Why Historian Mark Golden's Article Did The Ancients Care When Their Children Died?

Historian Mark Golden argues in his article, “Did the Ancients Care when their Children Died?”, that there is little evidence supporting that Romans and other ancient parents failed to care for their children or to mourn their loss.
A child’s death is used as an example of tragedy throughout ancient texts such as those written by Herodotus and Thucydides. Parents took great measure to ensure their children’s survival. This is seen in the usage of amulets, dog dung, skin and teeth of wolves and many others to avert diseases and other misfortunes. In his article Golden references Lawrence Stones argument that “affection and love were not to be expected in pre-industrial populations because high mortality made emotional commitment, especially

to children, too dangerous for individuals and insupportable for their societies.” To stone this means that parents limited their contact with their children, such as putting their children in the hands of wet-nurses. This results to neglect. Golden does not seem to keen on this idea. He states that this is customary in ancient times to entrust children to wet-nurses, but that does not conclude parents did not care for their children. In fact he continues on to say that children, especially those who are at risk, are left in constant contact with their caregiver that would see to their every need. This to him is proof that the ancient parent He quotes Campbell’s analysis that ‘Children from the day of their birth are the centre of attention and interest in the family. The needs of the infant take priority over all others.”