ABSTRACT
Proverbs and folklore often speak to the essential role of the father. In India (Samaraweera, 1979) there is a tale about the father who takes the baby to the mountaintop and says, “This is the world; I will introduce you.” The mother holds the baby and says, “I will comfort you.” A Mayan Indian proverb (Collins, 1979) reads, “For in the baby lies the future of the world. Mother must hold the baby close so that the baby knows that it is his world. Father must take him to the highest hill so that he can see what his world is like.” These two quotations imply the father’s role is powerful only in its complementarity with the mother’s. The father introduces the infant to the exciting and large outer world, the mother offers the baby a safe home from which to explore.
