Mummarilou (2024)

FAQs

What is the good enough mother theory? ›

The Good Enough Mother, coined by pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, is an approach to parenting that involves being sensitive, responsive, and adaptive to our children's needs and developmental abilities.

a mother is neither good nor bad nor the product of illusion, but is a separate and independent entity: The good-enough mother ...

The phrase "the good enough mother" was coined by the British pediatrician and psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott in his famous book Playing and Reality.

In contrast, the good enough parent realises that their baby needs to be responded to quickly and empathically in the early months to help protect them against becoming overwhelmed by their feelings. This provides the infant with experiences of being calmed and soothed and helps them learn to self-soothe over time.

Dr. Donald Winnicott, a psychoanalyst, coined the phrase “good enough parenting” to indicate that we don't have to be perfect parents to raise healthy kids. He suggested that as little as 30% of the time spent meeting the child's needs is sufficient to create happy, well-attached children.

The principle of Good Enough helps you identify the point when putting more resources into something won't improve it meaningfully. You can use this principle to determine when to finish your task and move on.

It's a cautionary tale about overprotective parents. The psychoanalysts said: “The good mother necessarily fails.” As your child matures, you have to fail more and more as a mother. Let's say your child is thirty. You're not their mother anymore.

He coined the term 'good-enough mother' to describe a mother who allows just the right amount of delay in meeting an infant's needs to encourage both tolerance of waiting and confidence in ultimate satisfaction (Winnicott, 1964).

What is the difference between Winnicott and Bowlby? ›

Similar to Bowlby, Winnicott believed that anxiety and anger is reactive rather than instinctual. However, Bowlby believed it was in response to separation, Winnicott believed it was in response to a not good enough environment (Slochower, 2018).

The 'good-enough mother': Winnicott's theory explained

Winnicott also suggested that a 'good-enough mother' will respond differently to her baby's needs as she notices the baby's ability to cope with a little frustration. When you think about your baby you might recognise this description.

He thought that people were born without a clearly developed self and had to "search" for an authentic sense of self as they grew. "For Winnicott, the sense of feeling real, feeling in touch with others and with one's own body and its processes was essential for living a life."

D.W. Winnicott (1987) coined the term “good enough mother.” It refers to the 'holding environment' for the child that ensures that, during the first years of rapid neuropsychological growth, the child feels appreciated, confident, and trusting.

The 'good-enough mother': Winnicott's theory explained

Winnicott also suggested that a 'good-enough mother' will respond differently to her baby's needs as she notices the baby's ability to cope with a little frustration. When you think about your baby you might recognise this description.

Pediatrician and psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott introduced the idea of the “good enough mother” in 1953, addressing the fact that striving to be the “perfect” or “best” mother can cause some unintended problems for parents and kids alike.

According to Jungian psychoanalysis, the Great Mother archetype symbolizes creativity, birth, fertility, sexual union and nurturing. She is a creative force not only for life, but also for art and ideas.

Good mother ideology refers to beliefs that women are only 'good' mothers if they adhere to the tenets of dominant parenting discourse, such as intensive mothering ideology, which prioritizes children's needs and child-raising above all else.