Do you think women are losing their maternal instincts?

This is a great topic. I do think mothers are losing their maternal instincts. I think that a lot of them resent their children. Women are getting pregnant before they are ready and they lost their chance at fun so they resent them. And I'm not saying they don't love their children, I'm just saying I think they love themselves more. It seems that today, children are an accessory. All the stars have them so that must be the thing to do is have a baby, whether you want one or not. Babies aren't Gucci bags, they're babies. They should come first.

I don't know about that. I seem to have heard stories about even more things like that, especially in the days of no birth control. It probably wasn't talked about that much, though. I think women got away with doing those things than they do nowadays. The attitude towards children as being property of their parents was pretty common. Sure, normal parents would never think of doing things like that, but not everyone was normal back then, either. Things were more easily hidden in the past.

It is not a new phenomenon. Through centuries such things have occurred; we're just hearing about it more.

It's hard for me to hear stories of unfit mothers and the things the horrible things they do to their children. I am a mother of a beautiful little girl, she is my world and I would do anything for her. I think that there are more stresses in today's society than the society of twenty years ago. Not many mothers are able to stay home with children anymore. Most moms have to work. They are either single or their husbands income just isn't enough. There is always this feeling of having to strive to be perfect and have your kids be perfect too. I feel that television and movies are painting an unrealistic picture of what life should be like and glamourizing things that should not be glamourized. And things seem to be only be getting worse and more stressful for families. But I must say that I think these "bad moms" are getting more publicity and news coverage now than in the past. There are many wonderful moms our there in this world. Many more good, pure-hearted, and loving than bad ones.

hi dear i cannot see that extent of loss of maternal instincts where i stay but yes nowadays mothers are more career minded they leave their infant babies in the cruel supervision of maidservants and go for their jobs...i had recently seen video footage of how the maid is hitting and slapping a 5 month old baby (in Delhi) left alone with her at home and a hidden camera was recording it..the mother did not quit her job instead hire another maid...so i think it is all about setting your priorities right..i would never leave my son alone and go out to work...i can compromise on my lifestyle and expenses but not on my sons safety and well being...have a nice day

Very sad, when you ponder how things really change in our society today. I hope it wont fold in to worst cases. Because a mother's love is the foundation that nurtures the baby's emotions and personality during growing up days.

I think woman are just trying to live their lives as individual human beings and not only as ‘mothers, wives, sisters…’ while all the instances you mention are admittedly happening with frightening regularity, we are more shocked coz in each case, the mom seems to be the culprit. Except in cases of moms killing their children, everything else would have looked OK if it was the Dad instead. Men all along have ‘dumped’ the kids on the wives while they have had every form of relaxation and outing and led their lives as they wanted. It is what we are used to see, what society expects us to accept. But with the new woman, the situation is turning rather ugly and the kids are more often than not, suffering for it. Not many dads would like to sit at home with the kids and cook dinner while momma dear goes out to the parlour, or window shopping or just for girlie-chat and drink, round the neighbourhood. And on top of that, if the mom has a job, heaven help her! I am not much surprised at her harried self. I do believe the modern woman requires more understanding and sympathy from us all.

it's just in the past twenty years or so LOL no not at all...it just so happens that in the past 20 yrs its being TALKED ABOUT....Ppl mistakenly feel the same way about child abuse and rape...they think its more common now..whne the reality is its just actually talked about and dealt with now compared to yesteryear

That is a good point about the change in hormones but I think this is really cause by the community, the norm and the way parents infuse there principles to there child. maybe both nature and nurture influence this behavior. I was really caught by this discussion cause I never thought maternal instinct can be one reason why mothers don't give enough importance to there child. AT first I thought only because of financial or some kind of family problem. You really have a point in this. I hope psychiatrist do some research regarding this.

I think the chemicals in the meats are having a negative effect and that is not confined to meat. It is affecting the men as well. I also think it is the end times, when the natural instinct to do evil will not be stopped by a good conscience as it once was. I also think that certain actions do kill maternal instinct or encourage the lack of maternal instincts. Girls used to stay home or work at nursing or teaching until they got married. Now they are encouraged to go out and work in offices. That can kill a woman's maternal instinct pretty quit, unless she is like me, and was always looking for a husband.

Hello, Dragon54u. I think that his is just like all the absurd crimes that are happening in the whole world: they always existed. I mean, there are old techniques of torture, so you can see that people killed people since ages ago. I can tell you that humans kill humans since there are humans in this world. Canibalism is something so old, and it is an absurd. So, what conclusion do we have about this? It has always been here. But then, why did we almost never heard about it? Because there were less cases? Yes, and because of lack of media. Media nowadays can take a notice from United States delivered to Japan in one second using the Internet. You can watch what is going on in another country LIVE. Before there wasn't this. Things happened, and it was hard to spread the word. But still existed. And less frequently, since there were less humans in the World. Mothers are still mothers, the good and old mothers. :D Respectfully, Munhozmib.

hi dragon54u I noticed all these stories were about awful' things happening. Have you not realized that these are the'stories that sell news. The majority of moms are good decent motherly woman who love their children very much, andthe majority of teens are decent well brough up kids' whose parents are proud of them. the news media does not run stories on good peopleasthey would think that would bore the general public. I am not at all worried about 'women losing their maternal instincts as all my friends are great moms who love their kids and all my teen friends are well brought up good kids.

I never really thought about it that way until you posted this. I think it has to do with the way we have learned to survive in our declining economy (I am not sure how yours it, but you know the US is declining rapidly) Both parents being forced to work longer hours to put food on the table (the cost of which keeps rising) and kids being pushed aside so that everyone can survive. We have become a society of "barely getting by" Our children seem to suffer the most, unfortunately because the mothers are concentrating on their career, or partying. The hormone point is a very interesting one you bring up. You logic makes sense. It may be a combination of everything you, I and the other respondents (I haven't read theirs yet) have mentioned. Whatever the reason, it is very sad and I am not sure its going to get any better. I think the 30-50 somethings (as long as they were raised right) will be among the last generations to be maternal. I hope I am wrong.. but I don't think that I am.

Hello dragon54u, What a terrible thing that is happening but in the U.K the law here is very strict if someone abuse children the welfare will take the children away from mothers who can't or won't cope with their children but most the the welfare will help any mother to bond with their child, there is no such thing here about selling children or leaving them on the streets. These day girls are having babies far too young and they are missing out on going out and they know how to look after their children. There should be a law that say women are not allow to have children until there mature enough to be mothers, its nothing to do maternal instincts? Tamarafireheart.

No I don't think they are, just think that women these days are more thick skinned and tolerate less I'm sure deep down under the hard exterior there is a softier side it's just whether you can bring that out or NOT!

No, but I did when I was 10 and saw Mackaly Culkin in My Girl.

Hi dr You have started such a thought provoking discussion. I feel that maternal instinct is still there but these kind of problems happen to women or girls who have an unwanted child. That is like when they get pregnant during their teens or if they are immature adults... It has something to do with the way they were brought up. If they are brought up with love they will surely be able to pass on that love to their kids.. Also in todays fast paced world, survival takes on an important role.. and the mothers are under so much of stress just to survive..So they think of their children as a nuisance.. Some of them are plain selfish.. I despise such people. But the love of mothers will never die out..Maternal love or maternal instinct is something that is inborn and will always be there.... have a wonderful day...

Its very sad with how mommys treat their babies these days I mean come on now its half you and you treat half of your flesh and blood like that gee. I am against the whole added growth hormone junk does us no good. I am sorry but there are women who need to have their tubes cut or something so they cant torture the innocent.

good topic by the way. there are alot of people moms and dads that seem to just not care about their child. i on the other hand am VERY protective of my daughter. i do just about everything i can to make sure she knows she is loved. but the problem that i see with this is, younger parents (14-20) were raised so much differently. there are so many cases of abuse among those that are getting knocked up and i think one of the reasons is becuase they want that "love" that they never had. only to realize that it doesn't happen right away. and that raising a child is a lot harder than they thought. i also think that post pardom stress is another factor to take into consideration when it comes. if these people that are having kids dont have a good support system around them than it can become very stressful and leads to what some horrible outcomes have been. i was reading something a few months ago that a father left his 6 month old in the car while he went to work because he forgot that he was suppost to drop the child off at day care. now my question to that is how can you forget? the child at that age will cry every other hour or so. - it is just too heart breaking. i cant imagine doing that to my daughter. mind though i have had those thoughts but they pass as quickly as they come into my head. and when i talked to my mom about it, she said that it was a form of post stress syndrome and to simply put the baby in a safe place and walk away for a few minutes. now mind you that was of course when i first had my little girl. things are much better now and i cant imagine what my life would be like without her. i even get nervous when i let her take a nap with me in the afternoon. especially after i heard about the father that slept with his child and wound up smoothering the poor thing. - people have changed. maybe it might have to do with the food, maybe it is a product of what they went through when they were growing up and just didn;t have that support that they needed. what ever the reason is, still is no excuse. these kinds of things really break my heart. i cant believe it. as a matter of fact, i think i need to end it here.