The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas about How to Be a Good Mom

真正的好媽媽應該具備什麼條件呢? 看完這本書，讓我們一起跳脫世人對好媽媽的誤解，真正了解我們偉大的媽媽!

當作者Nancy迎來第一個孩子時，她猛然發現自己被一種理想化的母職形象所包圍——這是一位永遠隨傳隨到、毫無怨言、全然以孩子為中心的母親。Nancy成長於一個由單親職業母親撫養的家庭，自認為是堅定的女性主義者，當時也正在攻讀博士學位。為何所謂「正確」的母職實踐卻讓她感到如此錯位與不適？

為了找出答案，南希回頭研究了20世紀中葉的社會科學家與心理學家們的理論與實驗——這些理論至今仍是我們對教養觀念的基石。令人難以置信的是，現代的母親竟仍受這些過時理論的深遠影響。這些觀念不僅建立在拙劣的研究、錯誤的實驗設計，甚至赤裸裸的性別歧視之上，卻滲透進了我們對「好媽媽」的普遍想像。

書中南希批判性地檢視了從Harry Harlow——那位聲稱透過觀察猴子來發現「愛」的心理學家，到名聲顯赫的 Spock醫生，其育兒指南竟只出現過一次父親與孩子互動的插圖。

這本作品融合了科學史、文化評論與個人回憶，一針見血地揭露了形塑當代母職標準的社會科學謬誤。它將讓你在閱讀時哭笑交織，甚至忍不住想大聲吶喊。它既是對母職神話的有力解構，也是一場為母親正名的知識行動。

Timely and thought-provoking, Nancy Reddy unpacks and debunks the bad ideas that have for too long defined what it means to be a "good" mom.

When Nancy Reddy had her first child, she found herself suddenly confronted with the ideal of a perfect mother—a woman who was constantly available, endlessly patient, and immediately invested in her child to the exclusion of all else. Nancy had been raised by a single working mother, considered herself a feminist, and was well on her way to a PhD. Why did doing motherhood "right" feel so wrong?

For answers, Nancy turned to the mid-20th century social scientists and psychologists whose work still forms the basis of so much of what we believe about parenting. It seems ludicrous to imagine modern moms taking advice from midcentury researchers. Yet, their bad ideas about so-called “good” motherhood have seeped so pervasively into our cultural norms. In The Good Mother Myth, Nancy debunks the flawed lab studies, sloppy research, and straightforward misogyny of researchers from Harry Harlow, who claimed to have discovered love by observing monkeys in his lab, to the famous Dr. Spock, whose bestselling parenting guide included just one (1!) illustration of a father interacting with his child.

This timely and thought-provoking book will make you laugh, cry, and want to scream (sometimes all at once). Blending history of science, cultural criticism, and memoir, The Good Mother Myth pulls back the curtain on the flawed social science behind our contemporary understanding of what makes a good mom.