking the question of how humans evolved and how this impacts the needs of babies is important. Questioning our cultural practices and considering more traditional practices, like slings instead of strollers, or co-sleeping instead of cribs, is important.
So in summary I think this is a great book to open minds and get people thinking, but because it is so grotesquely subjective and unscientific, it should not be looked to in itself as a source of information or a guide to parenting practices.
Fortunately there are many other books available now which cover these topics and make use of more objective research methods through fields like anthropology, psychology, evolutionary biology, and neurobiology. View all 4 comments. Apr 25, Taylor rated it really liked it Shelves: What is a more perfect picture in this world than a contented baby in loving parent arms? I agree with much of what she says.
Obviously, babies are made to be held. We are the only primates that willing sets our young down for What is a more perfect picture in this world than a contented baby in loving parent arms?
We are the only primates that willing sets our young down for often hours at a time. Parts made me cry. Parts made me scoff. Parts made me want to throw the book across the room and throttle Ms. Parts resonated very strongly with me. Reading this made me think about the many times parents have told me as their childcare provider to allow their infant to cry itself to sleep.
