Inequality by (Interior) Design, a blog by sociologist Tristan Bridges, turned one-year-old last month and it is quickly becoming one of my favorites. In a recent post, Bridges featured a product that reminds us all why history is awesome: the “portable baby cage”:
As I discussed in a previous post, with industrialization came cities and with cities came crowded, cramped living quarters. The baby cage kept infants out of harm’s way and gave the family a bit more space. As Bridges discusses, it also coincided with the idea that babies needed a lot of fresh air to be healthy. The baby cage seemed like the perfect solution.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 17
Yrro Simyarin — March 4, 2013
As a recent father I'm still trying to figure out what the actual difference between a playpen and a dog crate is.
Mrs. G — March 4, 2013
Amazing. I wonder how the overly anxious parents of today would even react to the idea of leaving a baby outside alone.
Oh, wait, I know:
http://www.cafemom.com/group/99198/forums/read/18115861/The_Babies_Who_Nap_In_Sub_Zero_Temps
The comment section makes a very interesting on cultural differences between cultures that are basically both First World, "Western" ones. And also the non-professional, yet probably on the mark, reasons given my commentators there to the differences (lower crime in Nordic countries, etc.)
Amanda Kendel — March 4, 2013
That would really suck if the baby drops a toy or pacifier out the side, as my baby girl would constantly do :)
JontKopeck — March 5, 2013
Nothing wrong with them per se, but as the go to person for DIY in my family circle, there's no way in hell I'd ever install one. Who'd want the culpability?
Alison — March 5, 2013
I remember learning in a child psych class I took that even young babies are 'afraid of heights'; ie, they refused to crawl to their mothers over a transparent surface above a drop. I wonder if that matters here. I also wonder how popular the baby cage was and why it went out of style.
WTF Is Going On With This 1930s Baby Cage Madness? | I Love Train Wrecks — December 16, 2015
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