The pediatrician insists we don’t use a baby walker and describes scenes of horrible misfortunes that await us if we do.
It’s a great thing, then, that I have no idea what a baby walker even is. Actually, I thought this entire time that I was a baby walker because I take our baby out for walks. But no, apparently it’s something that allows a baby to move at the speed of 3 feet a second and reach poisonous substances and sharp objects.
They look like this. I can see how they would be dangerous. But, if properly monitored, they give babies a big thrill. 🙂
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Wow, that’s something I’ve never seen.
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The reason they aren’t recommended is that they are thought to inhibit the development of proper walking. I don’t know if safety is really that much of a concern.
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My mother put me in one at my first birthday party even though I already knew how to walk because she said she was afraid people would step on me.
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You must have been a very tiny child. 😃
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I can vouch for their danger. My parents had one for me when I was a baby. My dad ran downstairs to get something from the garage and left me unattended for a moment (my mom was at work). I followed him to the garage door and saw him downstairs and tried to follow him there too. I proceeded to fall head first down a flight of stairs. Luckily babies are squishy and besides some initial spit up, I seemed okay (although as I got older, this incident has been invoked to explain my being a weirdo, but as a joke obviously). My dad called the doctor in a panic and was told not to come in unless he sees any other behavioral changes… It’s hard to imagine that happening today!
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Horrible! But it’s great his were unharmed!!
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“describes scenes of horrible misfortunes that await us if we do”
Did they mention how they attract werewolves and can open interdimensional portals to allow ungodly predator bugs through to our reality?
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Every visit to the pediatrician involves being handed a brochure that lists all kinds of horrors that might happen to the child. I’m beginning to understand where helicoptering parents come from. Impressionable people can get traumatized by all these dire warnings that have all but werewolves.
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If used like a baby minder, with the child left in the walker for hours on end, I can see it might inhibit the urge to try to walk independently. However if the child is in the walker for the occasional half-hour – and not where they can fall down any steps – it can be fun for the baby and the family. Just remember to deck with garlic to fend off the werewolves…
The only accident any of my kids had involving a baby walker was when my daughter was toddling round the yard and managed to tip up into the compost heap. No harm done, just an unusually smelly baby!
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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