Parenting styles are constantly changing.
Many techniques that were the norm just a couple generations ago not only seem completely
bizarre these days, but in some cases, would now be reported to the authorities.
Here's a look back on just how far we've come!
The spoils of love
In the early 20th century, women were told to avoid giving babies too much attention,
because showering a child with love would spoil the baby.
Thanks to this outdated advice, generations of mothers refrained from hugging and kissing
their children.
Behaviorist John B. Watson, who wrote Psychological Care of Infant and Child in 1928, advised:
"Never let them sit on your lap.
If you must, kiss them once on the forehead when they say good night.
Shake hands with them in the morning.
Give them a pat on the head if they have made an extraordinary job of a difficult task."
Thankfully, these days, kids typically get all the love and affection they can stand.
"Look away, I'm doin this for us"
Sleeping like a compass
The 19th century was a time of pseudoscience, and these beliefs affected child-rearing in
surprising ways.
In 1878's The Physical Life of Woman, the author told mothers that their sleeping baby's
head should always point north, saying, "There are known to be great electrical currents
always coursing in one direction around the globe...our nervous systems are in some mysterious
way connected with this universal agent, as it may be called, electricity."
Talk about "helicopter parenting" during tummy-time.
No crawling
During the American colonial period, children were viewed as "miniature adults" and were
made to grow up quickly.
Crawling was discouraged as it was viewed as "animalistic," and babies were dressed
in long gowns that prevented them from scrambling around on all fours.
To help children learn to walk sooner, adults would attach cords to their clothes to guide
them and keep them from sitting down.
Young children were also put into walking stools that would force them to stay on their
legs for long periods of time.
Blame mom!
Mothers were once held personally responsible for everything — from a baby's health to
its appearance.
It was thought that a mother who looked at ugly things while pregnant would make her
baby ugly.
It was also believed that mothers could affect their babies' health with their attitudes.
In a 1916 parenting book called The Mother and her Child, "angry" mothers were blamed
for giving their babies colic.
Nagging was also not permitted as it could make a woman's milk dry up.
An 1877 book, Advice to a Wife, warned mothers not to nurse beyond a baby's ninth month.
Any longer would supposedly give babies brain disease and make the nursing mother go blind.
Fat bath
By the turn of the 20th century, attitudes towards hygiene were changing, but parents
were still given strange advice on how to bathe newborns.
Books from that time told new parents to smear their babies in fats like lard, olive oil,
or butter.
According to one book, grease was needed in order to remove the quote, "waxy coating"
that babies are born with.
"You people are ridiculous."
"It's butter.
You put it on toast."
"And newsflash: it's bad for you!"
Potty training
Potty training is tough enough today.
But in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, parents tried to potty train their infants.
According to the one parenting manual from 1916, mothers were told to begin this training
as early as four months by holding babies over a "receptacle" at the same time each
day.
By nine months, the book claimed "urination can be controlled" and that "by the end of
the first year" a baby would be completely potty trained.
Another paragon of parenting wisdom wrote in 1904 that if a baby did not adhere to the
schedule, a soap stick should be inserted in their rear ends.
The book said that "the movement will usually occur under this stimulus.
If you keep this up with regularity, a daily bowel movement will probably result."
"You are smooth."
"Just doing my duty"
Throwing one back
While today's expectant mothers know that drinking too much alcohol while pregnant can
lead to fetal alcohol syndrome, the link between alcohol and birth defects wasn't well-known
until 1973.
Before then, it was actually recommended that women drink while pregnant.
The 17th century book, told women experiencing morning sickness to drink wine diluted with
water.
But the drinking wasn't just for expectant moms!
Colonial Americans believed that alcohol was so healthy, that many children even drank
alcohol, although it was typically watered down.
According to Susan Cheever, author of Drinking in America, Our Secret History, by the 1820s,
Americans consumed more than three times as much alcohol as they do today.
She wrote: "American drinking was out of control.
Children drank before school, during school, at recess, and after school."
Glad that kids are no longer hungover by that 10am spelling class?
Cheers to that!
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