Babies CAN go on motorbikes. (it's the culture)

Kids CAN'T go out in the sun or rain (dark skin and risk of sickness)

Babies less than a year old CANNOT go outside in the evening, regardless of perfect and harmless weather, without wearing a hat! E ven if they're coming from a non-air-conditioned room that had the door open.

It's not a one-off, it's not just my wife's family. It's fact!

No, she won't give me a valid reason any more than 'Just believe me and shut up'

Any experience? Any opinions?

Mad. The lot of 'em!

Your name may be 2long but you haven't been in Thailand long enough

There is NO valid reason to question all the totally useless habits that Thais have when it comes to babies

Read the 2 last posts by me in this thread and have a laugh http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Advice-Mumsd...50&start=50

Your name may be 2long but you haven't been in Thailand long enough

Read the 2 last posts by me in this thread and have a laugh http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Advice-Mumsd...50&start=50

You really are a special special chap!

"Babies can't go out in the rain cause they'll catch cold". Ask why the baby doesn't catch cold if you give it a shower ?

2long – It’ seems that I annoyed you, not intentional and apologies for that.

We have the same experiences I would think, utterly useless stuff and mothers accept what grand mother says without question and without thought. Any area of disagreement would put the mother in a difficult situation as she would have to confront the grand mother. That’s the reason why I say that we westerners are better off trying to keep quiet and accept the BS that is going on, it’s for the wife’s sake

Michael

That's the reason why I say that we westerners are better off trying to keep quiet and accept the BS that is going on, it's for the wife's sake

It's for the sake of keeping the peace, then that is wrong in itself. If you don't tell your wife that her mother is wrong then she'll be as dumb as her mother. After that she will tell your child the same thing when the time arises. Do you want that ? I doubt it. Educate them as you go along, bless them.

That's the reason why I say that we westerners are better off trying to keep quiet and accept the BS that is going on, it's for the wife's sake

It's for the sake of keeping the peace, then that is wrong in itself. If you don't tell your wife that her mother is wrong then she'll be as dumb as her mother. After that she will tell your child the same thing when the time arises. Do you want that ? I doubt it. Educate them as you go along, bless them.

1) The grand mother doesn't want to be educated

2) The mother may want to but it would be bad behaviour of her to go against her mother

3) Be smart instead of direct like a farang, ask a doctor to educate the Grand mother instead of doing it yourself

4) Point 3 doesn't work either. If grand mother doesn't listen to a doctor, why should she listen to you?

Thai grand mothers (and thereby Thai mothers) will continue to do what is not very good for infants and babies for at least another generation

Doesn't mean that I like it, but they will

In some cases the advice given by the gandmother is odd and makes no sense, but is not actually harmful.

In that case my wife and I will discuss it and she understands that it is not really necessary, but since it is usually harmless we will both normally just let it go.

i.e. if you put a hat on the baby is it needed , no... but will it harm the baby, also no...

Now if it is ever anything that could be harmful then you need you may need to be a bit more forcful. With our first child after giving a vaccine to our baby the doctor mentioned that the baby might have a slight fever the following day and if this happens not to worry. Just give the baby flu medication and all shouldbe ok within a day.

The grandmother wanted to race out and buy a bunch of medications and give to our baby, just in case... obviouslyt in this case we had to put our foot down and say, NO... If the baby gets sick, then we can give medication, but if not then no medication....