Change the environment, and this means the family,
and you change the brain.

World War II changed the world and with it the meaning of family. Prior to the war most Americans lived in small towns with aunts, uncles and grandparents close by. After the war most people and especially young families moved to cities and suburbs. 2.2 million men and women married in 1946. America’s Boom years had begun.

32 million babies were born shortly after the war, mostly to women who had never held or cared for a baby. Living in the suburbs meant isolation for young women. Grandma lived in Ohio. Mom and the kids lived in Los Angeles. Young mothers lost direct contact with experienced mentors and the whole idea of parent education collapsed.

Something precious was lost: connection, belonging to a supportive community and being mentored by close relatives and friends. Real parent education takes place in these intimate relationships. In its place we got television, day-care and Prozac, and this dangerous combination continues. Today more children are being prescribed antidepressants than senior citizens.

Dwonward Sprial
In the 1960’s, contrary to every generation that had preceded them, these young boomers, now adolescents, began a downward spiral. Grades fell. Violence, drugs, dropout rates, drug abuse, teen pregnancies, violence and even suicide rates increased. Today the children of these children are having children.

"Fewer than 15 percent nationally are of high quality and even the best–with four babies per caregiver –“deprive children of the regular emotional nurturance necessary for healthy development.” T. Berry Brazelton, MD, Pediatrician

Personal and Social Costs
Harvard researchers identified four permanent brain abnormalities caused by early abuse and neglect. Suicide is the third leading cause of death of children in America. Prisons, one of the fastest growing enterprises in the nation, are bursting with over one million inmates at an annual cost of $85,000 per inmate per year.

Parents can’t give to their children what they never received.