ABSTRACT
The absolute character of the need that is served is obvious. Children need the sheltering care of a mother if they are to grow up at all; and we know too that the dependent human infant requires more than physical sustenance. It is obvious that the moral precept, 'Mothers should take good care of their children', has a further special status. The deep biological and psychological roots of maternal care must be nurtured and directed. The definition of a good mother, and of good child care, is ordinarily far more clearly indicated within most cultures than it is in our rapidly changing and sophisticated modern setting, but it varies enormously from one culture to another. The actual behavior of a 'good mother' in one culture may horrify and shock the mother in another culture, equally concerned with child welfare. A number of instances have appeared in anthropological literature which raise this factual question rather sharply about maternal care.
