Tuesday, September 27, 2005

I KNOW I’M CUTE BUT STOP LOOKING AT ME

Apparently, and this is true, you are no longer allowed to look at babies born at Calderdale Royal Hospital, Halifax, England, you may not pinch their cheeks, poke their bellies, chuckle them under the chin and you certainly may not coo “Who’s a beautiful baby then?” A sign on a doll in the babies’ ward puts it in no uncertain terms, “What makes you think I want to be looked at?”

I suppose they’ve got a point, you can’t have just anybody coming in and prodding them, but how has it come to this, that you can’t admire a cute adorable newborn baby. It’s so hard to resist, those big damp eyes, we’re Pavlovian in our response to baby animals of any kind, we love big eyes and chubby cheeks, and babies love us loving them.

Not any more, we’re no longer allowed, the hospital spokesperson says “cooing should be a thing of the past because these are little people with the same rights as you or me”.

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