Such a delightful encounter I had while getting my hair cut at a local discount haircut chain last night. The woman cutting DH's hair, and then mine, was telling us about the good ol' days of raising babies. You know, back before seatbelts, carseats, and common sense.
She was telling me how much fun it is to give a baby a turkey leg at Thanksgiving and just let 'em gnaw on it. I was thinking to myself, my baby is not a dog. I don't give her things to gnaw on just to entertain myself. Then she says "Have you given her a sucker yet? There's nothing funnier than a baby licking a sucker! I used to give 'em to my three month old!" This is me, doing my best impression of not looking totally horrified, just smiling, because this woman is cutting my husband's hair.
I'm glad she has such fond memories of raising her kids, and even more glad that her kids (apparently) survived to adulthood. But then she fixes me with her crazy eye, and says something about how lame it is that modern parents listen to their doctors and read all these books, when her kids were just fine the way they were. More smiling and nodding from me. I say, somewhat incredulously, "Your kids survived, anyway!"
But listen, lady, just because you entertained yourself by watching your kids lick a choking hazard doesn't mean you get to insinuate that modern parenting is wussy and lame. My daughter isn't just going to survive her infancy, she's going to be healthy, smart, and trusting. She's not going to think her parents used her as cheap entertainment by giving her things just so she'd make a face or look stupid. So keep your stupid opinions to yourself.
Oh, and really, did you have to show me the cute Santa Claus purse you crocheted for your niece literally right in the middle of my haircut? Seriously. Next time, just cut my %^&* hair.
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| This is prunes. Not turkey gravy. |
My FIL loves to tell me about how my DH would stand on the seat of the truck with his hands on the dashboard when he was about 2 and request that FIL make the truck shake. The truck shook at about 60 mph. Sometimes it is hard to make the older generations understand that when we know better we do better.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a few months old my parents took a road trip to visit my uncle, who lived in Virginia Beach, about an eight-hour drive from home. My dad built a box that could be secured in place by the seat belts in the back seat and that's how they traveled with me. Crazy, right? :)
ReplyDeletewow, L! At least you don't go around advocating box seats! lol
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