Friday, August 1, 2008

Google: Parenting For Dummies

An associate at work today told me a funny story. This is how non-parent attorneys learn about baby care:

The associate was watching her sister's newborn when the baby became really fussy. She called her sister who told her that he might have become unwrapped from his swaddle and, if so, she just needed to re-swaddle him.

She, however, had no idea what a swaddle was or how to do one. Rather than telling her sister this, she turned to the fanastic world wide web. She quickly googled "how to swaddle a baby," read some quick step by step instructions, studied the diagrams, and then practiced on her nephew.

He stopped crying immediately.

When my mom had me, her first baby, she had to call my grandma for advice on how to do EVERYTHING. I wonder how grandmas would feel knowing that society's need for them is becoming obsolete. Or that they are being replaced by the internet- a thing they know absolutely nothing about.

5 comments:

newduck said...

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but have you lost your mind? Or am I just mis-reading this post? Maybe it's just me, but the advice my mom gave me when my baby was born is completely irreplaceable. Even though I obsessively check google for every possible baby-related hint, nothing the internet offers can come close to what my mom knows about baby raising.

CP said...

I didn't mean this as a serious post, but more of an exaggeration. Of course you can't learn everything about childcare over the internet and of course someone's real life experience is irreplaceable. I liked this associate's story- I thought it was pretty funny.

This post wasn't meant to be taken literally-- I didn't really think it would be.

the dragonfly said...

My mom was (and continues to be!) a big help. But My mother-in-law drove me crazy with her "I didn't do it that way..." advice.

I can laugh about it now...but there were times I was so so so happy to have an ocean between us!

(And yes, I use Google all the time. Especially when it's morning here but the middle of the night in the States.)

:)

newduck said...

Leave it to me to mis-read the post!

Mary Lewis-Pierce said...

I like using Google for information. Its just like looking something up in a book. But I need to hear other mothers' experience so I don't feel alone in this journey.