Big Brains, Long Childhood, And Fuzzy Outcomes: Learning To Parent As A Child
Craig Hadley
Jed Stevenson
Emory University
In this presentation we explore the idea that childhood functions to allow children and
adolescents to learn how to parent in a particular socio-cultural context. We focus on a
limited range of parenting behaviors -- namely, feeding practices in the first six months
of life -- because scientific evidence now supports international recommendations for
exclusive breastfeeding of infants to six months of age, yet few of the world’s children
are exclusively breastfed even to one month. Ethnographers have documented
substantial between-group differences in infant and young child feeding practices, but
this inter-cultural variability is constrained within somewhat tight boundaries. We
suggest that part of the explanation for this bounded variation and the mismatch
between feeding behaviors and public heath recommendations lies in our large brains,
the long period of childhood in humans, the extensive engagement of children in
childcare, and several unique features of infant and young child feeding behaviors.
Drawing on cultural transmission theory, empirical data, and agent-based modeling
simulations, we argue that childhood provides an unusual opportunity for children to
socially learn how to parent. But, because of inferential difficulties due to substantial
noise in the system there is ample room to learn behaviors that do not maximize
wellbeing. Social learning would also tend to minimize within-group variation in
behaviors and increase between-group differences. We also ask explore what happens
when children are not given opportunities to learn parenting skills through direct
participation, and elaborate on the public health implications of our argument.