Canonical · Philosophy & the Self · Psychology

The Good Enough Mother

Donald Winnicott · 1953

"A perfect parent destroys a child's ability to cope with reality. A 'good enough' parent intentionally fails in small, tolerable ways to build resilience."

The idea

Modern society puts immense pressure on parents to be perfect—to instantly fulfill every need their child has. Psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott argued this is actually destructive. What a child really needs is a 'good enough' mother.

Why it works

The takeaway — recall it first

The People-First Approach

"Technology should be built around the Human as an irreducible constant — a 'driver' separate from mind and body who retains the right to keep changing — rather than treating people as optimization targets a system can fully model and predict."

Haitham Al-Beik · EssayContinue→