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.

Och, yiz are awfy kind!

Well I think the Trident replacement and new high speed railway are a complete waste of public resources. The first is immoral at best and the HS railway will have limited benefits to a small, tiny even proportion of society. I can't get excited about a few baby boxes, that can be refused if not wanted.

A 'few baby boxes' costing £6 million at a time when the NHS and emergency services are facing yet another round of cost savings and when there are cutbacks in other areas of public services then I don't get excited either - I get pissed off by the sheer waste of money.

Surprised by the utter naffness of that poem. I'm reading Jackie Kay's autobiography at the moment, "Red Dust Road" after I heard her on Desert Island Discs and thought she sounded fascinating (had never heard of her before). It's a great book and her (non-Scots) prose makes for a lovely read.

It's not a waste of money when the number of SIDS cases is reduced.

DH's parents have just got to the point where after years of good health a range of ailments are creeping up on them. MIL declared last night there was no way they would vote for a party headed by Corbyn. Oh good, NHS is completely fucked then.

If the outcome measures specifically show a significant decrease in SIDS as a result of the boxes alone then I will accept that they are not a waste of money. Until then, nope - they remain another one of the SNP's tokenistic gestures.

Your poem is marvellous, demented!

I genuinely don't know what the fuck a talented woman like Jackie Kaye is doing, writing kaleyard claptrap like this for the government.

Maybe I could apply for the job of Makar. Does it pay well?

£10K a year and as much shortie as you can eat demented

I could easily eat more than £10Ks worth of shorties to double my salary..And the size of my bahooky!

I wonder how much she was paid for that? FOI request, anyone?

The Scottish Laureate gets a £10K stipend (it's freely available through 'ra Google) - I imagine that includes the writing of 'Ode to ma globe heided bairny'

If only they'd called it 'ode to ma globe heided bairnie'.

I don't like the poem - most people don't speak like that in Scotland.

LOL at the person who said no one has heard of Rabbie Burns. You know, the bloke who wrote Auld Lang Syne - arguably the most famous song in the world

6 million pounds a year! For some boxes with cheap crap and a poem that 1% of the population understands in them 😕

Someone upthread mentioned a reduction in SIDS - I'm sure the 6 million could have been better invested in pre/post natal care and midwives training.

Brilliant poyum demented

demented Take a bow, you've won the thread!

demented will you send that to them? You must!

baldy heid 😂😂

LOL at the person who said no one has heard of Rabbie Burns. You know, the bloke who wrote Auld Lang Syne - arguably the most famous song in the world Exactly. The poem's mawkish but... Anything that stirs up snobbery in the Morningside crowd is good in my book.

Thread is in the times: www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/baby-box-poem-piles-strain-on-depressed-mothers-z2hlfvncr

Can't read it all because of the paywall though. does anyone have access and can copy and paste?

Really hope they put in Demented's poem in the Times article

I grew up in Edinburgh speaking English. Not all Scots speak in these dialects.

Bizzy so never have you said Aye or ken or dinae ever are you sure ?

I never have Mrsjayy (except in jest) - we do exist, you know!