When the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

If you ever feel down, or in a bad mood, or like the world is going to hell in a handbasket, then a kid can brighten the day.

The thing is; they don’t care!

They know nothing, they have few needs, they have no sense of guilt - consequently they have a burden-free attitude to life, and that is infectious. Not any old kid will do. They have to be under about 10, depending on their mental and emotional maturity.

Or maybe 8; kids grow up so fast these days. Or 5 even. But preferably a baby or toddler, if possible.

You need a basically happy one, well fed and not tired, hopefully with a sense of humour. They will play peek-a-boo whether you want to or not, they will emit great belches and laugh, they will splash in puddles without worrying about whether they have clean dry socks in the drawer or not. They will share their last bit of chocolate, all you have to do is open your mouth and they shove it in. They have not realised that when it’s gone, it’s gone. They are liberated. They are free….

I can tell you, I’ve had a kid or two or three to keep my nostrils above the water. They are just fun. Yes I know they cry, and vomit and produce diarrhoea in the supermarket. But it’s not their fault. How can you keep a straight face when you have a row of little kids on the sofa laughing at their toes? Or a toddler, seeing you are miserable, will force the corners of your mouth up with their index fingers to make you smile. And you do.

My kids have kept me sane. Or have they warped my sense of humour? I never can tell. They seem to love me whether I am sane or not, ridiculous or not.

Toddlers don’t need you to put your makeup on for them to think you are beautiful. They don’t notice if you haven’t lost the ‘baby weight’ or have been a stone over weight for the last year. They just want you to hug them and read them bedtime stories. To put plasters on their grazed knee and to think they are brave for swinging so high at the play park. To put bubbles in their bath and tuck them into a warm bed. To put honey on their crumpets and cut up their toast.

And I can’t help thinking of all the Mums in this world that can’t do that. Who can’t keep their babies safe, clean and well-fed. Whether they are homeless single Mums surviving in hostels in the UK, asylum seekers in squalid camps, or battled scarred and frightened in areas of conflict. There are thousands of Mums who yearn to make the lives of their kids more tolerable; yet even here the brightness of their kids’ smiles on a good day will light up their world.

Let’s not take our kids for granted. We owe them a great deal.

Saggy 

And so to sleep…...or not.

So, we've heard about the 50s.

                

 How did it go for us when it was our turn to rock the cradle?

Well, at first I was a complete rookie. Luckily my mum was always there at the end of the phone. She was at the end of the phone, but I wasn't. No mobiles of course, in the 1970s, and we didn't even have a landline. So if I didn’t know what to do next, I had to bundle the baby into his pram and wheel him down to the nearest pay phone,

“ Muuum, he won't stop crying! What do I do?”

Sometimes just being pushed in the pram would have quieted him by the time I got to the phone if I was lucky. If not, then Mum’s calm advice would give me the confidence to cope.

 Getting babies and toddlers to sleep at night seemed to be an important part of life in the following years. I had babies who were good sleepers and, thinking I'd cracked it, I got quite smug.

Then along came the non-sleepers, and made me think again.

This is me with one of my non-sleepers. Neither of us has had much sleep by the look of it.

Truth is, I guess, some babies sleep more than others. And if you were to ask me if they all sleep through the night eventually; I should say – not necessarily. I still can't get my last one to sleep all night, and she's nearly 21.

But, on the other hand, there have been some who could sleep on a washing line. A 3-hour nap in the afternoon and still go to bed at 6.30 and sleep right through. I reckon they would still be doing it now if they could get away with it…

Here is a selection of things I was told by other mums to try on sleepless babies and toddlers…

1)      Put the vacuum cleaner on. It will make them shut up and go to sleep.

Hmmm….

2)      Drive them about in the car. They will drop off quickly.

Well, yes, probably. But then you must either keep driving (not ideal if you are half dead with weariness) or you have to wake them up getting them back indoors.

3)      Sing lullabies.

This could work if you can keep it up long enough.

4)      Leave them to cry.

This will work for some. Others will eat their cot before they will give in and go to sleep. More athletic babies may be able to climb right out of the cot unless you tie them down. (This is true, I had one of them).

5)      Put whiskey in their bottle.

NO. Do NOT do this. You will have your child taken into care, and tempting as this thought might seem when you are tired, you WILL regret it one day.

While we're on the subject….

Some toddlers have their own ideas about where they want to sleep. One of mine favoured the bath. And when he was banned from doing that, he put the baby bath onto his bed and slept in it.

 I like a child who knows their own mind.

Another one went to bed for a nap without me knowing. She was scrunched up small under the duvet in the dip in the mattress so we couldn't see she was there. Hours later and with the house searched from top to bottom, I was about to ring the police when she crawled out wondering why we were all so frantic.

Yet another toddler liked to sleep in the cupboard. I have no idea why.

All things pass, as they say. And the day does come when you are no longer wondering what it’s like to have an uninterrupted night’s sleep. Uninterrupted by children that is. There are plenty of things that will interrupt your sleep in later life. But that’s another story.

Moo

How did we all survive?

It was all SO last century….

I must have read all the books on baby care as a new mum. Some were ok. But for sheer entertainment you couldn’t beat the really old ones. And there have been some pretty whacky ideas out there at times.

I thought it would be fun to look back at some of the mainstream advice given back in the 1950s. I wasn’t a mother myself at the time, but I do have a handy book called The Care of Young Babies which first came out in 1940. I have the fifth edition here.

Fresh air seems to feature a lot in this book. Leaving the baby out in the sun is encouraged. Another idea is ‘air bathing’. (Yes, I know. I hadn’t heard of it either).

What you do is, you strip your baby down to its nappy, stick it in the pram, and leave it out in the fresh air to wave its healthy young legs around. Preferably outdoors in all weathers by the sound of it. But if the weather is very bad, indoors next to an open window.

And if not actually snowing, outside the open window.

This is me in my pram. 
Thank goodness my mum has left my clothes on.

Now, that’s what you call a pram!

All the advice seems hearty and no nonsense. Fresh air and exercise and all that.

Very bracing.


What a wholesome approach! Written, of course, by a man. A man who knows he is right and is going to tell mothers what to do.

But there is a chapter for the new father

This is Father with son. I’d be worried if that baby was mine. Just look at that guy’s face. What is he about to do with the poor kid? (I've edited this picture - I don’t want to get arrested. No such worries in those days it seems.)

And dads, you should be growing vegetables for your family. You don’t want to eat that rubbish you buy in shops.
Hang on, some of this advice sounds quite up to date.

They didn't pull any punches in those days.
 If your baby wasn't sitting up on its own by seven months, then ‘you may find that he is fat and gross, a great lubber of a boy...’

 No offence!

Spare a thought for the mums of the 50s. No disposable nappies for them. They were lucky if they had a washing machine.

This is what they had to do with nappies…..

“Wet napkins should be put in a covered pail of water, dirty napkins into another pail with disinfectant. The wetted ones should be washed, rinsed and hung up to dry. Dirty ones are shaken over the W.C., scrubbed under the tap with a hard brush and soap, left soaking for some time in cold water and washed out in a good lather with soap or soap flakes. Rinse them thoroughly in several changes of clean water, then dry them and let them air thoroughly. If you can, have a proper wash tub in the scullery and wash the napkins there. Leaning over a bath is back-breaking work…” -  You don't say!

But when it comes to discipline, you don't take any nonsense...

 ‘Many babies will stop crying at once if you say firmly: “Stop that horrible noise at once. I won't have it.”

Really?

Tell that to my mum.

This is me and my Mum.

She hadn’t read the books.        But then, she didn’t need to.

Well done Mum! Three well brought up babies to your credit.

Moo