bringing up babies

jane & indira

this exchange brought smiles and memories

but first a digression: if we are a higher animal form, then should not parenting be instinctual?

khair

when we had our first born and brought him home he did not sleep in his room the first week...motherhood instincts of M got the better and we placed him beside us on a portable carry on 'bed'... wrapped in blanket, face up...

"don't do this, he will get a flat head." commented a visiting couple…what did we know about parenting...so son was turned over on his tummy...

"don’t do this with the poor baby, he cannot burp," said another couple...so we.....

during the course of the next several days poor the baby slept on his back, stomach, facing one side, facing the other, wrapped tightly, wrapped with one hand out, unwrapped...

being educated...(take this with a sack of salt)...we started grading unsolicited advice...if the couple rendering advice had two children their well meaning words acquired more weight than a couple with one chil...who had more weight attached than a couple with no children...

one day we got diametrically opposite advice from two folks who both had two kids each...dilemma....i rang up my mother...explained the problem...she excused herself saying..."betay, it has been so long for me i have forgotten what i did with you guys( in a similar situation)..."...

...then we discovered benjamin spock's bible:)

update: today the son knows everything...between him and God, they have everything cornered...to be truthful he was eight when he uttered the fateful verdict "you don't know nothing dad," ...and i winced...not sure whether it was at the double negatives flaunted in the speech or the allusion to knowledge acquisition of his parents...

proof: am no god