The Help

                            The first few chapters of the help demonstrate what it was like for the African American's who worked as the "help" in white households. When I first started reading this book, I got the impression that Mrs.Leefolt wasn't that great with dealing with her own baby. Aibileen is Mae Mobley’s caretaker as well as the "help". There are many qualities to being a good parent that Mrs.Leefolt does not have. In chapter one, Aibileen walks in on Mrs. Leefolt holding her baby and frantically saying "What am I doing wrong? Why can't I stop it?"(Stockett1). I thought exactly what Aibileen had said, "It? That was my first hint: something is wrong with this situation"(Stockett1). As she takes Mae 

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Mobley and bounces her up and down she starts to smile and stop crying. Mrs.Leefolt doesn't even pick up her own baby she ignores her. Which for one is a terrible thing to do because babies need attention and need to be played with. Babies cry as a way of saying, "I'm hungry" or "I need to be changed". On the "Everyday life" website there is an article called "What happens if you ignore babies when they cry?” It explains that if you ignore your baby crying, he/she won't stop until you do something. It says that by ignoring your baby while he/she is crying will cause unneeded stress for the both of you. I found this quote very interesting about the emotional side when a baby cries "Researchers at Oxford University discovered that a baby’s cry causes the human brain to issue an emotional response in 100 milliseconds. Mothers’ bodies respond when they hear their babies cry, so much so, in fact, that they have the biological urge to nurse. Oxytocin is the hormone that triggers milk to start flowing, and it helps mom to feel calm and relaxed. Some advisors tell parents to ignore a baby’s cries when behaviors are present that parents want to change, such as waking up to eat at night or crying for attention. However, this can be difficult for mothers to do when they are biologically programmed to respond to their children’s cries, states the Ask Dr. Sears website"http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/happens-ignore-babies-cry-9494.html. So the fact that Mrs.Leefolt isn't responding to her babies’ cries is very interesting due to the fact that she should be having an emotional response to her baby. Mrs.Leefolt seems to only care about herself and doesn't seem to even acknowledge the fact that she has a baby to take care of. Aibileen said on page 4 that "Miss Leefolt, she dress up nice ever day. Always got her makeup on, got a carport, double-door Frigidaire with the built-in icebox. You see her in the Jitney 14 grocery, you never think she go and leave her baby crying in her crib like that." Mrs.Leefolt is demonstrating very bad parenting skills. I think the quote that really shows that Mrs.Leefolt does not have good parenting skills or qualities is the one on page 4 when Aibileen says "Ever so often, I come to work and find her bawling in her crib, Miss Leefolt busy on the sewing machine rolling her eyes like its a stray cat stuck in the screen door". Its almost like Mrs.Leefolt is dehumanizing her own baby. And worst of all, its not just Mae's mother that is ignoring her; it’s the father too. On page 15 it says "Baby girl, she looking at the door her daddy slammed, she looking at her mama frowning down at her. My baby, she swallowing it back, like she trying real hard not to cry". I think that these parents need to show more attention to their child and step up and be a parent. They do not have good parenting skills what so ever.