So is our parents advice completely worthless?

dhviel

I was just reading a post in September 2011 about SIDS and back to sleep and whether front or back is right and blah, blah, blah.... and of course some people said that "our parents put us to sleep on our stomachs and we are fine" to which others said "that's the worst argument ever because they didn't use carseats either and would you not use a carseat now?"

Now I fully understand that carseats are more safe and back to sleep is more safe, but in my mind just because our parents did it doesn't make it null and void!  Life was different back then.  People didn't drive as often or as fast and there wasn't even carseat options so what were they supposed to do?  But in other areas, our parents have GREAT wisdom.  They have experience that we don't and can offer us a lot of advice!

For example: my daughter refuses to drink whole milk.  She will not drink it.  That is the recommended type of milk for 1 to 2 year olds.  She will however drink 2% and 1% like it's going out of style!  And so I switched her to 2% at 18 months because in my opinion that's ultimately better for her then no milk!  And today my mom mentioned that "in the old days" there wasn't these recommendations... and I wouldn't say that kids were dying because they drank 2% instead of whole!  So we learn from our parents... it's not going to hurt our children if we don't follow the recommendations to a tee.

That's a weak example, but I think that just because our parents raised us in a different time doesn't mean that their experience is worthless.  We just have to be smart enough to recognize bad advice (don't use a carseat) from good advice (giving your child 2% isn't going to kill them).