I personally feel far more confident in following my instincts when I am educated and informed on the matter at hand, so I really don’t get when ‘Mother Knows Best,’ gets trotted out and waved around like a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card only when what’s being done flies directly in the face of recommended guidelines founded on solid research.
Infant and child mortality rates are progressively lower, our expected lifespans have gotten significantly longer and it’s because of research and increased knowledge along with advancements in technology, medicine, general living conditions, diet and hygiene.
Sure, cavemen survived to perpetuate the human race, and we’ve made it this far, but who wants to go live in caves, chasing down our prey to bash it over the head before dragging it back for eating, all the while getting infested with fleas from its carcass? Right, not many. So how come we find it hard to accept that even as little as a generation ago they did things that in light of what we know today, aren’t necessarily right, or ‘the best’?
Just because it’s what your mother did, and your grandmother before her did, that doesn’t make it the best decision that you can make now. I think prior generations have a wealth of experience to share, but like all things, it should be weighed against ‘what we know now,’ and when what was best yesterday isn’t quite as good as it is today, then why not aim for the skies?