Whereas during my pregnancy, I was asked "So how are you feeling?" more times than I could count, during the past five and a half months it's been a different question. "Is he a good baby?"
What exactly is a "good baby"? I get the impression that such a child is one that sleeps all night, naps during the day, smiles and is happy all the time, and never cries. Something like that anyway. Of course I don't think that child actually exists, but mine is overall happy and laid-back and a decent sleeper, so I think he's close enough to qualify.
But suppose he wasn't. Suppose he was colicky, spent hours at a time screaming inconsolably, never slept for more than two hours, and generally didn't fit the description of "good baby"... what would that make him? A "bad baby"?
"Badness" implies disobedience, wrongdoing, malice, things that require a will. Babies only have needs, some maybe more/different needs than others, but needs all the same. They can't help if they need to cry, or can't sleep, or just aren't happy. This doesn't make them "bad". Babies are pure, innocent, and the very definition of "good" -- even the difficult ones.
So I cringe every time someone asks me if my baby is "good". Of course he is good. All babies are good. And yes, I know people aren't thinking in terms of real goodness and badness or what the question really means. But perhaps they should.
(Thus ends tonight's mini-rant. I've been meaning to write about this for about 5 months, but I keep writing about the cute things someone does instead. ;-))