Chapter 6: Parenthood 3. Anticipation of Parenthood

The expectant mother should be under the guidance of a good physician from the time pregnancy is discovered. Great care especially should be taken to avoid excess in the sex relationship or to avoid it entirely at the period when menstruation would normally have taken place, because of the greater liability of the wife to miscarriage at such times.

The husband is to realize that his wife is under nervous and emotional tensions which call for constant patience and sympathy on his part. If at this time a wife should feel a sudden and unexplained aversion to her mate, both of them should realize that it is an accompaniment of her condition rather than a real change in her attitude. Failing to realize this some young people have drifted into unpleasant and bitter experiences of misunderstanding and conflict entirely out of harmony with their love for each other. Sometimes this happens partly because the nature of the wife calls out all the more at this time, in a way which she may not fully understand, for the full sympathy and support of her husband. If he will help her through the early part of this period by unusual considerateness in every way, he will be likely to find that health and happiness are improved, as her whole being meets the call of motherhood.

Anticipation and realization of fatherhood and motherhood deepen love and add to happiness. Physically the parents have united to give life to the child. Now they must unite all that is in them to give the best nurture and guidance. They give the gift of themselves to each other and to their children, sharing the treasures of love with new lives, and broadening and deepening the range of experience together.

Through parenthood they achieve more complete expression of the full sex nature of each. This, in the man, leads him to wish to make a home for the loved mate, and to unite with her in building a true family. It shows itself also in the tender solicitude of the father toward the little child, and the desire to shape the environment in such a way that his home and family may be secure and happy.

Similarly on the part of the woman, her complete sexual personality leads her to desire to be an ideal wife, and gives her the inexpressible tenderness and strength of motherhood. It also reaches out from her own home in an attitude of love and kindness toward others, and a desire that the world may be a suitable place for the homes of all people, with adequate care, protection and opportunity for all children. There is no finer achievement in which a man and woman can share than the creation of a good family.