The author's thesis is that in Western societies the father has been ejected from his central position in the family structure, and although the mother's role has been heightened, the child has now replaced the father at the top of the family pyramid, damaging the development of the child, Naouri argues that the evolution of our species gave the father a central role to play in his child's development, endowing the child with the consciousness of time, balancing the mother's natural tendency to satisfy without delay every need of a child she could scarcely imagine was no longer a part of her. Given the father's diminished role, how can today's child acquire an awareness of time? Perhaps, says Naouri, infant care must be entirely re-examined, because it was based on the recommendations of pediatricians whose bias was overly maternal.

Translated by: G.R. Edwards