Parenting 101

I attended a baby shower yesterday for a young lady we have watched grow from a gangly, long legged girl into a beautiful young lady. She married last year and is now ripely pregnant with their firstborn. We played ice breaker shower games and then were asked to write a serious piece of advice about child rearing on a note card for the soon to be new mom. Great idea. Among those attending were relatives, long time friends of Kelly's mother, and a lot of church people. I knew the bunch from church were a pretty fun loving group and soon picked up the grandma-be's friends were just as light hearted. Wondering what kind of wisdom she was going to glean from this mess of moms, I asked the group what they had written. We never got past the first one, her mother's advice; "Always be sure you have the child's carseat actually attached to the car." The mother then told her tale of not properly securing her first child's carseat and having to stop quickly on the freeway. Baby (still in the carseat) tipped over face down in the backseat. ) I asked if there was a sign that said, "BABY USED TO BE ON BOARD". All was well in spite of the mishap, except for one distraught mother. This spurred stories of traveling with children years ago. With our first three children there were no safety carseats. Everyone had a booster type car seat that sat on the bench seat of the car. No restraint. This just elevated the kid so they could see out the window and made it easier for the parent who placed the kid and seat in the middle of the front seat to attend to the child. The trifecta of safety violations: an unrestrained child, in the front seat (up high), and a distracted driver who reached for fallen pacifiers and toys or dug graham crackers out of her purse. It is amazing so many of our children survived. Another horror story was told by an older mom who said her nieces and nephews always traveled standing on the front seat. When she took them she insisted they sit down. No seat belts and air bags weren't invented yet. On one trip a child opened the front door as she turned a corner. I guess child safety locks weren't standard either at that time. On auto trips our three kids often stood on the back seat to see. Another person I know remembers a sibling who would sleep in the back window of the family car. My husband would sit our oldest son on his lap when he was about two and let him steer the car. (Done on back roads at a slower speed).

Last week NBC evening news did a segment on "The Nanny State". Some think our government has passed too many laws trying to protect children. Playing dodge ball or tag on the playground is not allowed in some states. There are many protective laws raising questions about whether we are allowing our children to enjoy their childhood. Some people even put a car restraint on the family dog. The people who authored these laws must have heard about some of the mothers at the shower.

Kelly better let someone take a look at some of the other bits of advice given before implementing them.