2010-04-06

My dearest mummy

Mothers have historically fulfilled the primary role in raising children.

Mothers are more likely than fathers to encourage assimilative and communion-enhancing patterns in their children.

Mothers are more likely than fathers to acknowledge their children's contributions in conversation. The way mothers speak to their children is better suited to support very young children in their efforts to understand speech than fathers.

The proverbial "first word" of an infant often sounds like "ma" or "mama". This strong association of that sound with "mother" has persisted in nearly every language on earth, countering the natural localization of language.