A Strange 1920s Parenting Trend That Is Leaving Today's Parents Dumbfounded
The 1920s are affectionately referred to as "The Roaring Twenties" for a reason: Vast societal change defined a decade that brought us the speakeasies of Prohibition, exciting new fashion trends, and suffrage for women. But hindsight is 20/20, and despite how we often glamorize this century-old period, we realize there were also a lot of poorly thought-out developments. It was a whole different world back then, and one newly exposed parenting trend is making people wonder if the '20s were truly so "roaring" after all.
Old-fashioned parenting methods
One hundred years ago, people thought about parenting a bit differently than we do today. Modern philosophies of child-rearing wouldn't emerge for decades, so parents came up with their own methods to raise their kids — and not all of these methods would slide in today's day and age.
No hugs allowed
One common theme? Don't give a child too much love or affection. Refrain from hugging, kissing, or comforting babies when they were crying. Being too nurturing, people assumed, would spoil a child.
No bad thoughts, mothers!
Meanwhile, popular belief dictated that breastfeeding women should refrain from having worried, angry, or distressing thoughts. Otherwise, their milk would dry up and the baby would get colic. This must have put undue pressure on new mothers who were probably already overwhelmed.
A lack of quality research
Our understandings were so different back then that one parenting "expert" even recommended giving six-month-old babies black coffee to drink to acclimate them to the eating habits of adults. As if we don't get almost two decades to develop our own tastes! Clearly, parenting tricks were born from a lack of quality research.
