12th October 1964.

As I have been quoted in the original article by Martin James, “The Mothers Children Need,” I would like to take part in this discussion of what children need of their mothers. Of all that could be said, I wish to attempt to separate out certain concepts which tend to get mixed up with each other in a discussion. I have expressed the view that what a baby needs of the mother at the very beginning, that is to say, just before birth and just after, is something which has very little, if anything at all, to do with cleverness. It seems to me fairly obvious that what the baby needs is more of the nature of the capacity on the part of the mother to give full attention. I have brought in the word devotion here at risk, because there are some who associate this word with sentimentality. It is probable that there is very full agreement as far as this