Dr. Mizin Park Kawasaki, a pediatrician and stay-at-home mother
of two, has created a unique web site with a focus on
unconditional love as the foundation of healthy human interaction.
She began the site to "provide encouraging and enlightening
information about child-rearing".
The site was designed to meet these five goals:
- To provide parents with a broad understanding
of child development with an emphasis on the development of
the child as a unique individual.
- To stress the importance of breastfeeding as
a crucial parenting tool of fundamental value to all parents.
- To elucidate why parents should be capable of
providing our young children with humane environments in which
to grow and develop.
- To emphasize the importance of human
availability and human touch in a world that is obsessed with
consumerism and materialism.
- To explain that the status quo of
child-rearing today is stagnant and unhealthy.
The site includes several exceptional essays by the site owner,
including an interesting overview of Ashley Montagu's life and
ideas and her thoughtful essay "The True Meaning of
Discipline". Her article "Perfect Mothering?"
eloquently explores the idea that "a baby's hunger is not
just confined to the need for food, but for the nurturing that
breastfeeding provides the baby's soul and heart."
Dr. Kawasaki believes that "all human beings, including
young children, need unconditional love, a concept with which far
too many of us are unfamiliar. We cannot make demands of our
children by withholding love without exacting a high price...our
children's mental health."
