Parenting Styles From Older Generations
It is amazing the difference in parenting styles that develop from generation to generation. I look back just even to my own parents and how they were raised. Then I look to my grandparent’s generation and hear how they were raised. Of course the world is a much different place today but it is fun to reflect on some of the parenting techniques used even 50 years ago. For instance:
Liquor
My grandmother tells me the old remedy for getting a teething baby to sleep. Take some liquor and dip your finger into the bottle. Then rub the liquor onto the gums of the baby numbing the area and at the same time the alcohol will make the baby sleepy. Can you imagine getting this out in the open today? I am not saying it still isn’t done but this practice was a little more acceptable back in the days of horses and buggies. Today we have to ask a doctor first, get a prescription, and follow the rules. If not it could mean trouble for parents. You may be plastered all over the news as a parent behaving badly.
Also what about the hot wood stove?
Hot Stove
Another interesting thing I learned about history, especially up around where I live in the Northeastern United States. Back before there was oil heat, families tried to heat their homes with wood.
Sometimes far enough back all they had was a wood stove in the kitchen all winter trying to heat a large New England style home. The lifestyle in the winter changed dramatically from summer. For instance, parts of the house were closed off to conserve heat. The bedrooms were all upstairs and it meant just closing off the 2nd floor. If you dared sleep under layers of blankets then more power to you. But sometimes families slept downstairs closer to the stove. Typically the father would wake up several times in the evening to check the fire and make sure it was going good. Now I know why my great grandmother knitted so many blankets.
Anyway, with children around and attending to the normal lifestyle, typically on the farm, and for the women probably the kitchen was the main area. The mother would watch the children and the father would go make a living. Now, the mother had stuff to do and couldn’t always watch the children every single second. So what they used to do to prevent children from crawling over and burning themselves on a scorching hot wood stove in the kitchen, today it would be considered child abuse, but they would take the baby’s hand and quickly lean over and touch it to the stove top. Now it wasn’t enough to scauld them, but just enough to make them feel a bit of pain. This technique would cause the baby to dislike going near the stove. The curiosity that killed the cat would be gone and the mother wouldn’t have to worry about the baby wanting to touch the stove and potentially scaulding themselves real bad.
Now think about that a minute and picture parents doing that today. Can you imagine? I can see your children being swept away as you are faced with child abuse charges. But the lifestyle called for it then. People’s lives were different. Today there is no real excuse to do that as we have oil heat and other sources to keep us warm.
So, can you think of any parenting techniques that used to be considered part of the norm, but are almost outrageous ideas today?? I would love to hear them.
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