Is This Stuff Necessary?

It has been about 10 times now that my mom has said, 'they didn't have this stuff when you were born - you were deprived'. She is referring to things such as pack n play, those gyms that lay on the floor for a baby, monitors, fancy swings, wipe heaters, etc. She has friends with some of the stuff we have gotten and she is like,'they have all the bells and whistles like you' and I just say.....'these things aren't bells and whistles and are just what everyone has now'. Unfortunately, I am just old and things have changed a lot :)

This does beg the question, 'how did we all survive being babies without all of this stuff?' The whole world is about convenience nowadays so I'm sure I had all of the same experiences just done differently and on the cheap. For instance, the baby gym - this stimulates senses and increases coordination. I'm sure my mom stimulated my senses somehow and made me reach for stuff. Maybe my parents actually had to work harder since they had to purposely do these things, whereas, I could lay Baby Hahm in the gym and have the gym do all the work while I read a book or something. hhhmm. Same with a swing or bouncer. I can imagine my dad bouncing me on his knee to get me to shush, but now we have bouncers and vibrating swings to do the job.

Or baby room monitors? My dad bought us a video monitor to use so we can see Baby Hahm while he sleeps w/o disturbing him. It is really cool and I can't wait to use it. Admittedly, I am excited because it will make things easier since the crib is upstairs and our master is down. I guess my parents had to just listen for me to cry or keep the crib closer for longer. It is possible that this constant monitoring has turned us into worry wart moms/dads. You have to recondition yourself with a monitor that it is ok if a baby makes a movement or a whimper w/o thinking he is starving or wet or sick. I remind you though that somehow I survived without a video monitor and don't seem worse off for it... (I'm sure Baby Hahm would survive w/o a video monitor too, but it is hard to pass up really cool technology!!)

Or a wipe heater? Ok, this may be a bell and whistle and not necessary. Some friends have said though that it makes for a less startled baby with a middle of the night change. My mom said she used a washcloth. This reminds me that some of the old ways are actually better for the environment too. I don't know if I had any more cases of diaper rashes because of the washcloth method, but I doubt it and my mom didn't add to the landfill...something to think about I guess. She did have to clean up more with this method instead of simply tossing stuff away.

I'm starting to think parents had to work harder as parents back in the day. They had to create environments and activities for us so that we could grow up as healthy normally adjusted kids. What do you think?