ABSTRACT
Parents often attempt to establish with their child the exact opposite of the relationship they had had with their own parents. This occurs often, for example, when the parents had experienced their parents as overly strict disciplinarians; with their child, they are now incapable or unwilling to impose any frustration or limits. Much of the enthusiasm for liberalism in raising children—as had been advocated by Benjamin Spock in his earlier writings—might have, in fact, been based on the wish to spare children from the discipline that an older generation of parents had experienced in their own upbringing. There are many other ways to replay old modes of relationship. One common theme is the wish to repair a painful childhood by providing the new infant with what is considered an ideal experience. A baby can also be seen as providing the potential for realizing a longed-for ideal, rather than the realization of a past longed-for relationship.
