Q&A with
Anne Pierce

Who do you hope to reach with Ships Without A Shore: America’s Undernurtured Children?

A new generation of parents is searching for an alternative to the baby boomer approach to parenting. This book provides that alternative through common sense, philosophical analysis and a meticulous compilation of research. Research is proving that many of the presuppositions that guided that approach are false.

For example, the idea that men and women, boys and girls are the same except for “social conditioning” is collapsing beneath the weight of brain research, new findings about the impact of hormones and cross-cultural anthropological studies.

Then there is the issue of day care. In spite of persistent attempts to cover it up, there is now a mountain of evidence that day care for babies is generally detrimental to optimal emotional and cognitive growth, and to the development of conscience.

How did you approach the research of this important topic?

Understanding and re-assessing the theories and agendas behind modern-American childrearing practices is of pressing importance to our entire society. In attempting to do this, I aimed to give a voice to the many intelligent and estimable educators, child-development experts and researchers who have been ignored because their message or findings were hard to bear, or because they didn’t reinforce our preferences.

The research on the subject is cross-disciplinary and knows no boundaries. For the study of children and the society in which they are raised is the study of the most fundamental and elemental relationships known to humankind. It is at once sociological, political-philosophical, anthropological, psychological and biological. It draws upon brain and behavioral research, upon psychiatric evaluation and observation, upon scientific inquiry, educational practice, religious beliefs and family stories.

How did your personal experience as a parent influence the book?

It is important to note that I also draw upon my own experiences as a mother and upon that inner-tug of love and conscience, which many of us have been programmed to ignore. I draw upon both personal observations and thoughts, and a serious assessment of the research and literature. I adhere to scholarly standards, while, at the same time, simply bringing out into the open what we know at heart.