Thursday, November 19, 2009

Pacifiers

this is not a post on to-pacify-or-not-to-pacify or any of its derivatives. It's just my reflections on something I saw...

Today I was coming home from a grocery store and towards me, on a narrow sidewalk, walked a woman with a double stroller and a couple of kids in tow. When we approached each other, I gave her way and in the process I noticed how tired, even spent she looked. I also noticed a happy-looking three year old with a pacifier in his mouth.

A three year old with a pacifier in his mouth. It made me think for the next two minutes it took me to walk home. A paci in a mouth of a three year old is like a pregnant stomach to some people. They feel compelled to comment, try to remove it (pat it in a pregnant stomach case), tell stories from their experience. But in both cases, NoOne cares for these displays of attention. I saw how tired the mom looked, and I think I know why the three year old had the pacifier.

In short, it's socially unacceptable for a stranger to solicit advise on, for example, use of laxatives to someone who looks constipated and it's just as unacceptable to give advice on pacifiers or/and prenatal demeanor.

5 comments:

Jacob Da Jew said...

Generally speaking, I never comment on pregnant womens body parts. Hormones can can cause them to fly off da handle ;)

Ookamikun said...

When I tried putting a binky in Shlomik's mouth, it literally flew up an inch, if not more. Same with Nochum.

Rubbing a woman's stomach who's carrying twins is a segula for having kids.

Sally Hazel said...

JDJ- there aren't as many men as women who comments on paci's and preggers, however I was lucky to meet some of male oracles on these topics.

Moshe- thanks for the flying paci story:) LOL @ sgula-Many woment don't tell if they are carrying multiples.

Ookamikun said...

You can often see.

Menashe said when people tell him they don't want to know the sex of the baby, he asks them if they want to know how many.

SubWife said...

Moshe, not really true. Unless one is carrying sextuplets, it is very difficult to see whether a woman is pregnant with a single of with multiples. I looked bigger with one than my co-worker with twins. Many people asked whether I was preggers with twins.