We know more than that . . .

Today, amongst our junk mail, we got a catalogue from a supermarket that had a few pages of baby stuff. Looking at it got me thinking about how many products available today are premised on the notion that judgement based on our observations is essentially untrustworthy: at-home baby scales, bath thermometers, spoons that change colour when the food's too hot, clothes that change colour when the baby's too hot, the line in the disposable nappy that changes colour when it's saturated with pee. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with using any of these products, and I'm not in favour of being cavalier when it comes to baby's safety, but it seems to me that the fact that all these 'helpful' products exist belies a basic distrust of ourselves - as if the evidence of our senses and the work of our bodies are unreliable. This notion undermines our trust in ourselves as mothers. We don't need those all those things . . . we know and can do more than that.