We Cannot Raise Our Children In A Sterile, Padded Bubble

Babies do not come with instruction manuals. New parents try to figure out what is reasonable for their child, and to provide a normal childhood. However, their efforts are often hampered by the dread that some disaster will follow the child’s initial explorations of his world. Our children are totally dependent on us at first, and the weight of that responsibility can make us fearful for their safety. Sometimes this attitude is continued, permeating our parental attitude much longer than it should.

Our first babies are treated with extreme care because we fear the common household bacteria which he may encounter. We provide him with his personal baby bath and all of the baby washcloths and bath blankets he can use. After stocking up on his special soaps and creams, we try to keep him as germ-free as our ingenuity can arrange. Many parents become hysterical at the sound of people coughing or sneezing within sixty feet of their newborn. They attempt to keep him in a sterile bubble as long as possible. Regular household linens are banned from his life, usually until the toddler stage.

When should you start letting your infant use the common family household linens? Sooner rather than later, to be brief. The minor germs contained in these cloths are exactly what a developing immune system needs. Doctors now urge the use of regular soap around the home and workplace. Why don’t they encourage the use of the popular germ killing soaps? It is because the immune system gets stronger with every germ it encounters. It learns how to fight them

Lives are being saved by modern safety equipment for today’s children. Most parents try to keep their children from dangers for as long as possible. The use of baby safety monitors keeps many a child from choking to death. Baby’s early food supply is ideally breast milk. The development of the easy to use electric breast pump ensures baby’s safe nutrition supply at all times. Transportation of children is now safer than ever because of the tough new regulations surrounding child car seats.

It is a difficult transition for parents when the time comes to loosen their total control of the child’s environment. Many are afraid to let the child’s natural curiosity carry them into new experiences. But children must be allowed to explore their environments if they are ever to learn which decisions are good for them. They will make errors in judgment.

No child will be permanently damaged by being temporarily rebuffed by his environment. He will learn to confront the problem. Then he has a chance to discover how to overcome it.

Give your child the tools for the challenges of life by letting him make some decisions of his own about what is a good idea and what is not. This is the best safety training you can provide in the long run.