"Mommy Knows Worst: Highlights from the Golden Age of Bad Parenting Advice"

This is from 2005, by James Lileks, the author of "The Gallery of
Regrettable Food," and "Interior Desecrations" (photos of the hideous
1970s sense of interior decoration).

http://www.lileks.com/

And:

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=110305B

http://www.highbeam.com/library/docf...G%3AResult&ao=
(articles about the book)


I enjoyed reading it - once. That is, the old ads (mainly from the
1940s and 1950s) are amusing and horrifying enough, but Lileks'
commentary has too much forced humor. The parts I found most intriguing
were the ads reflecting the food shortages during WWII - and pages
44-48, where Lileks soberly turns over the book to a writer smart
enough, in 1926(?) to lash out at all the selfish, well-educated
parents of that time who were forcing opium-based syrups down the
throats of healthy but loud babies and toddlers since they just didn't
want to deal with whatever might really be making them cry, especially
when, say, the parents wanted to go to the theatre. Clearly, laughs are
not called for here. As Lileks says of those parents, "it's unfair
sometimes to tut-tut at the past for not knowing what we know now, but
this is different. How stupid were they? THIS stupid."

The chapter is called "The Crime of Soothing Syrups." The only thing
that puzzles me is that the four pages reprinted in Lileks' book
supposedly come from a book called "How to Raise the Baby" that was
written by a woman, but the only book I found with that title in
abebooks.com was by Bernarr Adolphus MacFadden, a rich, famous, and
flamboyant bodybuilder. Something just doesn't sound right about that.
See here, if you like.

http://www.bernarrmacfadden.com/


Anyway, enjoy Lileks' book.

Lenona.