Saturday, April 17, 2010

Could Wearing Your Baby Change the World?

Babywearing, while fairly new to the modern Western world, is as old as the family unit itself. Families were carrying and holding their children in soft carriers out of necessity, long before the advent of strollers, infant swings, the "infant entertainment saucer," bouncy seats, and the like made carriers a thing of the past. Moms, dads, older siblings, cousins, grandparents, and virtually everyone else deemed to be part of the family took their turn in sharing the responsibility of caring for and carrying the babies and smaller children of the family. This practice continues today in many lesser-developed countries around the world, again, partly out of necessity, but partly out of tradition. It is from the style of parenting that includes the practice of babywearing that Attachment Parenting has been derived. Unfortunately, in our attempts to "modernize" here in the West, we have "advanced" our society and culture so much as to lead to not only the breakdown of the family as it once was, but also to the degradation of this beautiful and intelligent style of parenting.

The products we create at Baby So Smart, ring slings and Mei Tai style baby carriers, were designed to help parents implement Attachment Parenting with their children, while also allowing the parent to continue their own sense of style. The seminars and classes we offer were designed to help inform and educate today's parents about the many benefits of babywearing (and other topics pertinent to Attachment Parenting), our ultimate goal being parents reshaping their parenting style into one that is more gentle, nurturing, high-touch, and respectful of the children with which they have been blessed and entrusted. Psalm 127:3,5a—"Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."

So Why Baby So Smart?

Smart Parents

We believe Smart Parents actively seek out information and education in an attempt to equip themselves to be better parents. We believe Smart Parents seek out products: proven to facilitate and promote the healthy physical, emotional, and neurological growth and development of their babies and children; that promote the growth and development of the parent-baby bond; that facilitate the breastfeeding relationship; and promote the physical health of the parent.

Smart Slings

We believe Smart Slings, and other styles of safe carriers, prevent the development of physical problems in the infant, such as hip dysplasia, plagiocephaly, over-stimulation, and spondylolithesis; minimize the physical and emotional demands intrinsic with caring for and carrying an infant, particularly in our Western society where we are generally without the benefits of the proximity of the extended family; place no physical barrier between the parent and child, but instead promote closeness; are easy to use; and are very stylish.


Smart Babies, the result of smart parents who choose smart carriers.

Recent research has shown that carried babies grow up to be less aggressive, more independent, more confident, more nurturing, and more others-focused than their non-carried peers. It seems to us that our world could use more people like that. And today's Smart Babies grow up to be tomorrow's Smart Parents.

Could wearing your baby change the world? We think so—one family at a time.