In the days of yore, some methods of parenting were looked upon as the most ideal and effective ways of disciplining and raising children, when in fact these approaches were far from perfect and were more damaging than anything else.
Thankfully, these parenting nightmares are (mostly) behind us! Let’s take a cringe-worthy trip down memory lane and explore some of the most questionable child-rearing practices that our ancestors thought were totally cool. Brace yourself for some serious face-palming!
Salting Newborns
The ancient Greeks and Romans took “seasoning” their kids way too literally. They’d rub salt on newborns or bathe them in salted water because they believed newborns were not fully human yet. Only by applying salt all over the body, especially in areas that sweat the most, such as the armpits, groin, and neck region, can they fully embrace their human form.
Other sources say that the practice persisted in Europe and parts of the Middle East, with different motivations for doing so. Some parents believed that the application of salt would harden the skin, prevent infection, and promote the overall health of the newborn. Instead, it probably just made the babies cry more and risked dangerous dehydration, among other things. Needless to say, this “trend” no longer exists.
The “Children Should Be Seen and Not Heard” mentality
Those were the good ol’ days when kids were expected to be silent, obedient little robots and only speak if spoken to – which essentially contradicts the entire idea of being a child. This dated proverb stems from the religious culture of 15th-century England, first showing up in Mirk’s Festival, a book authored by a clergyman in the 1450s that said, Hyt ys old Englysch sawe: A mayde schuld be seen, but not herd.
It was only later, presumably in the Victorian era, that the proverb began to include children. There’s even a book written about it, entitled Seen and Not Heard. A Garland of Fancies for Victorian Children – a compilation of literary pieces, including verses, sayings, and book selections, that illustrate the social environment in which Victorian-era children were raised.
Psychologists, child development experts, and speech therapists agree that this attitude is not conducive to raising future leaders and innovators. They argue it stifles children’s self-expression, emotional development, individuality, and creativity. Research on trauma and PTSD demonstrates that children need to be both seen and heard, as preventing them from expressing themselves can lead to long-term behavioral and mental health issues.
Treating Left-Handedness as a Defect
During the Middle Ages and well into the 20th century, being left-handed was treated almost like a curse and was severely stigmatized. Parents and teachers would go to absurd lengths to “fix” this “problem,” from making children wear painful braces and tying their left hands behind their backs to resorting to corporal punishment if they were found using their left hand to write.
For kids, these practices may have left them feeling like they were being punished for merely being left-handed when it was simply a natural hand preference. The reasoning possibly had something to do with a mix of religious superstition, medical misconceptions, and the obvious fact that about 90% of the world is right-handed. Never mind that some of history’s greatest minds were Southpaws.
Thankfully, we’ve mostly ditched this practice. It turns out that letting kids use their dominant hand leads to happier individuals. Here’s to embracing diversity – even when it comes to which hand holds the crayon!
Opium for Teething
This trend cannot entirely be faulted on the parents alone. For the longest time, beginning as early as the 1600s, opiates have been used to “treat” many infant conditions like teething, diarrhea, and excessive crying. Academic papers outlining treatment plans for babies talk about how physicians in the 1800s routinely prescribed opium-laced proprietary drugs to infants, fully knowing how lethal it was for their pediatric wards.
Pharmacies frequently sold morphine-laced “medicines” such as Dr. Winchell’s Teething Syrup and The Poor Child’s Nurse, that supposedly cured the coughs and suspected pains of young children. Thankfully, a 1912 Hague convention stopped this abhorrent practice.
Goats as Wet Nurses
When human wet nurses weren’t available, some people turned to goats as a milk source. In the 18th and 19th centuries, European foundling homes kept herds of nanny goats on standby to nurse abandoned infants—some places even trained goats to jump onto tables for feeding time.
One German writer even penned a book titled The Goat as the Best and Most Agreeable Wet Nurse (1816). Apparently, goats were considered more moral and less disease-prone than human wet nurses.
Rousseau’s “Natural” Parenting
The 18th-century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s book Émile (1762) became an influential parenting guide, despite his having abandoned his own children in orphanages. His “natural” parenting approach included some extreme ideas. In his book, he advised parents to send their children out into the snow (without clothes) to play and have the parents fire pistols near the children’s heads in order to make them shockproof.
He also argued that children should be raised in isolation from other children and from the broader society to protect them from corruption. Rousseau advocated for complete adult control over a child’s environment, believing this was necessary to allow the child’s nature to unfold properly. He believed these methods would create stronger, more adaptable individuals.
Some wealthy families even attempted to raise their children according to the principles outlined in Émile. Unsurprisingly, this approach did not gain long-term acceptance.
Whiskey for Teething
Dating back to the 1800s (though the practice likely has earlier roots), rubbing whiskey on a baby’s gums was a popular teething remedy. This wasn’t just a fringe practice; some doctors even recommended it, and commercial products such as Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, containing alcohol and morphine (as we saw earlier), were sold to parents as baby-soothing agents.
Mercifully, we’ve wised up to the dangers of giving alcohol to babies. Modern parents opt for safer methods like teething rings and baby-safe gels.
Baby Cages
In the 1930s, many parents thought placing their babies in beds that doubled as wire cages attached to their homes’ windows was a good idea. Because, nothing says “I love you” like suspending your precious bundle of joy several stories above the concrete jungle, right?
All jokes aside, this well-meaning practice began as a result of the rampant rise of tuberculosis in the early 1900s, leading doctors to advise parents to expose their babies to fresh air, believing it would improve their health. This advice eventually turned into a burgeoning trend when patents for “health cages” and “portable baby cages” began to be filed, and the rest, as they say, is history. Let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief that this fad faded faster than you can say “Child Protective Services.”
The “No Hugs Allowed” Policy
Remember when showing affection to your kids was considered “spoiling” them? Because obviously, the path to raising well-adjusted adults is paved with emotional neglect. *Eye roll*. This restrictive parenting practice, which contemporary psychologists would categorize as hands-off parenting, operated under the assumption that hugging and kissing your kids meant that you were being too soft on them.
Psychologists of the time, including John B. Watson (1878–1958) advocated for this style of parenting, going so far as to advise parents to separate themselves from their kids as much as possible so as not to spoil them. Thankfully, we’ve realized that hugs don’t actually turn children into tiny dictators. Who knew?
Smoking While Pregnant
In the 1950s, some doctors (thanks to the urging of tobacco companies) actually recommended smoking to pregnant women to “calm the nerves”, relieve “pregnancy jitters,” or even ease morning sickness. Fast-forward to today, and we’re all collectively facepalming at the thought. It turns out that filling your body with nicotine and tar while growing a human isn’t exactly a recipe for health.
Mercifully, this trend has gone the way of lead paint and asbestos insulation. Modern research has made it crystal clear that smoking during pregnancy, aside from the obvious risk to your health, can lead to a host of other problems, including premature labor, low birth weight, miscarriage, and an increased risk of birth defects.
Mandatory Clean Plate Club
We can confidently say that no one misses the time when finishing every morsel on our plates was as mandatory as wearing pants to school. The ‘Clean Plate Club’ was once considered parenting gospel, but it turned out to be as healthy as a deep-fried Twinkie.
This trend ignored kids’ natural hunger cues and may have set them up for a lifetime of complicated and unhealthy relationships with food. Although we’ve largely ditched this misguided mealtime mandate, some still abide by how we were raised.
Thumb-Sucking “Cures”
In the 1940s and 1950s, parents and doctors were on a mission to stop thumb-sucking, believing it would lead to dental problems (which, admittedly, they’re not wrong about). Their methods, though… Let’s just say they were more creative than cuddly. We’re talking — painting the thumb with bitter-tasting nail polishes, quinine, hot sauce and even placing plastic thumb guards to keep those little thumbs out of mouths. Some parents resorted to elbow splints to prevent arm bending.
Pediatricians and dentists often recommended these approaches, genuinely thinking they were helping. Fast-forward to today and we’ve realized that most thumb-sucking is harmless, and kids usually outgrow it on their own. Now, instead of gadgets and gizmos, we opt for gentle reminders and positive reinforcement.
Spanking and Corporal Punishment
For way too long, parents thought that the best way to discipline children and teach them right from wrong was to inflict physical punishment. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work. Unless your goal is to raise a kid with potential trust issues, years of built-in resentment, a mean right hook, and a whole load of childhood trauma.
This decidedly distasteful practice wasn’t limited to the home, as corporal punishment in the classroom was also the done thing until it got banned in most US states in the mid-90s. Thankfully, neither of these practices is a trend anymore; in fact, spanking and corporal punishment are mostly frowned upon, so much so that some people would call the CCP on parents suspected of being physically abusive.
Baby Einstein Overload
Remember when parents thought plopping their infants in front of Baby Einstein (1996) videos would turn them into little geniuses? These colorful DVDs promised to boost cognitive development, but spoiler alert: they didn’t work.
Studies showed that not only did these videos fail to make babies smarter, but excessive screen time for infants could actually hinder language development. In 2009, Disney even offered refunds to parents who bought the videos, admitting that there was no evidence that the videos provided any sort of educational value to babies.
Amber Teething Necklaces
These necklaces were for the longest time thought to be a natural remedy for teething pain, supposedly releasing pain-relieving succinic acid when warmed by a baby’s body heat. However, scientific evidence didn’t support these claims. More importantly, health organizations like the FDA warned about the serious choking and strangulation hazards these necklaces posed.
Studies showed that even if amber did release succinic acid (which it doesn’t at body temperature), it wouldn’t be absorbed through the skin or provide pain relief. Today, parents opt for safer teething remedies like rubber teething toys or chilled washcloths.