...because we all have our motley moments!


Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Home Remedies



I think I am the lone working mom of our little Motley Moms blog. Working outside the home, that is. I am a teacher at a local high school and interestingly enough I teach parenting courses. Officially called Parenting Skills and Child Development.

One assignment that I give during my course is to research a childhood sickness or disease. All of my students pick an ailment out of a hat and then they have to find out what to do about it. I give them the American Academy of Pediatrics book, Dr. Spock's Childcare Guide (an oldy but a goody), the Internet (don't you just love WebMD?), and I make them ask their mother. Isn't that what we do? We call our mom's when we aren't sure what to do.

This last on is what I really love. I am always amazed. On teething, one mother told her child to put an egg in a sock and hang it from the doorknob, another recommended giving the baby a clothespin to chew on. For rashes, rub the baby's feet with Ivory soap. For cradle cap, use lard or Crisco if you don't have lard. Babies with colic need hot water from a bottle.

I always love when I ask my mom something and she says, "Let's ask Mimi [my grandmother], she's a nurse!" I am then compelled to remind her that she was a nurse during WORLD WAR II. I have a feeling that science and health care may have change a little since then. I still ask her, though.

And if you happen to stop by my house, don't worry about that sock hanging from the front door, the baby is teething right now.

Tell me about your home remedies! I'd just love to know.

3 comments:

Maria said...

I learned this from my Mom. You can tell if your child has a fever by kissing them on the forehead. You get an instant reading on their fever. I can tell if the fever is low or high this way. Your upper lip is so sensitive to temperature!

Donna said...

Sleep when baby sleeps, whenever you can manage it. It's a great remedy for what ails you...most of my problems stem from lack of sleep!

Rachel said...

My Grandma would always put a cut onion on wasp stings--not bee stings, just wasp stings. I can't remember if it helped much, but it was a definite distraction from the reality of the sting!