Page 9

Isn't it funny how some things that were considered totally normal 20 or 30 years ago are now considered completely strange, even in some cases beyond the pale?

For example, everyone will tell you now that you are taking your child's life into your very hands if you put your baby down to sleep on his or her tummy. Granted, the "Back to Sleep" recommendation is espoused by the American Academy of Pediatrics for a very good reason, one backed up by solid evidence that it reduces the likelihood of SIDS. It seems totally normal to me to put William on his back when I put him down in his crib, but my mom remembers putting me on my stomach to sleep when I was a baby.

Here's my latest discovery on how things have changed.

So I'm reading "Curious George Visits the Zoo" to William the other day. I'm reading merrily along about how George goes to the zoo with the man in the yellow hat so he can see real elephants and tigers (never mind the weirdness that a monkey is visiting OTHER MONKEYS in a cage at the zoo, while he roams free and unfettered, and would people visit other people if they were in cages?), and I come to page 9. On page 9, a family eats a picnic lunch, seated on a blanket on a grassy patch of lawn. I suddenly peer more closely at the page. Is that father...smoking a cigarette? In a children's book? Surely not. Maybe that's a, uh, er....no, he's smoking a cigarette. There's nothing else it could be. Who puts a picture of a man smoking in a kid's book, I thought. What kind of example is that? Aren't kids books usually supposed to teach lessons or at least impart something worth knowing, or at the very least, be entertaining without being harmful?

Then I remembered. This is not a new book. This book's been around for at least 20 years, and probably even longer than that. It wouldn't have seemed nearly as strange, a generation or two ago, to include a picture of someone smoking. Plus, I've lived in California for the last five years, and California has really strict laws about where you can and can't smoke. So I've gotten used to rarely seeing people smoke, since no one is allowed to smoke in restaurants or public buildings.

So, a generation ago, a mom reading the book might have skipped on by the picture on page 9 without giving it even a moment's thought. Meanwhile, I actually interrupted myself to study the picture and the wonder out loud about whether it's appropriate or not. Not that I really think that a silly illustration is going to compel a kid to light up. It's not even that noticeable. No one (but me, apparently) lingers over the pictures of the random anonymous family, anyway; you're reading the book to find out what wacky predicament Curious George is going to find himself in, but you know what I mean.

I wonder what will seem totally outrageous or incredible when William is a parent one day?