More Parent Thank You Letters to Dr. Peter Ernest Haiman: Page 1 | 2 |
3 | 4 | 5
October 20, 1991
Dear Mr. Haiman,
Recently my wife _______ and I had the privilege of attending three of your classes
on "Parenting the Young Child" at Albany Adult School.
Although we do not have any young children of our own, we do run a licensed family
daycare.
We are thankful to you for teaching us how effectively and affectionally young
children should be taken care of.
We are applying the systemic training we received from you in our daycare and
are happy to say that we are extremely successful.
We strongly recommend that all daycare operators go through your class. There
is a whole lot to gain. We surely did.
Thank-you Dr. Haiman for all your help.
May 31, 02
Dear Dr. Haiman,
It was such a pleasure to meet you a few weeks ago! I only regret that I couldn't
find a chance earlier to write and tell you how much I enjoyed your excellent
presentation. I apologize for the tardiness of this note. However, I must
tell you how very often I have thought about things you said on May 15th;
I learned a lot about understanding my children's behavior. I think it was
a valuable evening for all of us.
I hope that we may be able to have you speak to our organization in the future.
I know we could all benefit from hearing more of your research and insights
about children's behavior. Furthermore, I am certain new members of our organization
would love to attend one of your presentations.
Thank you very much for taking the time—late into the evening—to
help us all in understanding our children better. Your provided some excellent
insights. In addition, after listening to your talk, I see how important it
is to think about the underlying causes of our children's behaviors. I feel
I gained valuable guidance on becoming a better parent.
Again, thank you very much of an enlightening evening. I look forward to seeing
you in the future.
Sincerely,
Dear Dr. Haiman,
I want to thank you for coming to talk to the San Ramon Mother's Club yesterday.
You'll remember me when I tell you that I'm the one who was crying.
I really appreciated your way of approaching parenting. I think my tears came
because you touched on several areas that are very close to my heart. During
the break, you spoke with a woman who knew her second child was her last.
This is true for me, also, and I've been struggling with that and with the
fact that my 18-month-old baby is growing up. I have a difficult time getting
rid of anything that represents his babyhood (i.e. his infant bathtub, even
though he hasn't used it for over a year.)
As I told you yesterday, I've also been struggling with the fact that my husband,
pediatrician, and friends are encouraging me to quit breast-feeding. After
talking with you, I feel strengthened in my view that I'll let him quit when
he's ready.
It may have seemed as though I was upset by the things you said. I wanted
to let you know that, on the contrary, your discussion reaffirmed what I had
been feeling, but thought was wrong because others in my life had disagreed
with me.
I was amazed at how much you cared about each person's situation. I also wanted
to thank you for telling us what is best for our children, despite the fact
that it wasn't always what everyone wanted to hear.
Sincerely,
October 1, 1996
Dear Peter,
Thank you very much for sending me the material and for a most encouraging
conversation. It is truly a relief to me to find professionals who support
what many moms know: they have to be with their children. At least, that is
how I feel.
I have a 4 year old and a 14 month old, as I told you. I am working at home
doing editorial and research and fact-checking work for a small publishing
company. My 4 year old goes to preschool, but my baby is still home and I
want to keep it that way! My life is a juggling act, but I will do anything
to keep my young children with me as much as possible. As I told you on the
phone, I have done a bit of research into attachment etc. I guess it is a
product of my job that I have to look into everything!
What I am especially interested in is how the mother influences and assists
in the brain development of her child. My reason for being interested in this
is that some people seem to think that if a baby is in a stimulating daycare
situation it is actually intellectually beneficial to them, and the mother-child
bond is not affected by being apart for a few hours each day, especially if
the environment is so stimulating for the child. The handout my friend sent
me, that I got your name from, said: "During his presentation Dr. Haiman
referred to material that found the development of the frontal lobes of the
brain are more fully developed in the infant whose primary care provider was
responsive."
I was wondering if I could get a copy of the study that this came from and
talk to you about this a bit more? My idea is that since the mother is the
most responsive person to the baby, she is the ideal one to promote the development
of the frontal lobes, and that no daycare situation, however excellent, can
substitute for this. Is there anything more specific you could send me on
this particular area? I would then like to talk to you again after I study
a bit more. I am very curious about how the study was done and how the frontal
lobe development is measured etc.
I don't want to put you to a lot of trouble; I just was so excited when I
talked to you I was not very specific! When I talked to Jay Belsky several
years ago I felt he had a key to how attachment and daycare was viewed, but
how the mother is linked to the brain development of her child is even more
interesting to me. I really wished I lived in California and could come and
meet you!
Thank you again for your encouragement & excellent work. Most sincerely,
