For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for June 01, 2020

know of any parents in 2020 to have a wind-up infant swing?

The first panel is the best. I notice that Elly is back to doing the laundry herself, so John’s attempt last week must have been a one-time only event. However, the one that makes me smile is how Elly is scrubbing a surface clean with one hand while at the same time watering a hanging plant with the other hand. I can honestly say that this is something I have never done in my entire life. I have a hard enough time keeping the water in the hanging plant when I am paying full attention.

She should not have to do all that herself.

My granddaughter had a swingseat like that, but it was battery operated, so no winding required. Her mom made good use of it. :)

“SWING-A-TOT”?

Adorable… :)

I had that when my boys were babies. Very noisy to wind up again after they stopped. When my babies fell asleep, I just left them there until they woke up. Today’s versions are more like a cradle that gently swings with soft music. Very expensive. I did not get a swing – they still sell them – for my grandchildren because the winding up the handle is still noisy. I just put them in the bouncer then in the exercisaucer/walker.

Ah, I remember those days. We learned to wind the swing one click at a time as it swung. Much less noisy that way…

And my son hated it! Screamed bloody murder whenever we put him in it.

Never had such a thing when I and my siblings were kids. I don’t even remember ever seeing one in later generations. All my friends with kids gave them personal attention, not mechanical “distractions”.

Never heard of one before.

Had one for my kids back in the 80s. A godsend! —-When I was a baby (in the 1950s), my mother put me in what’s called a Teeter-Babe. Sort of a rocker/jumping/bouncy seat. She also set me down in front of their brand new black and white TV. My mother told me that while the programs were on, I would bounce and rock, but when the commercials came on, I would stop and STARE intently! LOL. Madison Ave at it’s finest!

Is there any reason why she needs to get all of it done in 10 minutes?

I had one that made a clanking noise and ran for 15 minutes, they didn’t have the motorized ones in 1971. We didn’t have any of the cool things they have now days. Enjoy.

Lynn’s Comments:

The Jolly Jumper and wind up swing saved my bacon!

Two of my kids liked the swing, at least occasionally and at some ages. It was amazing! When we didn’t have the swing (or the kids didn’t like it), I was holding those babies— waking or sleeping, because they did not want to be put down!- and not getting much of anything done. Babies are heavy and generally not still, and the amount of back pain when you try too much is not to be understated (I was almost as old as Elly here with my third), and by the 2000s, letting them cry so you could do housework like in the days of MIL was no longer acceptable- you did what you could while keeping the baby happy. My favorite ages were from 5 or 6 months, when they could play with you and by themselves more.

Buy two and put them in parallel. (Electrical joke.)

My daughter loved hers. If we let her, she would swing for hours. She is 40 years old now and still talks about it. Some moron had to say they weren’t safe and had them banned. Hell..life itself ain’t safe.

Oh hell no… I bypassed the timer and replaced the 4 D-cell batteries with a DC phone charger. That thing ran for as long as we wanted!

A little squirt of oil in the works, does amazing things.

Whew! She makes me tired just watching here.

2nd kid was colicy, but being rocked helped. That swing was a godsend.

Feed the kid a bunch of sugar and they’re self winding.. which is a really bad idea.

Anybody remember the “jumper” that was attached to a door jamb and was basically a swing attached to bungee cords? The baby would bounce and wiggle using his legs to “launch” himself. It was supposed to strengthen the baby’s legs as well as provide self-entertainment.

We didn’t buy any of those toys since we lived in a small apartment for a long while, and they might take up too much space…The advantage of living in a small space is that you don’t accumulate a lot of stuff and clean up is quick but laundry has to be done more often. Advantage of doing laundry in a public place long time ago: it was a gathering place for moms and older kids, even 3 or 4 would “watch” the tiny baby, while you chatted while waiting and sorting and let machine do washing and you wait, and then load the dryers and wait and chat and then fold while chatting, and feed and change the baby in between…It took half day at least, but the time was well spent, IMO, in company of other mothers when we could unload our own minds and load up new knowledge. It was like a village square…

The baby’s feeling a little wound up…

Ha-ha! I thought at first she was just ‘timing herself’ to get a lot done in a short span (I do that sometimes) but balancing household duties is an even better reason! (♥‿♥)

I have six offspring. When my babies were little, top priority was the baby, including the baby’s wash. After that I chose ONE thing which had to get done: dinner. I had to have dinner done. So I would work on these things: baby and dinner. But as I nursed, I would look longingly at all the tasks which weren’t getting done.. So once the baby went down, I would rush to get the two ”biggies” done, and then try to tackle the stuff I was staring at besides. Like Elly, I had to be fast. Why? Because babies are not on a schedule. Free time to work was precious. And I did not have any help.