There are several things about the care of babies that I do not understand. To the point where I had a dream about it the other night after I found myself thinking about during the day.
The first thing I do not understand about babies is the notion that they find rocking relaxing. When I rock back and forth I am normally in an anxious state of mind. I find that my emotions are at a level of anxiousness that has not yet brought me to my feet to pace, but I still want to be doing some movement while seated so I rock. Generally if I am to the point of rocking then I am very close to pacing. Now I suppose that the purpose of pacing and rocking must have some sort of calming effect if that is what my body instinctively does when I get anxious. Just like if I get sleepy, my body instinctively tries to go to sleep so that I will be less sleepy, here if I am anxious my body instinctively sets to rocking to become less anxious.
But when I am not anxious, then I do not like to rock. In fact I purposely try not to rock. This is because I find that rocking, in a relaxed state, makes me a little sea-sick. So rather than becoming more relaxed I end up becoming less relaxed. In fact, I rarely see people simply rocking back and forth. Even when sitting in rocking chairs, the people I see tend to just sit there. I think the rocking chairs are appealing because they offer so many different angles to seat, sort of like a one size fits all hat. So it makes me wonder if I am not alone in my displeasure of rocking. And if I am not alone, then I do not see why we should think babies enjoy it. Maybe if the baby's were anxious about something, then we could rock them. I imagine if I was a baby and saw how high I was off the ground being carried by someone I had only just met, I would probably be a little anxious, but we have no idea if they are anxious or not. Toddlers seem rather fearless but grow up to become more fearful, so maybe newborns are even more fearless than toddlers. But I think we should error on the side of caution. We do not know if the babies are anxious, but we can be pretty sure that rocking them will make them sick if it makes us sick too. So let's not rock them, unless we know they are upset like when they are crying, just so long as they didn't start crying while we were rocking them.
Now swinging is a different matter altogether. While it seems very similar to rocking, swinging is actually quite enjoyable. And maybe that's why it is okay for babies. When we hold babies and rock them back and forth, if you look at how they are positioned, the babies are really closer to the position we are in when we are swinging. We are really moving their entire body back and forth, rather than just their upper half. Maybe just moving the upper half is what makes rocking un-enjoyable. In any event, I think children should simply just be held and hugged rather than swung about from some dizzying lofty height.
The next thing I wonder about is baby clothing. So often I see babies dressed in a fashion that makes them look similar to cubs. But babies are not bears, and I see little reason to dress them as such. They can't tell us if they are hot or cold, and lack the ability to dress themselves. So often I see them in winter hats, in doors, when I am burning up as it is without a hat on. I have to wonder if they too are really hot. Maybe that's why they cry. Also babies grow rapidly, making me think they have high metabolisms, and if that's the case, then they should probably be perfectly warm if I am too. Finally I have heard all about toddlers who have an affinity for taking off their clothes and then proceeding to run around their surroundings. If they like running around naked, then I think they are perfectly warm enough. So there is no need to dress the child as an Eskimo.
The first thing I do not understand about babies is the notion that they find rocking relaxing. When I rock back and forth I am normally in an anxious state of mind. I find that my emotions are at a level of anxiousness that has not yet brought me to my feet to pace, but I still want to be doing some movement while seated so I rock. Generally if I am to the point of rocking then I am very close to pacing. Now I suppose that the purpose of pacing and rocking must have some sort of calming effect if that is what my body instinctively does when I get anxious. Just like if I get sleepy, my body instinctively tries to go to sleep so that I will be less sleepy, here if I am anxious my body instinctively sets to rocking to become less anxious.
But when I am not anxious, then I do not like to rock. In fact I purposely try not to rock. This is because I find that rocking, in a relaxed state, makes me a little sea-sick. So rather than becoming more relaxed I end up becoming less relaxed. In fact, I rarely see people simply rocking back and forth. Even when sitting in rocking chairs, the people I see tend to just sit there. I think the rocking chairs are appealing because they offer so many different angles to seat, sort of like a one size fits all hat. So it makes me wonder if I am not alone in my displeasure of rocking. And if I am not alone, then I do not see why we should think babies enjoy it. Maybe if the baby's were anxious about something, then we could rock them. I imagine if I was a baby and saw how high I was off the ground being carried by someone I had only just met, I would probably be a little anxious, but we have no idea if they are anxious or not. Toddlers seem rather fearless but grow up to become more fearful, so maybe newborns are even more fearless than toddlers. But I think we should error on the side of caution. We do not know if the babies are anxious, but we can be pretty sure that rocking them will make them sick if it makes us sick too. So let's not rock them, unless we know they are upset like when they are crying, just so long as they didn't start crying while we were rocking them.
Now swinging is a different matter altogether. While it seems very similar to rocking, swinging is actually quite enjoyable. And maybe that's why it is okay for babies. When we hold babies and rock them back and forth, if you look at how they are positioned, the babies are really closer to the position we are in when we are swinging. We are really moving their entire body back and forth, rather than just their upper half. Maybe just moving the upper half is what makes rocking un-enjoyable. In any event, I think children should simply just be held and hugged rather than swung about from some dizzying lofty height.
The next thing I wonder about is baby clothing. So often I see babies dressed in a fashion that makes them look similar to cubs. But babies are not bears, and I see little reason to dress them as such. They can't tell us if they are hot or cold, and lack the ability to dress themselves. So often I see them in winter hats, in doors, when I am burning up as it is without a hat on. I have to wonder if they too are really hot. Maybe that's why they cry. Also babies grow rapidly, making me think they have high metabolisms, and if that's the case, then they should probably be perfectly warm if I am too. Finally I have heard all about toddlers who have an affinity for taking off their clothes and then proceeding to run around their surroundings. If they like running around naked, then I think they are perfectly warm enough. So there is no need to dress the child as an Eskimo.
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