Love to know what mum's think of the Scottish Baby Box poem

[toomuchpink]

Love to know what mum's - especially those in Scotland - think of this poem. It is going into the Scottish Government's new baby box of freebies for parents of newborns.

Tempted to ask for alternative suggestions which truly capture the experience of having a baby. But perhaps for some people this is what it is like?

Jackie Kay
Welcome Wee One

O ma darlin wee one
At last you are here in the wurld
And wi’ aa your wisdom
Your een bricht as the stars,
You've filled this hoose with licht,
Yer trusty wee haun, your globe o' a heid,
My cherished yin, my hert's ain!

O my darlin wee one
The hale wurld welcomes ye:
The mune glowes; the hearth wairms.
Let your life hae luck, health, charm,
Ye are my bonny blessed bairn,
My small miraculous gift.
I never kent luve like this.

Im in the trial area for these boxes and so far they have been recieved quite well

Of course they've been received quite well. Who doesn't like a freebie?

But you'll never get a poem that 100% of new mothers can relate to. Never, because everyone has difference experiences. If thats all your problem with it, then what would your solution be. Never write poems unless you can appeal/be relatable to 100% of your readership?

"why not write it in the language that the vast majority of Scots speak, because 1.6 million Scots is still a minority?"

Oh, if only someone would promote the English language in Scotland! The poor put upon English speakers, with their hundreds of millions of pounds worth of verbiage a year, suffering under the Scots and Gaelic jackboot...

Pull the other one. The principle reason people in Scotland speak English as a first language is because of a centuries long campaign to eradicate Scots and Gaelic. A simple lightening of the kicking both have graciously received in recent years really oughtn't to promote such apparent ire in rational people.

I don't know milady - globe o a head might work for baby DD2. Bawface would be the traditional term though

Heid even. Autocorrect doesn't have a Scots dictionary...

Aye, it's a conspiracy Kettle.

Globe heid conjures up images of Charlie Brown.

So those of us who speak Scottish English should be treated as lesser Scots?

That's clearly the liberal stance.

"But you'll never get a poem that 100% of new mothers can relate to. Never, because everyone has difference experiences. If thats all your problem with it, then what would your solution be. Never write poems unless you can appeal/be relatable to 100% of your readership?"

If some sentimental doggerel written in English had been enclosed instead there would be no outcry about it.

The issue here is clearly that old chesnut of being Scottish in public. The cardinal sin. Being Scottish in public is "political," it's because these openly-from-Scotland-people "have an agenda." Now is the time to kill this with fire by writing dozens of enraged but easily fact checked total falsehoods about Scottish linguistic and literary history.

Charlie Broon, if you don't mind.

There'd be outcry if the poem had been written in English because more people would be able to recognise how utterly shit the poetry is.

"the monumental wastes of money"

£6million. For an universal intervention widely credited with giving Finland one of the lowest rates of infant mortality, ever.

"If some sentimental doggerel written in English had been enclosed instead there would be no outcry about it."

Bollocks. We'd all have been a lot more confident in stating it was a load of sentimental shite befitting a hall mark card.

I think you'll find that I am openly Scottish in public. It's just that I don't fit the shortbread tin vision of Scotland so I must be less authentically Scottish.

Moving on from the poem the boxes are a big pr stunt which is apportioning funds where it is not needed.

The boxes did massively reduce infant mortality in Finland as they were used to entice women to attend ante natal appointments and therefore automatically come into contact with hcp and all of the great advice/early intervention that they provide.

Now we all know that early intervention is crucial and therefore getting women to attend ante natal care is vital for greater health overall. Furthermore studies suggest that those from poorer and chaotic backgrounds are less likely to attend these. Given this the impetus surely should be to this group rather than the masses who will bin the cardboard box.

Isn't it a watered down Poundland version of the Finnish baby box?

You'll be very aware, no doubt, that the box alone did not do that. Time to get the house in order first before handing out a box of freebies - 6 million could have been better spent.

It isn't the boxer babygrows that made the difference. It was the whole programme of maternal care.

Which Scotland isn't getting. They're just getting the easy to manufacture and pose with for photos bit.

What's the for people who are employed to to sweep the Internet for there employers and join forums with a list of arguments and script?

*What's the name

Oh and kettlebell Gaelic was never spoken where I come from.

Astroturfers.

Cybernats - or bawbags. The 2 terms are interchangeable.