Jacques Lacan: Demand

I had always thought that when a baby cries, it was its expression of discomfort. The baby is either hungry, needs a diaper change, or doesn't like being held by the ex-president of the United States. However, French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan, suggests a different approach. Lacan argues that when the baby cries, it is calling to its mother in a synchronized symbolic structure. In the midst of an organized symbolic system that baby's use, a demand for both its mother and and love is made. A baby cries to keep its mother all to itself. However, a mother can never belong to the baby as it so desires. Lacan states that this love and demand is unconditional and insatiable. Hence, baby's do not stop crying until they are able to articulate its needs and wants into words. The desires for its mother are also then expressed through action.

This really makes me rethink about having kids.