The Folly of Youth: Why Ignorance is NOT Bliss

Okay, here is just one example.

When we were newlyweds living in a BYU married student ward (with so few children that there was no Primary or Nursery), I had the opportunity to babysit a little boy. We'll call him Chip. He was younger than my Samuel is now, so about 8 months old, and if I remember correctly, he didn't have any teeth yet.

Well this is what I was given to feed Chip during my 2 hour babysitting stint: a banana and some rice cereal (no big deal).

And a tuna sandwich.

Did I mention that this little boy had no teeth?

Being a childless and ignorant 20 year old, I had no idea what to feed a baby, nor did I have a box of Cheerios stashed away at the back of the cabinet. But I could tell that a tuna sandwich was an unusual menu item. I could also tell that Chip was not happy. He tried and tried to eat that tuna sandwich, gumming it for 30 minutes until he had finally eaten half of it. Based on his determination and long suffering, I'm comfortable assuming that this was not the first time he had been given a tuna sandwich. But boy, was he grumpy about it.

Chris had been present when Chip was dropped off by his mom, and was witness to my sheer excitement at having a "trial run" at the baby business. He stopped back in briefly after an hour and found me, most likely in tears, rocking and bouncing and swooping the little guy to get him to stop crying and go to sleep (since he had already eaten his tuna sandwich). By the end of my 2-hours when Chip had gone home, Chris came home again only to find me fast asleep on the couch, completely exhausted. He decidedly announced that we weren't having any babies yet, and teased me for my naive longing for a baby of my own.

Ah, the advantage of hindsight. That day I was just as clueless as Chip's mom. Poor baby. Poor mom. At least I could tell that he was not happy with a tuna sandwich for lunch.

In case you are wondering, here is a website that gives some good guidelines about what to feed an 8 month old. I don't see any mention of tuna or sandwiches.