其實，人類極不擅長獨立養育孩子 Humans are Surprisingly Poor at Raising Children on Their Own

Do you feel stressed about raising your children without the help of schools and daycare centers during the lockdown? Well, you’re not alone. As a species, humans are surprisingly poor at raising children on their own.

Biologists point out that we often benefit from the help of others to raise our offspring. Humans have always lived in extended family units, where mothers are helped by many other family members. The so-called “cooperative breeding” has given us crucial evolutionary advantages.

With an understanding of how much we rely on each other to raise offspring, we might have gone easier on others and ourselves as we struggle.

友善讓你懂｜解說：

　
疫情封城期間，少了學校、托育中心的協助，是否感覺扶養孩子給你帶來極大壓力？放心，你不孤單。事實上，作為一個物種，人類在獨立養育孩子的能力非常得差。

生物學家指出，我們通常會透過其他人協助來扶養後代。過去，人類一直生活在大家庭環境裡，母親會獲得家庭其他成員的協助。這種所謂的「合作繁殖」，給了我們關鍵的演化優勢。

當理解人類本來就是透過相互仰賴來繁衍後代，下一次我們又因育兒而痛苦掙扎時，或許就會對他人、對自己更寬容一點。

輕鬆帶著走｜學習：

go easy on 指的是「對某人寬容、溫和地對待」。

例句：​​Hey, go easy on her. She’s just a kid.
嘿，對她寬容點，她還只是個小孩。

本篇其他相關單字，介紹如下：

• raise　(v.) 養育 
• species　(n.) 物種  
• offspring　(n.) 後代  
• breed　(v.) 繁殖、育種
• evolutionary　(adj.) 演化的、進化的