[Sca-cooks] "Child Safing"

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Aug 15, 2008, at 8:29 AM, Solveig Throndardottir wrote:

> Noble Cousins!
>
> Greetings from Solveig!
>
>> People tend to forget that the idea of 'child safe-ing' your home  
>> is a
>> relatively new concept.  Prior to the idea that children must have  
>> an almost
>> laboratory type environment in which to keep them safe, 'child safe- 
>> ing' was
>> called 'discipline' and 'parenting'.  So, I guess I'm "mean Celia"  
>> as well,
>> because I would agree that aversion training is much better than a  
>> dead
>> child.
>
> Moderate "child safing" is actually a fairly old idea. In the 1950's  
> child gates,
> play pens, electric outlet covers, and sequestering things like  
> ammonia were
> pretty common. Basically, the problem is that toddlers can be FAST.  
> What
> this means is that you need to either restrict the range of motion  
> of the toddler
> (such as tying them to your back while you are working) or otherwise  
> keep them
> out of reach of quick acting dangers which do not present their own  
> feedback
> mechanisms to children prior to becoming dangerous.


On a marginally related note, I remember always being mystified by the  
claims that such-and-such-a-child or woman in some historical setting  
died after "falling into the fire". But add things like corsets on the  
victims and thermal updrafts in a large fireplace, not to mention  
smoke and carbon monoxide, and it starts to seem like a more viable  
concept.




"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter