24 Puzzling Parenting Tips From The 1800s

[@anna_only.a.little.bannanas]

My grandmother totally read that book to me as a child. Her favorite poem was the one about the girl who, after been told not to, played with matches when home alone, caught on fire, burned to death, and then her cats cried over her ashes.

[@k1dicarus]

German childhood memories. Still having a copy in the attic.

[@Fratrix]

Same here. These stories seem ancient, but my mom read them to me in the 90s.

[@flobo23]

paulinchen

[@alveolate]

most inaccurate part of that story is the cats crying... if they did, it was because they didn't get to eat her face!

[@NotableElectronicSounds]

I love Struwwelpeter!

[@simonsaysism]

One of my favourite experiments gone wrong is the story of Guillaume Le Gentil and his attempts to observe the transit of Venus in the 18th century, which I read about in Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything." The transit of Venus is when Venus's path crosses over the Sun from our vantage point here on Earth, and it only happens about once every century, in pairs of crossings separated by 8 years, so it's a big deal in astronomy. As the 1761 and 1769 transits approached, a Scottish mathematician proposed that if multiple people observed the transit from widely-spaced points on Earth, the numbers could be used to calculate the exact distance between the Earth and the Sun. So, scientists coordinated and got busy travelling and making preparations. French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil set sail for a location in India to set up his observation point. Even though he departed 15 months ahead of the event, he suffered significant delays due to the Seven Years' War between France and England, as well as over a month being lost at sea after getting blown off course. When the date of the first transit arrived in 1761, he was still on a boat in the middle of the sea, and couldn't make measurements on such an unsteady surface. He arrived at his destination shortly thereafter and figured he may as well just wait the 8 years for the next transit. He spent those years building a small, state-of-the-art observatory, testing his equipment over and over, and just making sure he was perfectly ready for the big day. But when the second transit happened in 1769... a cloud passed in front of the sun, for almost the exact duration of the planetary transit, making it impossible to measure. Now there was nothing for it, he had completely failed, so he packed up to go home. Before he could set out, he fell ill with dysentery, and was delayed for another year before he was well enough to travel. En route, a hurricane off the coast of Africa nearly wrecked his ship and he was stranded on a small island near Madagascar until he secured another ride. Finally he made it home, over 11 years after originally leaving, only to find that all the letters he'd written home had been lost in the mail due to wartime ship attacks, so he had been presumed dead. His spot on the Royal Academy of Sciences had been given to someone else, his wife had remarried, and his relatives had "enthusiastically plundered his estate." All for a failed scientific observation. (In case anyone is wondering, the overall effort wasn't a complete failure; although many other participants ran into problems and were unable to make accurate measurements, they ended up having just enough data to cobble together the fairly correct estimate of a little over 150 million kilometres. We now know the precise number is 149,597,870.691 km, on average.)

[@knewledge8626]

My mom gave me paregoric when I was a kid. For stomach aches. It worked really really well. In Texas, schools were still beating kids butts with a board when I graduated high school in 79.

[@shannonstearns7203]

Picasso’s father was a painting instructor and he had mastered realism by the age of 13. His portrait of his mother can rival some of the best portraitists. I’m certain his sense of proportion was corrected....

[@kellykerr5225]

One of the best parenting tips I got was to say yes as much as you can. Some parents say no to everything just automatically. But it sure worked well for us.

[@YouTubeallowedmynametobestolen]

"Happy Window Baby" would be a good name for a band.

[@Earth1960]

I prefer Side Boob. Though I have no thoughts about what would make a good band name.

[@colt4667]

How about Happy Cocaine Baby?

[@doddjustin]

Please mother, I desire a handful of grapes.

[@therugburnz]

Please mother may I please have some opium weakened with ethanol. Hurry mom, I'm feeling a little colic coming on. Hmm, ummm, thanx mummy you are s........nod.

[@alechall7082]

@@therugburnz 😂

[@kittylitteral5417]

No soup for you!

[@AbnerSolano]

More parents should try to instill obedience today. I have seen so many that can't even call their kid to themselves. You see parents running after kids bc the kid won't listen

[@JimFortune]

It is still allowed, or even required by law, to tie your children up in a special chair. But only when they're in the car.

[@Oxnate]

People looking back at us in 50 years will laugh at how stupid we were.

[@JimFortune]

@@Oxnate What? That you could only tie them up when they were in a car? lol

[@Oxnate]

@@JimFortune No, that we mandated child "safety" seats that don't work for children 2 and up. freakonomics.com/2007/01/05/we-are-not-the-only-ones-who-think-child-car-seats-dont-work-well/

[@rosellaaalm-ahearn1760]

Mental Floss should check out the 1900 edition of the Sears Catalog for some interesting products. Among the interesting offerings are heroin for coughs, arsenic for killing rats, mice, etc., strychnine for the same reason, dog skin coats , Irish setter was especially popular, electric belts for restoring male vigor and many other interesting items.

[@MentalFloss]

Dang this could be a whole video on its own, but I doubt we could get the images cleared for use. Fun to check out, though!

[@mikieswart]

i'm gonna need some more info on those belts my friend...

[@rosellaaalm-ahearn1760]

@, Mental Floss Sadly the catalog just shows the belt, actually several models of belt, not the belt being worn.

[@MentalFloss]

Rosella A Alm-Ahearn 😂😂I just meant that we probably can't clear *any* Sears images, as corporations generally won't permit image reproduction without onerous demands on the content. But the idea of an "in-use" product shot is just a whole other level of "not going to touch that."

[@rosellaaalm-ahearn1760]

@@MentalFloss Alas! Sears is now owned by Kmart, so maybe they wouldn't care about 20 old products.

[@chrismclendon4937]

I can attest that corporal punishment was still going on well into the 1980's and 1990's, haha. I remember my Grandmother chasing me with a "switch."

[@molkikun1]

I was just reading about Thomas de Quincey on Wiki and it mentions how his mother made him change schools to a one that was more mediocre because he was intelligent and she didn't want his head to grow. I couldn't understand who the hell would think that someone's head would grow because an increase of knowledge. But now I see it was a thing then.

[@Theawesomersibling]

I recommend the Zimbardo experiment. I remember learning about it for my A Level in psychology and being shocked at a) how it was ever allowed to happen and b) how badly it went wrong.

[@Capjedi]

Thanks for that informative and prescient historical diatribe (I have no idea what I just said... But, it sounded great)!

[@TheOfficialTarynTots]

I was told as a kid by my mom if U sat too close to the tv it would cause nearsightedness.

[@alveolate]

i was told those boxy TVs would shoot radiation into your brains. now i have psychedelic dreams :D

[@ricardotesta1949]

Yep same here. And that going outside with wet hair caused a cold and that drinking a glass of cold water when sweaty on a hot day might cause leukemia.

[@Reelix]

"Nutritionally speaking, they're just little balls of starch and water" Don't some places eat Potatoes as their primary source of nutrition... ?

[@Miss_Kisa94]

Yup. Potatoes can be very good for you depending on how they are made and what your lifestyle is. However most of the vitamins and minerals are in the potato skins so be sure to eat those rather than peel them. They are also good for colds believe it or not, potatoes have more vitamin C than an orange.

[@thesayarism]

Yeah they do have some protein, not much but some

[@greenredblue]

The thing you need most is calories. That's why carbs are the base of the food pyramid. But you also need protein, fat, roughage, vitamins... Basically, you can't eat _only_ potatoes.

[@Miss_Kisa94]

@@greenredblue nobody said anything about eating only potatoes though

[@YeeSoest]

I think "base of their diet" would be closer to the truth than "primary source of nutrition". You'll rarely find a culture that eats potatoes by themselves! They're also really versatile, you can have baked potatoes, gnocchi, fries and a nice gratin and it won't feel too redundant

[@greenredblue]

So ironic that old timey authors claimed that an excess of creativity can kill you. Nowadays we understand that lethal concentrations of creativity can only occur in parenting guides.

[@whitneysit419573]

"Welcome to the show ... from my living room" -- kind of looks like the background of every other video

[@MeisterHaar]

i am from germany and about 30 years old.... my grand parents still had the struwwelpeter book and i know many grandparents did at that time (i hope not today). i remember the pictures and stories.

[@MeisterHaar]

there is also a little girl who burns to dust because she played with matches. a boy who starved to death because he didn't want to eat his soup and a boy who gets blown away during a storm and was never seen again because he went outside with his umbrella. but also those where the kids don't die, a boy who stumbles over a dog and later falls into a river because he always looks up in the air and thinks of other stuff, he looses his school equipment, but at least gets rescued and pulled out. the story of the fidgity phillip who is unable to sit still at the dining table and ends up falling with his chair pulling the tablecloth and alle the dishes and food and it all breaks etc. ... "zappel-philipp" or "fidigty phillip" has been a term to discribe ADHD in germany for while. there is also the story of the boy who tortures animal and ends up getting bitten by a large dog and one about three boys who make fun of a black person and then the saint Nicholas comes and dunks them into a giant ink bottle so they look even more black themselves... what weird times that have been. oh and i nearly forgot the story of the rabit who steals the rifle from the sleeping hunter and later tries to shoot him, he only escapes by jumping down into a well.... i don't know what that story is doing there with the others... maybe its about the hunter sleeping during the day and being lazy? idk.

[@DougWeston2]

The more I learn about history, the more I'm amazed we've made it this far.

[@AbnerSolano]

True. We often believe stupid stuff. I wonder what we do now that later people will frown upon.

[@thebrokenophelia]

The Stanford prison experiment is always the one that comes to mind when I think about experiments that went horribly wrong.

[@tomsuzyinfluencerinfj2712]

The good old days, I'm gonna try the Boggins window box on my Tina, although we are living ground floor and Tina is my cat (takes the fun out of it somehow)

[@LadySpoCoy]

When I was a waitress, one of my older customers told me about gum lancing. Apparently it was still in practice when she was young. 😟

[@alveolate]

that one was particularly disturbing... especially considering they probably never disinfected whatever lance they used.

[@MentalFloss]

LOL. Not at the fact that this was done, but that it somehow came up during a mealtime conversation.

[@LadySpoCoy]

@@MentalFloss She was a regular and had asked about my godson. I mentioned he was teething and then she told me about gum lancing. 😳

[@HighOnAmmo]

great reading while almost maintaining a good percentage of eye contact with the camera...so much respect

[@mikieswart]

3:34 to be fair, alcohol and opium are _still_ pretty good medicines for "just about everything"...

[@leumas75]

~ Dr. Gregory House, M.D.

[@MentalFloss]

Conceded: if your problem is "just about everything," opium will eventually resolve it.

[@arawakriesch7297]

As a child I was prescribed opium and honey twice a year for laryngitis. I practically lived on it.

[@thesecondguyontheinternet]

Bring back John Green. Please!

[@SuperVaIle]

"...This healthy child's skull." How healthy can it be if they're only a skull? D:

[@rickseiden1]

Here's my best piece of parenting advice. If you have a child who is having trouble taking pills, go out and buy a thing or two of mini M&Ms, and a bag or two of regular M&Ms. Then, have your child take one mini M&M and chew it and swallow it. Then have them put one in their mouth and just hold it there for a few seconds, then swallow it without chewing. With my kids, they got it the first time. Do it a few more times. Then, step up to the full sized M&Ms. Same thing. Chew and swallow first, then just hold it in your mouth for few seconds and swallow without chewing. Again, my kids got it the first time. Then, put the pill next to an M&M. They are about the same size. You can do the M&M, you can do the pill, too. My kids never had trouble taking pills again.

[@MentalFloss]

Ha nice! Also good parenting advice in general, in my book: "Go out and buy a thing or two of mini M&Ms."

[@hunterG60k]

Parenting "advice" like this is responsible for a cycle of abuse and trauma that continues to this day.

[@pinkishtoast3561]

Except the 1800s were 120 years ago (and most of these tips probably didn't come from 1899) the oldest person today was not even alive during the 1800s. It's almost like people are responsible for their own actions.

[@MolecularMachine]

@@pinkishtoast3561 Except that it's a well known fact that child abuse is often inherited, meaning that the effects of that old abuse are still felt today because it was passed down between generations. Additionally, people who experienced trauma as children tend to have less capacity for emotional growth than those who didn't, so they are less likely to correct their behavior. The actions of historical people echo through time, and realizing that makes it easier to correct their worst effects.

[@pinkishtoast3561]

@@MolecularMachine That's because they aren't held accountable. I understand cycles. My younger sister's birth mom had her mother walk out at a young age. The birth mother drank, did drugs, smoked and the such during the pregnancy. She was pregnant at 19. She had multiple mental illnesses but didn't seek help. My younger sister has been through 7 foster homes, ours being the last. All of the previous homes have let her do what she wanted because 1. She had a sad past and 2. It's easier to give in than to say no. When we have held her accountable for her actions because she is 8 years old and not a toddler, it has made an enormous difference in her. If you do the same thing with anyone, it changes their behavior. When people aren't held accountable, when they can get away with things, they take that route because it's easier to hear that you do it because you've inherited it and not because you're a plain old jerk. That's the justification. That's what children in the foster system hear. "You're this way because of (someone else)". This child can tell us all the rules of CPS. She knows before she was adopted she could hit us and we couldn't hit back. That she could literally beat us and we couldn't do much to punish her. (Taking stuff away barely helped because she has had nothing that stayed for her whole life). I have firsthand experience with this. I'm not proclaiming sainthood and saying I always take responsibility but sometimes we need to stop blaming the system and change ourselves.

[@BCxFOREVER]

I agree !

[@AbnerSolano]

@@pinkishtoast3561 well said. Having parents who are consistent fair and loving makes such a huge difference. So many just want to make the kid "happy" but that kind of thinking can have bad consequences.

[@JasonHalversonjaydog]

i remember playing with mercury in school, we rolled it around in our hand. when he was young my dad told me how he got spanked with a willow branch. he said it was like a whip!

[@ripadipaflipa4672]

As a nurse we had to get rid of thermometers but we didn’t waste it we played with it on the floor b/4 throwing it out.

[@meganh4011]

Thank you for putting this out. I love mental floss

[@lukehill9934]

My favorite experiment gone "wrong" (in that it got a negative result): The Michelson-Morley Experiment! It was supposed to prove the existence of the luminiferous aether, the medium through which light waves supposedly propagated. Instead, it disproved that due to being unable to detect the thing that they were hoping to find, and in the process helped usher in special relativity! Another one worth talking about, though the truth is a BIT more complicated than the myths and common understandings: The Stanford Prison Experiment.

[@lukehill9934]

Oh! Another fun one is the Mouse Utopia experiments. I don't know that that's what they were called, but that's what the lead researcher was aiming to create, and inevitably created a mouse DYStopia every time. It was also, supposedly, an inspiration for the anime "The Secret of NIMH," based on the fact the utopia experiments were funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health. More info: io9.gizmodo.com/how-rats-turned-their-private-paradise-into-a-terrifyin-1687584457

[@destree6348]

I watched a documentary on it and they showed footage of what went on... I will never get those images out of my head. Insane

[@JohnPBartonMusic]

"They Live" DVD on the shelf.... you have good taste. :)

[@alexgibson4782]

If that skull belonged to a healthy child it would probably have skin on it.

[@leumas75]

Alex Gibson maybe Johann Schmidt’s (aka Red Skull) child?

[@TheMLR1988]

And it actually is pretty cool🙊especially on x rays

[@kittylitteral5417]

They were probably reading too many novels

[@FanofAlmostEvery]

My cousin had a modern day gum lancing. She has lost two baby teeth early so her gums had closed before her adult teeth were ready.

[@kellykerr5225]

I was beat with a thick double leather belt. I was told to wait and think about what I did and that it would hurt him more than me. Well that’s total bullshit. I was almost always not guilty of what I was punished for, so it just taught me not to do that to my child. Thank god my mom finally got rid of that stepfather when I was 12.

[@aslonz5308]

0:45 > Didn't fall out of fashion. Thats a good one.

[@docwinters]

oedema = Swelling, Edema (US Spelling) is still pronounced E-De-Ma

[@squidward66]

I wonder what will be considered puzzling parenting tips 200 years from now. Today's wisdom is often tomorrow's puzzling oddity.

[@MentalFloss]

Yes! I want to know what I'm doing today that will make people laugh at me 200 years from now! (Not that we're laughing at the parenting tips, per se, but you know what I mean...)

[@CR-px6er]

Gum lancing works, had to do it in juvenile hall when they wouldn't let me see a dentist after days of wretched pain. Cut to the tooth, pain stopped immediately.

[@areamusicale]

Didn't mention the MOST COMMON tip: if your child complain, smack in the face; if your child doesn't like your tasteless food, smack him in the face, if your child gets a bad score in school. smack in the face. if you feel bored, find any excuse to smack him in the face ... or don't (find an excuse).

[@lohphat]

Getting kids out in the sun and exposing them to cold temps are key methods to improve the immune system. Sunlight spurs vitamin D production and hot/cold cycles like using a sauna and then cold exposure is proven to boost immune responses.

[@Miss_Kisa94]

😁 You definitely sound Scandinavian. I remember watching a documentary on how they raise kids there and apparently the cold air treatment really does work to build their immune systems.

[@happyfacefries]

Yeah, but not in a wire cage 100 ft from the ground

[@lohphat]

Candyland If you can install a window air conditioner safely so it won’t fall, you can install a secure platform with a proper cage to prevent an accident. Engineering is a thing.

[@Miss_Kisa94]

@@happyfacefries We weren't talking about the cages

[@lohphat]

Miss_Kisa94 Swedish proverb: There is no such thing as “bad weather”, only bad choices in clothing. Kids go outside and play regardless if it’s raining or snowing. Just as long as it’s not a blizzard. Toughens you up.

[@debbiebenson3560]

Paragoric was still being used in the 70's. My mom said my grandmother would get it from the doctor for me when I had diarrhea

[@mangot589]

Well, those window cages seem better than having them locked up in a stuffy apartment all day🤷‍♀️. Then the apartment gets some fresh air too. It seems like nobody opens their windows anymore. I live in a suburb, and I’ve noticed that only one of my neighbors opens their windows too. What’s up🤔

[@DashValkyrie]

Depending on what you consider to be an experiment, Chernobyl disaster was one heck of an experiment gone wrong

[@Kiku91]

"Premature fruit, never ripe as well" Except when they become famous musicians? (Mozart, Chopin...eh...)

[@DemonEyes23]

I 100% approve of this baby cage idea.

[@AndrewPonti]

NO SNACKS FOR YOU, BABY!! Basically all this says is what everyone knows: "There is no handbook on parenting". Also - opium, alcohol, mercury, turpentine, and other chemicals = miracle cure! Green tea = BADDDDDDDDD!!!! Great video, as always!

[@MentalFloss]

Thanks! It's funny, because some of them (even the no snacks for babies) I was like "OK, sure, I see the rationale." Then you get to the administration of literal poison and it becomes a bit harder to justify...

[@alechall7082]

I usually watch these when im about to go to sleep. This one doesnt seem great for my dreams 😅

[@lohphat]

I would agree with pushing your kids too early should be avoided. Don’t push them but let them set the pace. If they’re hungry for more challenges then is should initiate from them, not the parent. Otherwise you end up with the famous riddle from would-be child musical prodigies: “What’s the difference between a viola and a violin? The viola burns longer.” Similarly we’re pushing tech on our kids as nannies too soon. “iPad addiction” is a thing. It’s causing a dopamine dependency loop and an ADHD spike. Let your kids out in the yard to PLAY.

[@lindatisue733]

Nordic parents still air their babies, go to a fashionable cafe any time of year and there will be a bunch of babies in prams, while the parent is enjoying a fika inside the cafe. Childhood obesity and insulin resistance were nearly unheard of in the 1800's, not allowing snacks all the time is be a good idea. Not being too creative is still practiced in schools... look at all the fill in the blank workbooks in school. As a science teacher in the US, I tried to use the inquiry teaching, but was told by the administration to do workbook pages and make them write definitions.

[@NickRoman]

"and/or rhyming couplets" lol

[@hayasimkin5842]

You should cover the Stanford Prison Experiment.

[@secretaltruism4174]

16 and 17 made me think of Anne of Green Gables

[@PatrickAllenNL]

This video needs a disclaimer...🙂😂 Just in case 😆

[@ZsaZsaUmbra]

Potatoes are also chock full of protein.

[@RMoribayashi]

I don't know why you listed Paregoric as an old time remedy. It's still available by prescription and used for diarrhea and stomach upset in children. Fascinatingly, it's also used to wean babies born to addicted mothers off of opiates.

[@nastybedazzler]

Whatever the case these days it's probably heavily regulated and researched and can be used for a specific purpose as you said so most likely it's not just some hack cure-all. Back then it was probably used for everything which is clearly dangerous. It would appear that those living back in those times were always looking for miracle cure-all tonics, and they almost always seemed to include cocaine, heroin, or alcohol. Probably not the best things to give your children. I will say that sure they do serve their purpose in certain circumstances even today, and these days they are much better understood, but back then if you look up cures for any kind of ailment, you'll see what I mean though since you already know this fact you posted you most likely already know this.

[@DaveSomething]

my potatoes are starch and dairy... lots of butter! mmmm **drool**

[@artkincell]

Tom Hill is my new favorite person.

[@starshine377]

My mother used to give us paragoric for loose stools.

[@TheFinktron]

The real miracle of life is that anyone survived these ideas and treatments.

[@happyfacefries]

I've seen some documentaries on a few of these things and I realized that if I lived then, I would have 100% died as an adolescent. Really hits me.

[@jasonyoungberg2115]

An experiment gone wrong? My brother.

[@emilymulcahy]

Omg she has Anne of Green gables, my favorite childhood book

[@shelbymunro8941]

What do you mean I can't have anything green. You know green is my favourite colour, mum!

[@allseriousness]

FYI Google the pronunciation of edema

[@therugburnz]

Taking kids out even in the cold doesn't sound to bad. The cage however, in cities, doesn't sound great just because in modern times the air is crap.

[@dstinnettmusic]

2:28 No it was dry bread. There was no relish.

[@kuturisd]

Experiment gone wrong? Castle Bravo comes to mind. . .

[@RosyJo]

Baby cages might be nice for apartment dwelling cats

[@sardot4960]

So that's where "beat the hell out of him" comes from.

[@buckwheat2890]

People in the 1800’s (those that survived these treatments) were TOUGH. They had to be. Also had a high pain tolerance at least. Not sure how they decided that these were good or acceptable though. Not a lot of science behind them.

[@88happiness]

I believe that carbs weren't the problem food they are today.

[@happyfacefries]

Funny how they thought fiction books were bad. Now any parent would die to have their kids be into books.

[@nastybedazzler]

Every generation will have their elders bitching about something popular that's the devil. In the 80's it was D&D and Satanic Cults. In 2001 it was... Harry Potter-- a book series. Before that it was bra burning. Before that it was swing dancing. During that it was alcohol. After that it was marijuana. Before that it was masturbation. Well before that it was witchcraft. People always need something to blame for society's ills, even if they aren't even ills, just not the way the older generation thinks it should be. Some Christians still burn Pokemon stuffed animals for whatever fucked up reason like yeah, Pokemon is the work of the Devil *wink*. Or Sinead O'Connor... buy all her CD's and then steam roll them that'll show her. People gotta suck no matter the year. That's life. I think with the amount of real information that's easily accessible these days this kind of intolerance is on its way out. Might be wrong, it just seems unlikely that people can just blame random crap for things they don't like and have everyone get on board but what do I know lol people surprise me all the time.

[@k.g._szymczak]

My brothers and I got whipped with a belt when we were bad. And we're all better men for it today. Learned very young to behave and to have respect. Fine line between discipline and abuse. Now there is no discipline and the child will suffer from that eventually. Just take a look around.

[@LordWoffingshire]

There are ways to instill discipline which are less lazy than beating children. The issue with parents today is that they want to be their kids friend so dont punish them enough by any method.

[@happyfacefries]

There are so many better ways to discipline children. And it doesn't teach them what they did wrong, it only makes them fear you instead of coming to you when they in need or teaches them not to get caught. There are numerous studies on how corporal punishment can lower IQs. Before you are quick to judge, I am a domestic violence survivor.

[@robertguidry2168]

I would say that is a bad translation, as the Hebrew Bible does not speak of Hell, the word is death. Rather it is indicating that disciplining a child, though it may be uncomfortable, can prevent them from harming themselves or others.

[@markrowland1366]

Twentieth century parents also let children receive sunlight in extensions to window frames.

[@tryingagain1960]

All I do is snack lol

[@schnuder]

Clever Hans is my favorite experiment gone wrong. It’s a classic in psychology and even has given rise to the term The Clever Hans Effect. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans

[@jera8258]

I think a slap on the hand or butt for young children is fine. As they get older a slap across the face is good too. Children today are running the house and are more than a handful to teach. They are flat out spoiled. (Beating a child to the point that they have bruises and are terrified of the parent is 100% wrong) I got slapped and hit growing up and I am a better person today than I would have been if my parents didnt handle it the way they did. I respected them unlike most children today. I am proud of the man I've become and job I have and the family I support and protect.

[@tjtaylor6431]

This list really bothered me deeply. Not in like a “I can’t believe you made this list!” type of way but in a “wow that’s more disturbing than I intended maybe I should’ve skipped this one for my own sake” sort of way.

[@ripadipaflipa4672]

Parents were told to wake up their little boy having a wet dream to wake them up at 4 am sent outside to take laps around the farmyard

[@Apophis324]

Gum lancing.. Now I really don't want to go to the dentist anymore > .

[@Miss_Kisa94]

Oh please who hasn't gotten smacked by their mom with a house slipper at least once 😂 that's one thing that has remained

[@happyfacefries]

There's a difference thought with a shoe or brush versus a wide strip of leather

[@Miss_Kisa94]

@@happyfacefries yeah 😕 no shit

[@lildramatic4760]

wow i must have read even earlier than we thought. i got my glasses at 11mos

[@MentalFloss]

Lol. Doubly risky: obviously it made you nearsighted, but all that early reading could've led to DPKS (deadly precocious kid syndrome).

[@YeeSoest]

Any questions left on how our parents and their parents could live in the world they lived in and left us?

[@johngordonp]

Hold on a sec, gotta go air out the baby...

[@BlueEye096]

Probably an ignorant thought but it always sounds like until only recently (and still happens, it's just gotten a bit better) humans were pretty poor parents where the solution to everything was either physical and/or emotional abuse, baffling rules the parents would never follow themselves, drugs or some other crazy thing that's sure to put the child's wellbeing in danger. Anything to either get some peace and quiet or control.

[@arawakriesch7297]

Potatoes contain every vitamin and mineral that is necessary for a person and most people can live on only potato for an extended period of time. Don't knock the potato. It is or was the staple food for a huge portion of the population of the world for many centuries.

[@Neophlegm]

Arsenic and green tea? BAD Opium, turps, and mercury? GO NUTS, GUYS!

[@jaysun4069]

Dont they still do the baby fresh air thing in russia?

[@JpLogan-ry6qk]

Is it just me or is there a "star whale" on the bottom left shelf?

[@darksakurattv]

So basically that ten year old who died became MODOK. Got it.

[@rebekahlevy4562]

Nearsightedness can be cured with Bates exercises.

[@romulusnr]

8:21 *chancla intensifies*

[@kmckenney7479]

Ah yes we should put babies in a cage outside our widow on the 20th floor. They can get more fresh air.

[@MentalFloss]

Am I crazy for thinking "yeah, if it was affixed securely to the building, I'd probably chill in one of those"?

[@mangot589]

Mental Floss No. at least if you’re in the asphalt jungle, you can some air, read a book. Like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.😉

[@katlong3945]

Thanks for the nightmares from that child's skull, my god

[@vickylikesthis]

Adult sized "Baby cages" out the window would be fun to have.

[@MentalFloss]

Right?! Especially these days...

[@HighOnAmmo]

like who needs a balcony haha

[@maria369]

Here in Greece we call them balconies.

[@jwhitely7]

Experiments gone wrong? How about that time a boy scout belt a nuclear reactor and people died

[@willpaul5202]

Never happened, he designed and built a nuclear bomb but couldn't get his hands on any uranium 235. He teaches physics now.

[@asl4life443]

You didn't use mine. :(