Today is Day 13 of my 21 Day Family Connections Experiment with another look at some 'family treasures'.
I've been going through very old files in a filing cabinet, clearing out paperwork that's not needed now, as long as it's not interesting genealogically. Sometimes, as genealogists know, that's a hard call.
This 6th Edition of Dr. Spock's Pocket Book of Baby and Child Care (6th Printing, December 1947) was on a bookshelf but when I came across baby advice folders in those files, I was reminded to pull it out too. As you can see, it was well-thumbed, first by my mother, and later by me.
The advice sheets, and there were a bunch of them, as I remember, were given out to new mothers who attended 'Well Baby Clinics' in Greater Vancouver, and possibly distributed at doctors' offices and at classes for 'prospective mothers'.
My mother gave them a stack of them so I'd be able to look after my dolls properly (and stay out of her hair). I do know that the dollies knew the rules instinctively. I remember my keeping to these schedules for their sleep, feeding and sun bathing, and don't remember any quibbles.
Mum, my brother and me and my dolly, Bowen Island, 1950s. Mum seems to be pulling her hair out? I think she may be puzzling over how to fix a broken toy in her lap.
Many years later, she gave me "Dr Spock" too. By that time I had a very new baby and he had no idea about any rules! But I always thought the first page in the book was Dr Spock's best advice. And most of the book was very practical. (Although he rarely mentioned little girls.) I did read all the rest though. And if in doubt I could always ask mum :-)
"The Baby's Day - 5-6 months", Child Welfare Division, Metropolitan Health Committee, c. 1948. This Committee was organized in 1936 among the Greater Vancouver municipalities and school boards to more efficiently direct, organize and operate local health services under the control and supervision of a Senior Medical Health Officer.
Dr. Spock's book, front and back covers, (1947 printing). First published May 1946 as The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care.
"Trust Yourself", page 3-4. His then often controversial advice.
Pocket Book of Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock, M. D. (6th Printing, December 1947)
For more about the 21 Day Family Connections Experiment, see my first Experiment article here.
REFERENCES
"Dr. Spock's Timeless Lessons" by Richard Gunderman, 6 September 2019, The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/dr-spocks-timeless-lessons-in-parenting-122377
Through the years with public health nursing: a history of public health nursing in the provincial government...British Columbia. by Monica M. Green, The Canadian Public Health Association, 1984. UBC Open Collections: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/historyofnursinginpacificcanada/nursing/items/1.0211729#p3z-5r0f:
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