babe in arms.....

Ok,so.......i have taken to complementing mothers who carry babies ....rather than in those plastic carrier/carseat combos......who knew that advances in carseats would bring civilization to this point......that infant carseats would become carriers....and that parents would opt to lug the baby seat and all rather than to carry baby seatless......in one's arms...upclose and personal.......some mothers just leave the kid in the seat when they sit down to for whatever service they require at the health department......as if baby must really prefer to be strapped in, and down on the ground, and (usually) surrounded by the stuff that didn't fit into the diaper bag......or worse......the mom's cellphone is tucked somewhere around baby so she doesn't have to search through the diaperbag when it rings.......this doesn't play out well.....as an infant startled by the special downloaded ringtones makes the actual phone conversation pretty worthless....with the screams and squalls and all........but i digress from carrying one's own child.......there appears to be an underlying belief that to hold one's child too much is equivalent to spoiling him or her......spoiling.....where do they come up with this crap-ola philosophy.........spoiling a child is when you buy them whatever they want in checkouts, or let them eat junk, and don't make them learn to do chores....or let them stay up all night watching their own televisions......or replacing all poorly cared for toys with brandnew versions......or failing to require the child to pay for at least half of big-ticket items.....this is spoiling.......opting to let one's newborn lounge in a plastic carrier rather than pick it up when one is settled into an office chair is neglectful, not spoiling.......and crazy waste of time and energy.....those carriers are heavy, and bulky......i watched one mother teater on highhealed sandals trying to lug her baby's carrier....and when she turned to me to complain about all the stuff she had to schlep around with her baby......well......i should have commented that with my infants.....all i needed was a diaper or two and a blanket to use as a coverup if nursing were required while we were out.......and since we didn't have those fancy carrier/carseats.......we either put baby in the front snuggly (when tiny) or the backpack (when larger)....but i didn't say these things...because she has already made the choice to lug rather than to cuddle/carry......and since this particular woman hadn't the sense to know that wearing highheel sandals was foolish whether lugging baby in a carrier.....or not.......