Child-rearing advice that repeats the earlier ideological positions of the modem US family, with its high emphasis on autonomy, personal gratification, and self-expression, is called into question. From infancy onward, certain postmodern child-care routines that influence individuation and altruism may draw upon pre-modern adaptations directly, just as the postmodern pattern of sustained breast-feeding reverts to early pre-modern practices. Some contribute to life-long learning, using methods appropriate to newly discovered infant learning processes and capacities. The literature points to the need for consumer values inherent in the “good life” of the modern family to shift radically for the protection of the family itself.
Ability to adapt is a major characteristic of well-functioning families during rapid social change. While flexibility may be an inborn trait, families can be assisted to adapt through social policies and programmers that facilitate change through the provision of resources and education. Equally important is an authoritative reinterpretation of traditional values to meet the needs of emerging lifestyles. This calls for new definitions of progress that reverse the negative aspects of the post modernity
The inherent instability of the family, and the social framework which supports it, impart by the postmodern deconstructions of epistemological certainty, has left its rational mark upon the psychotherapeutic enterprise as surely as it has upon social theory.
