I ran across a photo on social media and of course, I did my typical verification because I couldn’t believe it was a real thing. Come to find out, in urban areas in the 20’s & 30’s, parents in crowded cities (like New York & London) used health cages to ensure infants got fresh air and sunlight.
EEEK! Even the photos make me anxious.
So my brother and I rode in the back of a station wagon without any kind of restraint when we were kids and survived. And I wanted to hang my feet out the window of a moving car but my Momma told a story about some kid getting his/her feet cut off, so I wasn’t brave enough to do that.
I even had a conversation with a good friend about a family that had a mentally handicapped child that they tied to a tree so he wouldn’t run away back in the 50’s… which would obviously result in an arrest and child abuse charges today… but cages hanging stories in the air with babies in them? No. No. No!
A cure for rickets?
Doctors and parenting experts strongly recommended fresh air and sunlight to prevent issues like rickets, tuberculosis, and general poor health. Often made from chicken wire, these cages were clamped to a windowsill or hung from a top window frame, and babies were placed inside to “air out.” Heck, even Eleanor Roosevelt even used one for her daughter Anna.
What a wild slice of history!
I wouldn’t have put one of my dogs in a cage made of chicken wire jutting out from the side of a building some 40+ or so feet in the air. Would you?
Dharma barely trusts a wooden deck… she would’ve rather taken her chance with the rickets than go into a contraption like that.
Now you know: In 2014, Ben Affleck received a lifetime ban from the blackjack tables at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas after surveillance footage showed him counting cards during a high-stakes game. Security informed him he was “too good” and classified him as an advantage player.