The-Conquest-of-Happiness-by-Bertrand-Russell

persons. But there should be no convention
demanding that every mother should do herself
what some other woman can do better. Mothers
who feel baffled and incompetent when faced with
their children as many mothers do, should have no
hesitation in having their children cared for by
women who have an aptitude for this work and
have undergone the necessary training. There is no
heavensent instinct which teaches women the right
thing to do by their children, and solicitude when it
goes beyond a point is a camouflage for
possessiveness. Many a child is psychologically
ruined by ignorant and sentimental handling on the
part of its mother. It has always been recognised
that fathers cannot be expected to do very much for
their children, and yet children are quite as apt to
love their fathers as to love their mothers. The
relation of the mother to the child will have in
future to resemble more and more that which at
present the father has, if women’ s lives are to be
freed from unnecessary slavery and children are to
be allowed to profit by the scientific knowledge
which is accumulating as to the care of their minds