Child-rearing through the ages

         Ok, this probably won’t be a long entry, just some miscellaneous stuff that occurred to me today.

I was feeding two babies today, children who are 8 or 9 months old. One had mashed avocado. The other had avocado mixed with carrots (both in chunks) with a side of tofu. Avocado and tofu. Things have certainly changed. When I was little, babies ate baby food.

I suppose in some ways that was an innovation. After all, my parents didn’t eat Gerber: they grew up with mashed-up table food. And we even ate honey and peanut butter, things that today are definitely not recommended for babies. That makes me wonder: in another ten to twenty years, will avocado and tofu be on the list of foods to be avoided under the age of two?

And bottles? I was a breast-fed baby, fed my children the same way. However, when my children were young, it was more conventional to feed infants by bottle. Not that this option didn’t exist for my mother. I remember the glass baby bottles and those rubber nipples.

Diapers as well. I opted for cloth diapers, which were just like the ones that my mother had used for me.

Which were used with plastic pants.

I could have used disposable diapers — or Pampers, as they were called. Yes, I know, that’s a brand name, but since it was the only one, that term was preferable to “disposable diapers.”

My grand-nephew, Max, wears cloth diapers, but nowadays, they look so much different.

Much more convenient to use and cuter as well.

Sleeping. Modern cribs have regulations concerning spaces between slats. Not so in the 50’s — or even in the late 70’s and early 80’s when my kids slept in the same crib I had used.

Not to mention sleeping positions. At one time babies could only sleep on their tummies. Now only on their backs. And I think there was a period where side-sleeping was recommended.

Another difference: car safety. The car seats that my kids used would now be considered unsafe and old-fashioned.

But really? Compare those to what I remember my brother Donnie using.

And me? While Donnie was riding in that, I was sitting in the front passenger seat. No seat belts — we didn’t even know what those were.

It’s a wonder we ever grew up with all of those unsafe practices.