Graglia against Feminism: 4

A continuing series: see here for the introduction, and here for more on feminism in the Catholic Church in the UK.

From Domestic Tranquility p53.
It was... the "professionalization of parenthood" that made parents distrust their own child-rearing abilities and competence to deal with family problems and to accept that their capabilities were inferior to those of experts in the professional child-rearing establishment. ... Through these ideas, the helping professions not only undermined the confidence of "amateur" parents but also encouraged and justified the surrogate child-rearing that is a precondition of mothers' entry into the work force. ... Assuming that it matters very much what happens in a child's daily life, there is no cogent basis for favoring surrogate care. None but a limited number of the very best child care establishments (or the very best nannies) do, in fact, provide care which even remotely resembles care by professionals educated in the latest child-rearing techniques. But even if this were not the case, the happiness and well-being of infants and young children depend very little on any specific knowledge or technique employed by a caregiver. They depend far more on responsiveness to need as undivided as possible and on a continuing, loving interaction with a person to whom this child is uniquely precious. In the eyes of such a person, what this child does is happening for the first time. And this child knows that what he does is incomparably important because this person thinks it so. Those of us who reject surrogate care for our children doubt that such a response to our child is likely to come from any worker in a day care center or from an average nanny. It is a response that cannot be taught; and rarely can it be bought.