What’s Your Most Important Memory of Touch?
Only about halfway through the 20th century did American scientists understand that touch was important. Before then, distance was the name of the game. The psychologist John Watson proclaimed that authoritarian parenting sparse on touch was the only way to ensure children would grow into strong, well-adjusted adults. The behavioral scientist B. F. Skinner had his baby daughter sleep and play in a climate-controlled incubator for two years, to help ease the burdens of parenting and to protect her from disease. In orphanages, babies were typically held only while they were fed or bathed. Stringent cleaning routines did cut down on the spread of infection, but no matter how much caretakers scrubbed the cribs, or how much they tried to isolate the children, they found the babies couldn’t kick their colds. Their recovery took longer and longer, if they recovered at all.
