What do you think of "those" parents?

I think parents who do not immunize are not being logical and could experience great heartache.

I am totally opposed to antibacterial soaps and cleaners. Currently, there have been MRSA cases in seven local schools. Antibacterials create super bugs.

I also think there is a balance in keeping your child safe and let your child be in the world.

I agree with Marina about having a balance.

We never child-proofed ANYTHING for my daughter. She is very curious and explored like crazy, but was naturally careful and listens extremely well to direction. She also naturally neat and doesn’t enjoy getting dirty.

Now when her little cousin comes by for a visit…you have to batten down the hatches.

So it depends on the child.

That being said, I see so many parents projecting their fears, phobias and even allergies onto their children it truly worries me.

I actually saw a woman say to her child, “don’t try that. You won’t like it” (with regard to cauliflower) “I never liked it when I was your age.”

Huhbuwha?

Off-topic, lurve—> previte: “huhbuwha?”

Certain immunizations do have very serious risks, I do not begrudge a parent who chooses not to. My brother almost died from a simple routine shot for school once. My mother threw us in the mud, helped dye stripes of blue in my hair and my brothers when I was thirteen so I could see what it was like, we learned fencing, kung fu, softball, soccer, painting, mountain climbing, dance…everything.
Personally, some serious stuff I will immunize my future children against sure, but as for everything else this big planet has to show them is theirs for the taking.
They have to try everything on their plate. They must say please and thank you.

You throw your kid headfirst into an amazing world or beauty, art and yes, dirt.Usually, things will turn out pretty amazing if you just let life live.

then again i spent my fifth birthday party rolling down a mountain and riding a horse bareback on the beach at sunset so I dont think her particular style of parenting is the norm

Beyond keeping your bleach, drugs and matches in a high place, we should let kids explode.

If the television isn’t lying, and we do need to desperately eradicate 99.9% of bacteria, it’s a wonder we’ve survived up until now.

LOL. Obviously that should say “explore”. God knows how I managed to fat finger that.

To answer the question, that style of parenting under normal circumstances can only be described as paranoia.

@richardhenry: Exploding kids sounds kinda fun.

in a cartoony way

…let kids explode.
hehe.
Oh, AstroChuck! Where are you??

Lurve for exploding kids.

@richardhenry – Now there’s a Freudian slip! XD

I actually just had a conversation about kids’ safety the other day. I started watching Mad Men, which takes place in the early 1960s and is apparently a pretty accurate portrayal of life in that time. (I don’t know personally; I wasn’t born yet. My parents still thought the opposite sex had cooties in 1960.)

Anyway, in one of the earliest episodes of Mad Men, there is a scene where one character’s kids are playing and the girl has a dry cleaning bag over her head. Most parents now would FREAK OUT over that and order the kid to take the bag off of her head before she suffocated. Betty Draper scolded her because the fact that the dry cleaning bag was empty likely meant that the clothes that were supposed to be in it were now on the closet floor. The same character got into a minor car accident and both of her kids wound up on the floor because they weren’t buckled. And the same character also told her son he was being silly when he said his eyes were burning while she was smoking a cigarette in his face. None of these are parenting moves that would get my stamp of approval.

On the other hand, I can’t stand overprotection. There’s a big difference between making your kid buckle their seatbelt and coming up with some kind of elaborately padded contraption that’ll keep them from being even slightly jostled if you can’t avoid a pothole or something. (No, I don’t know of anyone who’s actually done anything like this, but I do know a few people whose eyes would light up at the suggestion.)

Not immunizing your kids is irresponsible and promotes the spread of otherwise controllable disease around the country.

That said, letting kids get dirty is also important.

But you should also bring them to the doctor and they should get their shots.

Kids need to be kids and explore themsleves. Parents who shield their kids aren’t doing them any favors…learning by experience – no matter how hard it is to watch—is the best way to go.
As far as vaccinations go, I don’t understand a person’s logic for not wanting your child to be/stay as healthy as possible.
I raised my daughter with the phrase “life isn’t fair” and she gets it so much better now than some of her friends. i did babyproof my house to a certain extent when she was really little, but then taught her what was ok and what was not.
Now, if I could instill that same teaching in my year old Westie, my house would be a happier place!

1. Lurve to cprevite for “Huhbuwha?”
2. Lurve to susanc for lurve for “Huhbuwha?”
3. Lurve to richardhenry for exploding kids.
4. Lurve to richardhenry for “how did I manage to fat finger that?”

I’m sort of torn on this one. My boyfriend and I are germ freaks… but I know it’s bad for us. It’s like eating the entire pint of ice cream. You still HAVE to do it.

@poof germs are everywhere….don’t turn into a Michael Jackson!

@dead: It’s not that bad… but I do have waterless hand cleansers at my desk at work, and I have antibacterial gel in my car (which I don’t use unless my hands are visibly dirty), and I wash my hands all the time. Brad is way worse. He could buy stock in Purell.

@poof Those waterless cleaners are so drying tho. Just don’t get to wearing gloves all the time!

We probably breathe in more germs than anything else.

My son explodes on a regular basis. In fact, he exploded this morning and woke the neighbors. He didn’t want to go to school.

On another note, I tell my kids that being a kid means exploring all the different things there are to do, or how will you know what you like when you grow up? I also tell them that anyone who gets to adulthood without a few scars never tried anything fun.

I do believe in using bleach in the kitchen and bath – that kills bacteria but in a way they can’t evolve away around, unlike antibiotics. I don’t mind the rest of the house being a bit dirty as that helps build the immune system, but I hate getting food poisoning.

I also believe firmly in immunization. I was around in the 1960s and I also heard my parents’ stories about polio, whooping cough, and other serious diseases. I knew folks who died from some of these things. Yes, there is a risk to immunization, but there is a bigger risk from diseases such as diptheria and tetanus. Look at one enormous change, thanks to immunizations: 100 years ago folks would have 10 kids and raise 3 to 5 of them. The rest died of disease. Today, folks can have 3 kids and typically expect to raise 3 kids.

My daughter used almost an entire bottle of hand sanitizer in Disneyland. I took my Grandson to Disneyland without her and got in trouble when he came down with a cold a few days later. (bad granny, forgot the hand sanitizer)

This is a matter of degree. I’ve always let my kids explore and encouraged it. I “childproofed” my home when then kids were babies, but childproofing used to not mean all these weird devices all over your world. You had a lock on the one cabinet that had the chemicals under the sink. You made sure you didn’t have a coffee table with sharp edges when the babies were learning to walk. You put away fireplace pokers. And you probably made you’re everyday drinking cup plastic instead of glass for a few years. That’s about it.

Next time you’re in the mall notice how tricked out the average stroller is these days. It’s like a status symbol now. Also, notice the age of the kids you tend to see in them. I’ve seen four-year-olds in strollers routinely. I’m betting the muscle atrophy starts there. It’s unusual to see young kids walking in a mall or public place. It’s like parents are crippling their kids by pushing them all over like royalty whose feet should never touch the ground.

To answer the actual question, I think “those” parents, the extreme cases, are selfish because they coddle their kids to make themselves feel better instead of raising healthy kids. The four-year-olds in strollers are there for the parents’ convenience instead of the kid’s best interests.

@cyndyh perfect answer!

Why, thanks you. :^>

We used to use those cheapo “umbrella strollers” basically as a last resort, when short folks were way too tired to keep going at the end of the day and our backs were worn out from lugging them when needed. When I had two kids of that size I tied two such strollers together to make a double-seater. At $19.95 each brand new (and much cheaper in garage sales) it was most cost-effective.

The strollers I see out and about now are the baby equivalent of Cadillac Escalades, while we had an old VW. In fact, now that my daughter can drive we bought her an old VW. When it won’t run, usually a hammer, some duct tape, and maybe some paperclips will get it going again, which fosters creativity.

As to baby-proofing, I simply reversed the cabinets: Towels went under the sink and nasty things went into the highest cabinet I could find. I put a cheap latch up high on the doors to the outside so no one could suddenly dash out into the street, and I put a baby gate on the stairs. I also took the knobs off the stove, and they are still off because we have big dogs who like to check out the counters and they have accidentally turned the burners on.

We did buy a crib and a playpen for the first baby (we ended up putting the Christmas tree in the playpen because we got tired of picking the plastic ornaments up all the time), and someone gave us a used high chair. However, we never had a changing table, or a fancy diaper pail, or toddler beds, or many other fancy doodads. Instead, we spent our money on books and doing things with the kids.

For baby number two, though, I did get one of those front pouch baby carrying things – that was a godsend since I had a newborn and a two-year-old at the same time.

We used to get a lot of compliments from older folks who said they enjoyed seeing our kids being able to move about and be kids. We let them do that as long as it was in an appropriate place and time.

I suspect some of the escalation in childcare accoutrements is simply a result of marketing attempting to make new parents feel as if they have to have all those things, and partly it is the inevitable feeling that new parents have that they need to give their kids everything (big mistake!).

@deaddolly too late for poof!! She’s wearing latex on her fingers as we speak They look like litle mini condoms, ha ha!!

aye, but they do.

I do not approve of exploding kids—it makes such a mess.

Especially when they throw things, like open but full soda cans.