A Voice from the Past: The Benson Instructions for Parents

1988: Lavina Fielding Anderson, “A Voice from the Past: The Benson Instructions for Parents,” Dialogue 21.4 (Winter 1988): 103 – 13.

I must admit that the immediate reaction to the “Mothers” speech — largely negative in my immediate circle — caught me off guard. I was meeting with a group of women on the night that it was broadcast, and my husband, Paul, thoughtfully recorded it for me. I listened to it the next day, mentally observed that the speech had a decidedly old-fashioned ring to it, and used the tape to record 3-2-1 Contact for our son, Christian. I was immediately sorry.