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.

"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"

Except that targeting never works, because it's right wing virtue signalling dressed up as common sense, and it ensures stigmatisation, thus never helping the poorest.

mrsjayy the boxes are here in clackmannanshire and orkney was the other place i heard mentioned where they were being trialled. Could be wrong though

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

Wasn't it introduces in Finland to stop co-sleeping which was the cause of infant mortality rate?

Thank you milady

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

Handing out boxes of government issued clothes won't help the poorest (or anyone not wishing they got to live in Stalinist Russia).

I'm glad parents are getting an ear thermometer. Lots of useful stuff I that box.

I really don't understand al the sniping

I noticed a huge reduction in drop in sessions between my two pregnancies, the type of classes that were free, easy to access (held in church halls etc.) which had a real mixed bag of attendees. Due to funding cuts these have largely gone yet played a part in providing "non stigmatised " access to hcp. This is the type of thing which could be funded not a fucking box.

"Stalinist Russia"

Ah, here we go! Universalism = Stalinism.
The strawmen are coming in thick and fast. First writing 'een' and 'kent' was tantamount to Entartete Kunst and an attack on the rights of linguistic majorities and an attempt to SNP-ify bairns. Now, after saying it was like Brexit (even tho it's coming from a pro-EU, centre left, internationalist government), it's also like Stalin.

Are the SNP really centre left though? Their economic policies don't seem to be.

An ear thermometer is not going to do anything to address inequalities. Lovely that new parents are getting a box of freebies, but it's not a priority.

"Their economic policies don't seem to be."

Which ones? Their opposition to benefit sanctions? Their pro-reindustrialisation stance? Or their belief in stimulus, not austerity?

Ahh SirChenjin your word is more specific, thank you

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernat

You do realise Stalinist Russia wS a joke, don't you?

As I understand it mortality fell in Finland after they were reduced. But that's decades ago - and child mortality has fallen widely in the developed countries over the same time frame. Also it would appear from what other people have said that there are public health checks linked to the boxes somehow that are perhaps more likely to have played a roll.

But hey, you can't have a sense of humour while convincing everyone that the snp are infallible and perfect.

I could think of so many useful things that £6m could be spent on instead.

If it's just the box itself which has been proven to be effective in reducing infant mortality, fair enough. But what about the rest of it?

It seems ridiculous that a couple earning over 100K would be given this.

The poem is just too sweet, urgh, but it is really hard to write a poem about childbirth/having a newborn that most would relate to as its so personal.

I'm in Finland - the Baby Box works here because its tied in to antenatal care, you don't get the box if you don't go to your appointments so every pregnant woman goes to her appointments and problems are spotted earlier so can be treated better etc. etc. the Baby Box won't make a difference in Scotland unless its tied to antenatal care too. But I absolutely agree with making it universal, that de stigmatises it, it was a key point in the Finnish one too. (On a side note, absolutely loved DD's box, she slept in it for 6 months!)

I live in Argyll no one round here speaks like that and neither do they in the western isles where l lived before. Nothing wrong with the idea of the box but poem is awful, it is not a condition of being Scottish to love Rabbie Burns anymore than being English requires you to love Dickens. I'm not keen on Burns myself doesn't make me less Scottish
While lots love a freebie loads don't want their child looking like everyone elses

I like the box idea. And I love Jackie Kay. But I don't like the poem. It should have been more along the lines of sometimes things are hard but it's worth it in the end and every child deserves the same fair chance (the ethos of the box being universal).

A box without the attached natal care is just a box.
When I see the youngsters round here with their must have designer buggies and brand new everything I can imagine the response that their baby sleeps in a box. "Nae fuckin bairn of mine is sleepin in a fuckin box!"

Was it Orkney stars I thought it was Aberdeen I probably mis heard

I don't know wtf Jackie Kaye is doing! She's a fantastic poet, but this is utter tripe

It's going to take a very long time for any kind of change in infant mortality, breastfeeding rates, etc to be linked to this policy, & even more difficult to evidence a direct link. As a PP said these boxes have been available in Finland for decades & the changes have been observed over a very long time with other variables in the mix.

I still think the poem's a bit twee. But I live in Scotland & hope to have a baby in the (near) future, & would definitely not say no to a free box of stuff.

I live in Scotland and hate the SNP! But I think the poyem (see what I did there) is lovely and so is the box.

Actually no I don't hate them. I would vote for them if they weren't nationalist.