About Us
My Professional Experience
I have a Master of Arts degree from DePaul University; my focus areas were Holistic Child Development, Parenting Education and Counseling. I studied research findings from many fields about infant-rearing practices so I could report here which are harmful and which meet the emotional and other needs of infants and young children.
I have a great deal of experience in the fields of counseling and parenting education/support. I have taught parenting classes, facilitated many breastfeeding support group meetings, and counseled many new mothers. In 2001 and 2002, I wrote a weekly research-based parenting column for my county’s main newspaper. I promote “baby-wearing” by selling baby slings - though not through this website - to promote parent-baby togetherness and optimum baby development, while freeing the parents’ hands for work. Locally, I teach classes in Infant Massage and Baby Sign Language, to help parents learn respectful and responsive ways of communicating with their babies.
My Personal Experience
The wonderful and challenging experiences of giving birth and then breastfeeding and raising my son transformed my life. Nothing prepared me for the reality of caring for my own baby 24/7, though I had taken care of other people’s babies and read many books and articles. I had been exposed all my life to what has been the dominant infant-rearing philosophy in America for many decades: independence-training. To avoid raising spoiled, clingy, manipulative children we were supposed to teach them to be “independent” from the day they were born. Fortunately, I found a support group that promoted a respectful, responsive and relationship-oriented parenting philosophy. I am still a member of that wonderful organization whose philosophy guided me as I raised my son and led me into the field of infant advocacy and parent support/education. I now have two wonderful grandchildren whose pictures are below.
I am committed to promoting peaceful conflict resolution and harmony among all people. One very important way to promote peace and harmony in our society and in the world is to lay the foundation in the early years of every human being’s life. We must show babies that the greatest happiness truly comes from our relationships with other humans, not with things. This can be done by “being there” for them, not just when it’s convenient but when they need us. This involves consistently showing them respect, warmth and empathy.
Maureen McCarthy
© McCarthy 2011
I want to get good, research-based information into the hands of all parents, parents-to-be, professionals, researchers and the general public. The infant “independence-training” techniques recommended for decades by so-called experts have created insecure, emotionally malnourished children who have problems of various kinds as they become teens and adults. While other factors also contribute to our society's serious problems, we must acknowledge that our insensitivity to our babies' needs and feelings has played a part in creating the following realities:
Treating our babies and young children with empathy and respect is one significant way we can create a more caring world and help protect our children from becoming either perpetrators or victims, from premature death, from abusive relationships, from addictions and other serious problems.
I would much rather prevent problems than do the often futile and exponentially
harder work of attempting to fix them later. And I believe that where children are
concerned, an ounce of prevention is not worth a pound of cure; it’s worth a
thousand pounds of cure.
I describe my professional and personal experience below,
but first I would like to share with you the reason I
decided to create Parenting for a Caring World.
I want to reduce some of the preventable suffering in the
world, especially when it is our innocent and vulnerable
babies that are affected. Science has confirmed what our
hearts have always known: babies suffer when left to cry
alone, not just in the moment but in the long term. The
damage to their brains, anti-anxiety systems and trust in
their caregivers makes them prone to depression,
addictions, anxiety, anti-social behavior, fatigue and other
physical and psychological problems.
At present, Parenting for a Caring World consists of a Director and a fewAdvocates who are promoting respectful, responsive and relationship-oriented parenting.
We need many more Advocates to contribute their time and energy to the building of a more caring world by "spreading the word" about this website, our products, Facebook page, services, etc.
In the future, we expect to also need a few Advisors to contribute their wisdom, knowledge and caring when decisions about this organization/social movement need to be made.
About the Founder/Director
Parenting for a Caring World
"Secure Babies, Strong Children, Successful Adults"
™
™
My son, my grandchildren and me
Your Resource for CARE Parenting
Conscious, Attuned, Responsive and Empathetic
The leading cause of disability in people aged 15 to 44 in the U.S. is clinical depression...Untreated addiction costs America $400 billion per year....Every day in America, 4 children are killed through abuse and neglect and 192 children are arrested for violent crimes...Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people (ages 10 to 24)...About 28 percent of students ages 12 through 18 in the U.S. reported they were bullied at school during the 2008-2009 school year....In 2008, an estimated 31 million people aged twelve or older in the U.S. reported driving under the influence of alcohol at least once in the previous year....Just a few of the appalling statistics...
