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JoyNChrist
06-29-2007, 02:25 PM
I thought it would be fun to have a thread that lists the following -

1) Things your parents/caregivers did when you were a kid that make you cringe when you look back on them (dangerous, stupid, etc).

and

2) Bad/crazy baby advice you've been given.

JoyNChrist
06-29-2007, 02:31 PM
As a child, I can remember riding in the front seat of my dad's truck, no seatbelt, sitting on top of his lunchbox when he would take me to daycare on his way to work. I can also remember that my grandmother always kept a fly swatter in the front seat of the car to smack me and my cousins with if we were acting up in the back seat (I know that's a Blue Collar/Redneck joke, but she really did!).

So far, I've been given several baby care suggestions that are just a little nutty...

- DH's grandmother gave me a silver dime with a hole drilled in it, which I'm supposed to put on an elastic necklace for DS to wear under his clothes, in order to prevent teething pain.

- DH's aunt told me that DS should be drinking a pint of water a day, to ward off dehydration.

- My grandmother told me that rubbing my baby's feet every night will make him have a better appetite.

- And my mom swears that a baby's first food should be pickles, because after they taste the sourness, they will like all other foods better because they taste good.


People are crazy. :-)

Drag0nflygirl
06-29-2007, 03:38 PM
When my brother was around a year old he started waking up with the birds. Mom would make him a peanut butter sandwich, throw it in the crib and go back to bed.

AngelaS
06-29-2007, 06:41 PM
I remember riding in the back of Dad's pickup truck, the back of the station wagon and the front seat of the car.

Hands down, the worst parenting advice came from MIL. To get my dd to stop sucking her thumb she suggested doing what her mom did---stick it in dog poop.

Eww.

lmintzer
06-29-2007, 06:56 PM
My parents didn't do too much crazy stuff--even in the early 70s, they used carseats. Although, I THINK I may have ridden home from the hospital in my mom's lap. But they used a plastic GM rear-facing infant seat and then a forward facing seat, at least through toddlerhood.

Here's 3 that they did do: put raw eggs in milkshakes so we would get some proten (?!! was salmonella less of a problem then?) and rub brandy on my gums with a q-tip when I was teething. I think we also may have gotten Karo syrup for constipation.

Worst piece of advice I've gotten? Hmm. I haven't gotten anything too terrible. That, or I've blocked it out. I guess I'd have to say it was sleep advice--since we had problems with sleep, we had everybody and her brother telling us what to do! The worst (for our kids) was "Keep them up late so they'll sleep late." Yeah, right! To this day, I ignore that one, because it just doesn't work for us. If I keep them up late, they'll STILL be up early--and will be super crabby!

gatorruth
06-29-2007, 08:21 PM
My ped. suggested Karo syrup for DS's constipation as recently as 2006!! Your parents were just ahead of their times!!

Ruth
ps- the Karo works!!

scoop22
06-29-2007, 09:07 PM
ds loves pickles this would have never worked for me..

i remember riding in the back of a wagon. we had a mattress and we would sleep onlong trips. we had bean bag chairs for the truck.

i have been told to put wiskey on gums. my aunt told me never to put ds to bed without socks. socks make them sleep better.
http://b2.lilypie.com/XbITm4.png

fortato
06-29-2007, 11:35 PM
1:
Rode in the WAY BACK of the Station wagon, rode in the back of a pick-up truck. With out a booster seat, or seat belt.
Drank Koolaid all the time...hardly had just water
My mom smoked through her whole pregnancy... drank a little too.
My parents would leave me in the car when they ran into the store, or... my mom would let me go sit in the magazine aisle at the supermarket while she shopped. I would sit and read MAD magazine and she would get our groceries.


2:
Put shoes on him. (at 3 months)
Karo Syrup and water to ease constipation
Give him some cereal (2 days after he came home)
We should come and stay with you, to help you out...(My WHOLE Inlaw family... 5 adults and 2 children.)
Sleep when he sleeps... (does this really ever happen??)

crayonblue
06-30-2007, 08:45 AM
I know this is something that some moms (particularly those on a certain mothering site) do but it freaks me out: let my temperature get up to 105 and not worry one bit. My mom said she just gave me a cool bath and put a cool washcloth on my forehead and let me cry and cry until my fever broke. She said she knew I was ok because I was crying. Thanks, mom, I am sure I felt great. (My mom was a very hippy, homeopathy, natural type of person.)

gatorsmom
06-30-2007, 09:25 AM
I remember us kids rolling around in the back of the hatchback, faces pressed up against the window waving at people driving behind us.

Oh, and my mom used to roll my hair up in rags sometimes but most often those foam rollers that I"d have to sleep on all night. That was terrible! But it could have been worse- she wore those prickly rollers to bed every night.

Lisa
Mom to Gator July 2003
And Cha-Cha July 2005
and surprise! twins due 11/07!

SnuggleBuggles
06-30-2007, 09:58 AM
That is so funny! :)

Beth

SnuggleBuggles
06-30-2007, 10:01 AM
"I remember us kids rolling around in the back of the hatchback, faces pressed up against the window waving at people driving behind us."

That was what I was going to post. I remember doing that in the back of my station wagon. It wasn't till I was about 12 that my dad got serious about seat belts (what a drag!!).

I have blocked out bad advice, I think.

Beth

peasprout
06-30-2007, 10:45 AM
My grandmother told me that if I wanted my nose to not be so flat, I had to put clothespins on it. And I did. It hurt.
My mom told me that if I swallowed a watermelon seed, I would grow a watermelon out of my head. I checked the top of my head anxiously every day after I had accidentally swallowed one.
And my best friend told me that if I looked at the sun without blinking, my eyelashes would get longer. My eyesight is horrible now and my eyelashes didn't grow.
Yes, I was a very gullible kid. Now I'm just a cynical adult. ;)
JP

JBaxter
06-30-2007, 11:15 AM
We drove 11 people in a station wagon to hersey park ( in PA) it was about a 2 hr drive 6 were kids in the back I remembe mom taking out my baby brothers car seat to make room for grandma so she just held Reuben.

My mother TIED my sister to a potty chair that had a tray that locked on to it and had her eat her breakfast and sit till she peed -- my heavens she was 22 months and STILL wasnt potty trained < insert rolling of eyes>

My brother teethed on beef jerky

We all wore a leather string necklace to prevent croup

I started biting my nails at 2 yrs old ( we wont mention my mother potty trained me, took my bottle and brought me a baby brother between 19-21 monts old) so good ol' mom painted my nails with that bite deterent paint. I was allergic and every place I touched my self blistered... she was trying to teach me a lesson < insert rolling eyes again> Good thing our family doc yelled at her

MMEand1
06-30-2007, 05:57 PM
We would load up, all 6 of us, in my father's Dodge Ram 50 truck (you know, the little trucks that are smaller than the Ford Rangers). I was only about 7 or 8, so my youngest brother would have been around 2 or 3. Crazy lucky we never got into an accident.

My parents (most often my mother) try to convince me to find a dr. that will prescribe a drug called "peragoric" (sp?). They said that when I was a baby, they would give it to me so I would sleep through the night. Then, by the time my youngest brother came along, the drug was taken off of the market. My mom says that since I work at a hospital, I should ask around and see if someone can still get it for me...Um Mom, It was taken off the market for a reason. Probably because it wasn't good for parents to drug their kids to get them to sleep! Needless to say, I have NEVER been a good sleeper and to this day I have sleep problems. Yeah, let me rush out and get some of that for my kids...

Can't really think of too many more right off the top of my head, but I'll ask DH.
MP