November 23, 2014
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Remebering
Remember cloth diapers and plastic pants? Remember hanging wet wash on the clothesline to dry? One of our girls just hated to bring in the dry clothes and fold them. She said she was afraid she'd find a spider in them.
Remember when mom changed all the diapers? There were no arguments about whose turn it was. Sometimes new ways are better. At least this mom thinks so.
Remember washing dishes by hand? Or, almost worse, making your children wash them by hand? We had one son who preferred to sit on a stool to dry dishes. One evening we went out for a short while. Before we left. his sister was told to wash the dishes and he was told to dry them. When we got home, he was still sitting on the stool drying dishes.My first child was born in 1959, and the last was born in 1984, so I've seen a lot of changes. When the first three were born my husband wasn't allowed in the delivery room. The next 2 were born in Africa, so of course he could stay with me. The last 2 were born in the U.S. and he was able to stay with me. Today anyone the parents want can stay if the Dr. and Hospital allow it, and most of them do. Which reminds me of a friend who had her babies at home. She wanted the kids in the room with her to welcome their new sibling. The first 2 times they were excited. The next time they were too busy watching TV to care. I think she eventually had 10, and gave up on having the older ones watch.
Comments (14)
There have been lots of changes in what fathers could and would do in regards to child birth and rearing. I do think it is good that men are more involved in the day to day care of the babies and that they experience the birth of their children - gives them a greater appreciation of the magnitude of birth.
And I remember the plastic pants and cloth diapers. My youngest sister was born and I helped get the plastic pants out of storage. There were some that were brittle and cracked. Disposable diapers were just introduced but only rich folks could afford them...
I remember brittle plastic pants too. I also remember poking my first baby with a diaper pin, as well as poking my finders many times. Velcro is a great invention.
I loved hanging my laundry out to dry... wish I could still do it.
My children grew up helping wash dishes and never had a complaint... of course I mostly did them. Remember the days when moms were home?
You had 7 children!
I can't imagine having children in the house, let alone in the room during child birth. Can't imagine exposing them to that. I think it would be scary for a child to see their mom go through that. That's a little too up close and personal to me.
Hope you had a wonderful Sabbath(rest) day.
I wouldn't have wanted my children to see either. It was bad enough when I had a baby in Africa and the older children were outside on the front porch waiting. It's a good thing I'm not a hollerer.
So funny about the children getting to busy to watch anymore siblings being born.
You were blessed to have all those children! I agree with jstnotherday I wouldn't have wanted my other children to be there or any other relative besides my Honey. I still wash a lot of dishes by hand because I like it. I do like the dishwasher too.
I washed dishes by hand last night. There weren't very many of them. A few times we've had the children do the Sunday dishes. They don't like loading the dishwasher, but they do like doing the dishes by hand. I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner. One day it dawned on me that if we were Amish, the little girls would be washing all the dishes. It's actually easier for us to do them ourselves, but I think it's better for them to learn to work, and not just play.
Our lifestyle Janine and I can be modeled exactly on the your except that our first child was born in 1962. At that time they washed the baby's diapers and reused the one. I have not had the right to be present in the delivery room in 1962 but things have changed as e saw.
I remember you got 7 children , and us 6.
It is life
Love
Michel
Yes, is is life, and life is good even though there are hard times. God is good.
We still sometimes wash dishes by hand ~ everyone needs to know how!!
Interesting.
No dishwasher here, and the girls are well schooled in washing dishes. We also hang all our laundry to dry. (I do have a tiny dryer for emergencies.) Have used cloth diapers in the day, but not with Josh because of various reasons. We do use cloth feminine products. Life does change. Dishwashers & dryers are culture shock items
You're right. I was only thinking of life here in the US. In Africa things were quite different.
I think cloth diapers on babies were so soft and good, without problems with diaper rash. But the pampers etc. now are pretty good. Because we are just the two of us at home, we wash the four or five dishes by hand and put them in the dishwasher to dry out. Every week we use the dishwasher once or twice if it gets filled or if we have the family over.
I have missed your reminisces! I sent you a friend request on facebook, I am Marybeth Welsch Noel there