child rearing
In about two weeks, we will be a family of 5.
It seems like we are ready, but it's hard to tell these days.
Rico never sat in a car seat. I never had a baby gate when I was small. Even my own kids had drop-side cribs - which they don't even sell anymore. Like we don't worry enough - like we need this ever-changing array of safety issues.
Now they sell cloth covers for the seats in shopping carts. I am not sure how that will protect the child when I, with my bare hands remove her from the cart. How sanitary can I be after loading my own groceries from the same conveyor belt just used by the family of six purchasing 4 liters of 7-up, a pallet of saltines and a case of Pepto Bismol?
A baby first aid kit comes with four different thermometers - a specific one for each area of the body. The caveat is that a fever is defined differently for each orifice. So by the time I master the algebraic equation of converting an armpit temperature, to a forehead temperature, to an oral temperature, then take into account the baby's age, relative to the atmospheric dewpoint, my kid will either be comatose, or OD-ing on infant Motrin.
But the most disturbing piece of safety equipment by far is a contraption designed to keep your baby sleeping on her back. It's basically a velcro onesie. The point is to wrap your baby in the enclosed velcro jammies, and then attach her to the fuzzy crib sheet so she can't move all night. I don't know how I feel about this - I mean, steel handcuffs and manacles would serve the same purpose, are easy to clean, long lasting, hypo-allergenic, and quite frankly cheaper than the $60 they were asking for the velcro straightjacket.
Two more weeks and we can start worrying again for real. But for now, all I can hope, is that I keep hearing advice like this:
"The baby will talk when he talks, relax. It ain't like he knows the cure for cancer and he just ain't spitting it out." from smds
It seems like we are ready, but it's hard to tell these days.
Rico never sat in a car seat. I never had a baby gate when I was small. Even my own kids had drop-side cribs - which they don't even sell anymore. Like we don't worry enough - like we need this ever-changing array of safety issues.
Now they sell cloth covers for the seats in shopping carts. I am not sure how that will protect the child when I, with my bare hands remove her from the cart. How sanitary can I be after loading my own groceries from the same conveyor belt just used by the family of six purchasing 4 liters of 7-up, a pallet of saltines and a case of Pepto Bismol?
A baby first aid kit comes with four different thermometers - a specific one for each area of the body. The caveat is that a fever is defined differently for each orifice. So by the time I master the algebraic equation of converting an armpit temperature, to a forehead temperature, to an oral temperature, then take into account the baby's age, relative to the atmospheric dewpoint, my kid will either be comatose, or OD-ing on infant Motrin.
But the most disturbing piece of safety equipment by far is a contraption designed to keep your baby sleeping on her back. It's basically a velcro onesie. The point is to wrap your baby in the enclosed velcro jammies, and then attach her to the fuzzy crib sheet so she can't move all night. I don't know how I feel about this - I mean, steel handcuffs and manacles would serve the same purpose, are easy to clean, long lasting, hypo-allergenic, and quite frankly cheaper than the $60 they were asking for the velcro straightjacket.
Two more weeks and we can start worrying again for real. But for now, all I can hope, is that I keep hearing advice like this:
"The baby will talk when he talks, relax. It ain't like he knows the cure for cancer and he just ain't spitting it out." from smds
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