02x16 - Precarious Parenting

[bunniefuu]

[light buzzing]
[gentle music]

- [Henry] Remember back when
saying a dirty word got you a

good, clean punishment?

[bleep]

- I have never seen
him move as quickly

as he did than when
he shoved a full bar

of Irish Spring into my mouth,

like putting a VHS
tape into the machine.

It was just.

[commentator gargling]

- Or when drinking while
pregnant was your doctor's idea?

- Doctors say that pregnant
women should have a half pint

of beer every night.

- It got to the point where
they would actually be handing

out these beers to
women in the hospital.

[bright music]

- Or when a kid's balanced
breakfast required

heaping piles of sugar?

- Every day started with
a bowl of fruit loops

and eight scoops of sugar.

And my mom would be like,
"How's your breakfast?"

And I'd be like, "Everything's
great over here, mom."

- It was the golden
age for being a kid.

Just sugar.

Enjoy.

- These are the things we
used to do for fun, for money,

or maybe out of boredom
that we'll never see again.

Were they dangerous?

Certainly.

Deadly?

Occasionally.

But boy, wasn't it exciting?

[music ends]

[logo swooshing]

[gentle music]

Every generation swears
their parenting style

is the right one.

Today, that means buying
sunscreen with an SPF higher

than your credit score.

But 100 years ago, parents were
given very different advice

about kids and the sun.

- At the beginning
of the 20th century,

many children develop
something called Rickets,

which is a bone disease
that stunts growth.

It leaves them with
bent, wobbly legs.

- Scientists and
doctors don't quite know

what's causing Rickets,

but kids in cities are
getting Rickets way more

than kids in the country.

Plus, once a kid gets Rickets,

if they spend a lot
of time outside,

they get better a lot faster.

- They believe it's
because these kids

that are in cities aren't
getting the same amount

of sunlight exposure.

So maybe sun is
the big difference.

- [Lance] Physicians come up
with a cheap and easy solution.

Put your baby in the sun.

- [Rutledge] Today, parents
travel with everything to block

the sun, but in the '20's, they
were just like, no.

No, just get 'em out there
right out in the sun.

- [Dan] Everybody's so worried
about the lack of sun for babies

that the US government
dedicates an entire chapter

to sunbathing your baby
in its official guide

to infant care.

- [Rutledge] Naked as the day
they were born,

just out there soaking
up rays on everything.

I can smell this kid's
skin burning from here.

- [Lance] This manual is sent
out to new parents,

and it's written by some

of the government's
best physicians.

It gives you a list of do's
and don'ts for sun care,

and among the do's is to
start putting your baby

out in the sun at the
age of just three weeks.

- [Henry] Doctors even
suggest putting your baby

outside midday when
the sun is hottest.

Just be sure to
flip them halfway

through their tanning
session, like a hamburger.

- [Lance] Parents are told,
you'll know that it's working

if your child
turns slightly red.

Or in other words, if they're
still just a little pink,

leave them in the
oven a little longer.

- [Henry] Of course, sun
baths only work when it's sunny

and your child is outside.

So inventors have an idea.

Why not bring the sun indoors?

- A few years earlier, German
researchers had invented

a new kind of lamp
that runs electricity

through mercury vapors.

It's brighter and more efficient
than traditional bulbs,

but there's a catch.

It gives off a huge amount
of ultraviolet radiation.

- [Dan] That's when somebody
realizes, maybe instead

of selling these as
lamps, we could sell them

as artificial sunshine.

And just like that, artificial
sun tanning was born.

[gentle music]

- [Rutledge] Doctors start
prescribing UV lamps for all

sorts of stuff, acne, sunlamp.

I've got a bad back, sun lamp.

UV light feels like the future.

It's something that's
really gonna help people.

- [Dan] Parents routinely
send their kids

for treatment at these
helio therapy wards.

Helios is just Greek
for sun, so sun therapy.

- [Rutledge] They basically just
load the kids into this room,

where they turn on this
incredibly bright UV light,

put some black goggles
over their eyes

so it doesn't blind them, and
you just let your kids fry

like french fries.

You know, for their health.

- It looks like an ill*gal
science experiment.

It looks like something
that would not be happening

in the United States of America.

- [Dan] And you've got these
parents who genuinely believe

that they're giving
their kids the best care

they possibly can.

- [Rutledge] Doctors even found

a non-therapeutic
use for these lamps.

At a hospital in Brooklyn,
they started taking newborns,

and they would put
their name on them,

and then use the UV light to
basically brand their name

on the baby.

In their defense, it
seemed like a great way

to make sure there
wasn't these baby mixups.

- [Henry] Before long, UV
therapy moves from the hospital

to the home.

- [Lance] By the 1930's, home UV
lamps are being marketed to

parents as health
essentials for kids.

Brush your teeth, comb your
hair, sit under your lamp.

When an advertisement brags

that a model can turn the
skin red in one minute,

this is about one 12th
the time it would take you

if you were sitting on the
beach in the middle of summer.

- [Kavitha] Another one claims
to use a filter

that removes the harmful
rays so that your kid can sit

or sleep under it for
as long as they want.

- [Henry] While these
lamps have a few bright spots,

it turns out these modern
miracles can do more harm

than good.

- [Dan] These lamps are
way too powerful.


could cause a serious burn

with blistering and
permanent skin damage,

not to mention upping the
odds of getting skin cancer

in the long term.

- [Kavitha] The bulbs themselves
are also a disaster waiting

to happen.

They burn incredibly
hot, up to 1300 degrees,

and they contain
pressurized mercury vapor.

- [Dan] If one overheats, it can
shatter, sending glass fragments

and mercury flying
all over the room.

[dramatic music]
[glass tinkling]

Not ideal from a
safety perspective.

- [Lance] Eventually, people
start to figure out

it's not the sun
itself that is curing

or preventing Rickets, it's
the vitamin D that is derived

from being in the sun,
and so they come up

with a much simpler solution.

They just start fortifying
food with vitamin D.

The strategy is so
effective that by 1945,

Rickets is essentially
eliminated in the United States.

- Rickets wasn't
the only disease

that kept parents up at night.

In the fight against
tuberculosis in the early 1900s,

some parents literally
went out on a limb.

- In tenements, in the earliest
part of the 20th century,

people are living on
top of other people,

and you have a
perfect environment

for a deadly infection like
TB to spread and k*ll people.

- Children are particularly
susceptible to tuberculosis,

and so doctors begin to
advocate, get fresh air

into these little lungs
as much as possible.

- They say go in your
yard, or go on the porch,

but if you live on
the fourth floor

of a crowded city apartment or
tenement, that doesn't exist.

- [Henry] So inventors come
up with a creative solution

that gives kids fresh
air at high altitudes.

- You can turn your window into
a balcony with a baby cage.

- A baby cage.

It's essentially this
wire mesh cube that sits

outside your window,
hangs over the street,

and the idea is, you throw your
baby in there with a blanket

and some toys, and you say,
hey, enjoy getting fresh air

for the next hour or two.

- [Natalia] In the 1910s '20s,

these health window
cribs are really popular.

They're considered the
cutting edge of child safety.

- [Negin] I have a kid in New
York City,

and there are so
many protections

so that the child does not
come anywhere near falling

outside of a window.

The idea that at the time
they would just be like,

throw your kid on this
makeshift chicken coop,

which is crazy. [chuckling]

- [Henry] Surely there
must have been some rules

and regulations
about this, right?

- [Jason] Today, installing
anything,

even like a simple air
conditioner, requires all sorts

of special equipment,
regulations,

brackets, weight limits.


different story.

There was really kind
of no regulations.

- [Henry] So do
you spring for the top

of the line baby cage model?

Or go a different,
cheaper direction?

- [Adam] If you bought a
pre-made baby cage,

it would be the modern
equivalent of $600.

People who live in tenements
can't possibly afford that,

and they need the
baby cages the most.

So they end up going
DIY, and they find a way

to make their own baby cages.

- [Jason] Crafting their own
baby cage with stuff they picked

up at the hardware store.

This is DIY
parenting 1915 style.

- [Henry] A homemade cage
suspended dozens of feet

in the air, held a loft
by only a few screws.

What could go wrong?

- [Adam] If that toddler starts
playing and rolling around,

well, that's putting more
stress and more strain,

not on the cage itself,

but on the things
that are holding it

to the side of the building.

So that window frame
breaks, that wood gives way,

that wire warps or
bends, a screw pops,

and down comes baby,
baby cage and all.

- [Natalia] Believe it or not,
baby cages stick around

until the 1950s, and the
reason that they go away is not

because of safety concerns
about the cages themselves,

but because the TB
vaccine shows up,

so people have another
way to protect their kids.

- Today, we still want
our kids to get fresh air,

but it's mostly to get
them off the screens.

And we also prefer to
keep them at ground level.

- Today, car seats are a
billion dollar industry,

and they're required until
your kids are almost old enough

to drive.

But back in the day,
we weren't concerned

about keeping kids safe.

We wanted to keep
them out of our hair.

- As a child, driving in the car

with your parents on a
road trip is something

that every family experiences,

and in the 1930s, there
are big questions about

what do you do with
the kids in the car?

- [Rutledge] There's no safety
standards yet.

So the basic seatbelt
was just a mom's arm.

Just, okay, hold on.

We're slowing down.

[gentle music]

- You wanted your kids
where you could see them,

where you could keep them safe.

For families with babies,
the answer was simple.

You're upfront on mom's lap,
or wedged between mom and dad

on the bench seat.

- [Rutledge] Toddlers though are
a little bit tricky,

because they're in
that space and time

where they just wanna
to explore constantly.

They're gonna get into
something all the time.

- [Natalia] For a toddler, a car
is like a jungle gym on wheels,

so they're gonna be
grabbing the steering wheel,

probably grabbing that
cigarette lighter,

just generally wreaking havoc
in a very high risk space.

- [Henry] In the


offers the ideal solution not

to safely secure your
roaming toddlers,

but to restrain them.

- [Martin] In 1933, a company
called Bunny Bear

introduces a child
restraint system.

The first model is basically
a folding lawn chair

with some straps to
hold the child into it.

- [Natalia] Parents love this
because for the first time,

kids are restrained just
like the ads promised.

Some of these little
chairs actually come

with a little steering
wheel so the kid can pretend

like they're driving.

It creates almost
like a game out of it.

- [Martin] It even had a little
horn in the middle

[horn honking]

where you could beep,
beep and honk at traffic.

It was a company's way
of figuring out how

to make toddlers more annoying.

- [Henry] Early car
seats are a delight

for kids and parents until you
have to make a sudden stop.

[tires screeching]

- It's not latched into the car,

there are no seat
belts to attach it to.

In a screeching halt, the
kid will hit something.

- [Commercial Announcer]
What if this had been Nancy?

- [Martin] God forbid, you
should stop short at some point.

Ah, but wait, you've got
your father's right arm

to save the day.

- [Don] By the 1940s, a new
model comes out with these

clamps that hook
onto the seat back.

- [Rutledge] It's basically a
small basket with two holes cut

out for legs that's then
hooked to the seat.

So if there's any
sort of impact like,

that thing's just
gonna go flying.

- [Henry] As time goes
by, some entrepreneurs think,

"Hey, maybe we get rid of
the seat part all together."

- [Natalia] In 1961, you get
the auto strap,

and that's almost like
a harness leash thing

that attaches the kid to the
seat, but they're not seated.

They can just run around.

It's just short enough that
they can't get in the way

of the driver.

- [Rutledge] Imagine you have a
tether ball set up

in the backseat.

of your car with like four foot
of rope, and just the ball.

So if you hit something,

it's still gonna bounce all
over the place. [chuckling]

But you'll at least be
like, oh, there's Tommy.

- [Austin] Then there's the baby
hammock,

which is exactly
what it sounds like.

A basket with a mesh
suspended from the car ceiling

that will gently rock with
the automobile's motion.

It'll also violently
bang the kid back

and forth if there
is a sudden stop.

- [Don] Finally, in 1971,

the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration sets

the first federal standards
for child restraints.

Folding chairs and
ceiling hammocks are out.

Hard plastic shells, seat
belts, anchoring car seats

and harnesses within
car seats are in.

- [Rutledge] In a real short
amount of time,

we went from zero child
safety standards in a car,

to now you gotta
replace a kid's seat

like every three years.

That's pretty wild.

- Just when American cars
started to strap down the kids,

another vehicle rolled in and
said, hey, what if we didn't?

- [Don] When you picture the
ultimate 20th century

family car,

you probably picture a station
wagon, or maybe a minivan.

But in the 1970s,
another type of car

quietly becomes a favorite
with American parents.

The pickup truck.

- [Henry] From


of pickup trucks nearly double,

and the pickup truck becomes
the hottest selling vehicle

in America.

- The problem with the pickup
truck as a family vehicle is

that the cab only has space
for three people in the front,

two adults and a kid maybe.

So what are you gonna do
if you have a big family

with multiple kids?

[bright music]

Fortunately, the pickup truck
has an entire other section

that's even bigger than the
cab, and that is the bed.

- Technically, that
truck bed is designed

for hauling things like lumber
and gravel, but in the 1970s,

there are virtually
no laws whatsoever

about putting your kids in
the truck bed and taking off

down the highway.

- Being a kid,
riding in the back

of the pickup truck
was a load of fun.

Just think how fun it
is to just put your hand

out the window
and feel the wind.

Your whole body is
out of the cab now!

- During these times, there
are child restraint laws,

but they only apply to seats.

And because there's no seats
in the back of pickup trucks,

there's a loophole.

You can ride back there.

- [Henry] Soon the truck
bed becomes the mass transit

of country living.

- [Hakeem] Growing up in rural
America,

I did a lot of truck bed riding.

Every community had a
softball and baseball team.

So how are you gonna move
a team worth of people?

Everybody piled up in the
back of the pickup truck.

And you know what was really
fun when everybody was

in the back of the pickup truck?

Driving crazy.

And you were just held on, woo!

- [Lance] We were just left in
the back of a pickup truck

rolling down the highway when I
was three or four years old,

nobody supervising us.

- [Hakeem] At this time, drunk
driving wasn't thought of

the way it is right now.

You know what else was
often in the back with you?

The cooler of beer.

So it was not unusual to
pass your dad a cold beer

from the back.

- [Henry] And many
even turn their trucks

into bucking broncos.

- [Hakeem] There's a thing
that people used

to do called tailgate surfing,
where they attach a rope

to the cab, and they stand
back there in the bed

of the truck kind
of surfing around.

- While the person's driving,
you're being slung around,

and you've got to hold on for
dear life, or get thrown over.

- [Don] So here's the catch.

These vehicles were designed
for cargo, not for people.

One sudden swerve or a
bad pothole, a hard break,

and those passengers
are sent airborne.

- [Lance] As traffic and roads
get busier, in the 1970s and


people in the truck bed start

to get much more common,
especially among teenagers.

- [Don] One of the worst
incidents is in 1979.

A pickup carrying 12 teens,
eight in the back, is on its way

to a party in Maryland
and gets into an accident.



- [Henry] Because
of these accidents,

about half the states
placed restrictions

on truck bed riding, and a
few ban it almost entirely.

- [Don] On one hand, you
understand the safety

requirements, but on the other
hand, the freedom and the

feeling of danger
was part of it,

and that exhilaration
was irreplaceable.

- These days, if you wanna
feel the wind in your hair out

on the road, you have
to roll down the window.

- A lot of us know that
the most delicate phase

of parenting happens
before a baby is born.

But in the 1950s, doctors
had some relaxed ideas

about what to do
during pregnancy.

- [Austin] In the 1950s,
cigarette smoking isn't

rebellious or even disgusting.

It's classy, it's refined.

Nearly half of
American adults smoke,

and cigarettes are
endorsed in magazine ads

and on television
by actual doctors.

- Stress, you feeling stressed?

have a cigarette.

Weight gain?

Have a cigarette,
you'll eat less.

You're feeling anxiety?

Have a cigarette.

- And that advice extends
to pregnant women.

If you wanna avoid cravings,
if you're a little bit anxious

about what's growing inside
you, just have a cigarette!

- Pregnancy leads to
hormonal changes, which leads

to weird food cravings.

And doctors were like,
dude, have a cigarette.

Nicotine is an
appetite suppressant,

and doctors were
basically prescribing

their pregnant patients to
light up, you know? [chuckling]

Just suppress that appetite.

They were just like,
it's undignified

to gain so much
weight in pregnancy.

- [Edward] In 1966, "Williams
Obstetrics",

the leading textbook

for OBGYN doctors says
that it's okay for a woman

to smoke up to 10 cigarettes
a day, which is half a pack.

- At this point, 10 cigarettes
per day was seen as,

quote, innocuous for
a pregnant woman.

Just to see it in print,
is like a different level

of reality.

- [Martin] I know for a fact
that my mother smoked while

pregnant with me, and in fact,
I was told stories of

how my mother was pumping
gas pregnant with me

while smoking a cigarette.

- [Rutledge] Not only do doctors
condone smoking,

but also when they're taking
the cart around the hospital

with the snacks, and
the sandwiches where,

there's also packs of
cigarettes on there

if you wanna buy some.

Just light up in the hospital.

[bright music]

- [Henry] Only a few
years later, doctors

and hospitals changed
their tune on lighting up.

- [Martin] By the 1970s, the
research is undeniable.

The harmful effects of tobacco
smoke cross the placenta

and affect the child.

- [Austin] Babies of smokers
face higher risks

across the board.

So by the 1980s, US law requires
a Surgeon General's warning

against the dangers of
smoking while pregnant.

- We're not smoking cigarettes
now when we're giving birth,

we're not even
eating soft cheeses.

That's how much the medical
establishment has changed

on this issue.

- Smoking wasn't the only advice
doctors gave pregnant women

that would raise eyebrows today.

They also had a few other ideas.

- [Kavitha] As hard as pregnancy
is today, it's especially

grueling in the early 1900s.

It's a time when medical options

and nutritional supplements
are pretty limited.

- [Lance] Doctors start to look
for a nutritional supplement

for pregnant women, and they
find it from a strange source.

Beer.

Especially dark beer.

- [Edward] Dark beer is a
particular favorite,

because it actually
has things like iron,

and also it's made
with a lot of barley.

So there is nutritional value
that comes out of dark beer,

leading people to actually
refer to beer as liquid bread.

I mean, that's a bit
of an exaggeration,

but only by a little bit.

- Doctors say that pregnant
women should have a half pint

of beer every night.

- [Brian] It got to the point
where they would actually be

handing out these half beers to
women in the hospital.

I'm just saying if I was a
woman, I might make the argument

to get off my back, and let
me have the half a beer.

- [Natalia] It's unreal, Beer
Garden as labor ward.

- [Henry] And once
the baby is born,

it's not a last call for beer.

Doctors deem it
even more essential.

- [Natalia] Barley is considered
to boost milk production for

moms who are breastfeeding.

So after birth, mothers are
recommended to keep drinking

to keep the milk flowing.

The beer industry really
leans into this idea

that beer is healthy.

They're advertising mothers
and babies posing with beer,

drinking it.

- [Lance] The ad I remember
suggests that,

if you've got a mother who's
breastfeeding, keep a case

of Blatz around the house
to help bring in the milk.

So Blatz for your...

For your new mother. [chuckling]

- [Henry] And beer makers
decide, if beer is good

for nursing mothers, it
must be great for kids.

- [Brian] Now you follow that
chain of logic of beer

being healthy.

to let's give the children these
newborn children some beer.

Again, it's got all the
healthy ingredients in it.

And there's a little
bonus on it too.

It's like the kids
would fall dead asleep.

Now we call that passing out.

- [Henry] Dark beer remains
on the menu for mothers

and children into the 1960s,

but eventually,
studies k*ll the buzz.

- [Natalia] By the 1970s, it's
confirmed

that alcohol actually
does cross the placenta,

and it affects the brain
development of children.

So those days are over.

- [Kavitha] In 1981, the Surgeon
General

officially advises pregnant
women not to drink,

and then in 1989,

alcoholic beverages must
carry a warning label

for pregnancy risk.

- Thank goodness today,
hospitals no longer serve beer

to new moms, but dad can
still get his pint at the bar

across the street.

- Parents today
obsess over everything

that their kids eat, from
sweets to processed foods.

But there was a
time when a spoonful

of sugar helped the
medicine go down.

And 10 spoonfuls?

Well, that was just the
way you started your day.

[crowd cheering]

- After World w*r II, Americans
become obsessed with energy,

and there's this
widely held belief

that breakfast is the most
important meal of the day.

That's where you get
your energy from.

But busy mornings, suburban
commutes, school buses, all

of this means it has gotten
harder and harder for parents

to give their kids the
breakfast they need.

- [Brian] And scientists come up
with this brilliant solution,

and the government
fully endorses it.

Let's give these kids sugar.

[bright music]

- [Commercial Announcer]
Sugar helped in w*r.

Sugar now plays
its part in peace.

Keep sharing it.

- If sugar can bring strength
and energy to soldiers

in the b*ttlefield,
it must be good enough

for growing children.

And that is where breakfast
cereal companies come in.

- [Narrator] Sugar Crisps tumble
through sugar and honey,

and comes up tasting
like 101 sweet buns.

Sugar Crisp!

- [Jason] By the 1950s, some of
these cereals have more

than 50% sugar by weight.

They've got names like
Sugar Smacks, Sugar Pops,

Sugar Crisp, and they've got
mascots like the Sugar Bear.

Sugar is not something
they're trying to hide,

it is the selling point.

[dramatic music]

- Big industry is suddenly
putting information out saying

that sugar is good for you.

Slogans like, "Sugar puts the
muscle power in sweetness."

Another ad says
"How to breakfast?

Sugar's got what it takes."

- Every day of my life started
with a bowl of Fruit Loops

and eight scoops of sugar.

And my mom in the
kitchen would be like,

"How's your breakfast?"

And I'd be like, "Everything's
great over here, mom."

[charming music]

- [Jason] The sugar train
doesn't even stop

with breakfast.

For lunch, send your kid to
school with a marshmallow fluff

and peanut butter sandwich,
and when he gets home

from dinner, serve him up
some meat glazed with sugar

with a side of jello salad
with whipped cream dolloped

right on top.

- [Henry] By the time many


they've already consumed what
today would be an entire day's

worth of sugar.

But that decades long sugar
rush soon comes crashing down.

- [Martin] By the '80s and '90s,

there's an across the board
recognition for the fact

that sugar provides energy,
but it sticks around.

It sticks around in the
system and causes lots

of bad things like
obesity and diabetes.

- [Adam] So people need to cut
back sugar, and advertising

and marketing companies
want to reign in sugar

when it comes to branding.

So sugar Smacks
become Honey Smacks,

Sugar Crisp becomes
Golden Crisp.

- Divorced of the knowledge
that it's bad for you,

it was the golden age for a kid.

Just sugar, enjoy.

- Back in the '50s,
parents poured on the sugar

at every meal.

By the 1970s, they were
pouring something else

for their teenagers, and then
handing them the car keys.

- [Rutledge] In 1971, after
years of protest, the voting age

drops from 21 to 18, and that
was really based around the idea

of Vietnam, that if
you're old enough to die

for this country, you ought
to be old enough to vote.

But then that posed
the question,

well, if you're
old enough to vote,

shouldn't you
be old enough to drink?

- [Austin] And a lot of states
agreed.

By 1973, 16 states lower
the drinking age to 18.

In many states for the first
time since before Prohibition,

a teenager can get
a drink at a bar.

- [Henry] And here's the
twist, a lot of parents approve.

- [Brian] Largely these
parents were on board.

We know where they are,
they're down at the pub,

they're safe.

This was just the American
attitude back then.

- [Rutledge] So for business
owners, this is pretty great.

I mean, they just have to sort
of rethink the mind of an 18

to a 20-year-old, and
really cater to that,

and that's where
the idea comes from.

Maybe we should
design teen bars.

- [Hakeem] So the decor and the
layout of the bars start to

favor what kids like.

They add pinball machines, they
gamify the drinking process.

Where you drink 10 long
necks, you're now in the club.

- [Rutledge] In Minnesota, a
place called the Beaver Pond

says, "Oh, you know what
these teens really need?

a beer first thing
in the morning."

So they do breakfast beers.

- [Brian] We may poo poo the
idea of drunk 18 year olds

running around
today, but back then,

even the colleges
were all for it.

They opened up bars on campus
to make money selling it

to their own students.

- [Rutledge] The staff at the
University of Montana decided

to do a keg party, and they
said $5 unlimited beer.

And they raised $400,000
for the library.

It's pretty genius!

That's a ton of beer.

- [Henry] Parents,
educators and local businesses

all raise a glass to
the legal teenagers.

But younger drinkers
come with consequences.

- [Hakeem] I was once 18,

and one thing I know is that

when you're an 18-year-old
dude, you're dumb as hell.

Your priorities are
not in the right place.

- [Rutledge] In this era, there
are a ton of bar fights.

There's just mayhem
in the streets.

In fact, one weekend
at the Jersey shore,


for drunken shenanigans.

- [Austin] Drunk driving arrests
soar nationwide.

In just Michigan alone,
DUI rates double from when

before the drinking
age was lowered.

And by 1984, President
Ronald Reagan says he will

withhold federal highway
funding to any state

that does not revert to
a 21 plus drinking age.

- The teen bars that were
serving alcohol start

to disappear, the
highways become safer,

and these hooligans
are reigned in.

- [Brian] I remember people
still complaining about the fact

that they were able to
legally drink at one point,

and then it got
taken away from them.

And then I started
feeling ripped off

that I wasn't gonna be
able to drink at 18,

even though I was only 10.

- Legal teenage drinking,
let's just say it aged quickly.

- Parenthood comes with
some beautiful memories,

but the pain of childbirth,

that's one memory moms
would like to forget.

Well, in the early 1900s,
doctors came up with a way

for women to give birth
without remembering any of it.

The memory loss was intentional.

The consequences were not.

- [Natalia] Throughout history,
childbirth is this incredibly

painful and gross experience.

[baby crying]

So in 1906, two German
doctors decide it doesn't have

to be this way.

They want to take the pain
and horror out of childbirth.

- [Lance] They come up with what
they see to be a

miracle solution.

A c*ck, a mix of drugs

that can make labor
virtually painless.

- [Natalia] The way this works
is that when a mother is

unconscious, her body can still
work to push out the baby.

- [Henry] Doctors call
it twilight sleep.

- [Negin] Put yourself in the
shoes of these people in the


there's this safe way

of giving birth, and
it's without pain.

You get a couple of injections,

you kind of like fall asleep,

you wake up to a beautiful baby,

and there's no memory of the
stuff that happened in between.

it sounds like a spa day!

- [Lance] The press were calling
it a wonder, a new hope,

a new era for motherhood.

And the parents love it.

- [Henry] But
what actually makes

this twilight sleep possible?

- So they use this c*ck
of morphine and scopolamine.

Morphine helps with the pain,
and scopolamine is capable

of putting people in a
state to where it's almost

like the lights are
on but nobody's home.

It also impairs memory as well.

- One doctor describes it
as uncoupling the brain

from the spinal cord.

- [Henry] But for
many young mothers,

choosing twilight sleep may
turn out to be a nightmare.

- [J Mack] Too much scopolamine
causes temporary insanity.

You reach this state to
where you're hallucinating,

you're seeing things around
you, you're moving around,

you're trying to grab
things in midair.

- [Natalia] The result is that
some patients get really

violent, they start to fight the
staff, they thrash around,

they try to run away.

- [Henry] And the
doctors show restraint,

but not the kind you want.

- [J Mack] Before they end up

administering these
different drugs,

they blindfold the women,
they put them in these sleeves

that wrap around to
the back of the body.

I mean, it's a straight jacket.

- The beds where women lie for
this have these raised sides,

and they're knotted
shut with sheets.

Really looks like some sort of
restraining device you'd find

in an insane asylum at the time.

- [Lance] There are even cases
where a woman gives birth

and everything seems fine,
and then a few days later,

they lose their minds.

This is painless
childbirth every time.

It's a roll of the die.

- [Henry] Despite
the obvious risks,

twilight births stick
around well into the 1960s,

when a big push for
natural birth takes over.

- [J Mack] And nowadays,
we have epidurals,

which is arguably the best
combination of pain relief,

plus keeping mother
alert, and aware,

and able to help

remember that experience.

- Having a baby is one thing.

Getting it to sleep we
all know is another.

Well, in the 1950s,

one famous doctor claimed
he had the answer,

and it wasn't so
much how, but where.

- [Don] In 1957, Dr. Benjamin
Spock, the most famous

pediatrician and parenting
expert in America, tells parents

not to waste their money on a
beautiful bassinet lined

with silk.

- [Edward] Dr. Spock is all
about keep it simple.

All these fancy thing,
you don't need that.

Babies don't care.

Babies want, you know, a
secure space in which to sleep.

Anything can be rigged
up to be a decent,

perfectly fine place
for a child to sleep.

- [Henry] Need a place
for your infant to sleep?

How about a grocery box, a
crate or a dresser drawer?

- Postwar America is full of
wooden crates and milk boxes,

so people are using
these to make baby beds.

- [Brian] Most people's
furniture are fairly sturdy.

It's a box, you line it
with some towels and stuff,

you put your kid there.

That's essentially
what a crib is anyway.

- [Kavitha] It's not just Dr.
Spock.

Federal infant care guides
at the time also say

that a baby would be just
fine in a clothes basket

or a wooden box.

- [Jason] If you're crafty, the
US Children's Bureau

actually recommends a DIY
project called the chair cot.

You push two chairs together,
and forms a little platform,

and then you wrap
that thing in a sheet,

you secure that sheet
with 10 safety pins,

and then all of a sudden you've
got your little chair cot.

It's easy.

- [Henry] One hospital
even takes babies in drawers

to the Space Age.

- [Don] Kaiser Permanente
Hospital in California even

installs permanent slide out
metal drawers next to mom's bed.

It's like a baby filing
cabinet with easy access

for feeding.

- [Henry] The Kaiser
Hospital reached the height

of baby in drawer technology.

But once babies leave
the hospital, it's back

to the milk crate
or dresser drawer.

- [Brian] Look, will it work?
Yes.

Will it probably be okay? Yes.

Doesn't mean it's a great idea.

- [Kavitha] By the 1970s,
research shows that safe baby

sleep requires unobstructed
airflow at all times,

and a dresser drawer
doesn't deliver that,

because they're lined,
and they trap heat

and carbon dioxide.

- [Jason] Dresser drawers are
particularly risky.

There are actually anecdotes

of frazzled parents
shutting the dresser drawer

with their child inside,
and them not realizing it,

only becoming aware when
the baby starts crying.

Pretty terrifying actually.

[pensive music]

- [Don] In 1973, pediatricians
begin pushing

for dedicated cribs with
slats and ventilation.

Mass production makes
them affordable,

and DIY baby beds
quietly disappear.

- These days, cribs come
with breathable materials.

Are they safer?

Absolutely.

But you gotta admit a
bit more complicated

than just opening a drawer.

- Back in the day, parents
were pretty relaxed

about seat belts and
sugar, you name it.

But bad language, that's
where they drew the line.

It led to one of childhood's
most iconic punishments.

Effective? Maybe.

Dangerous? Definitely.

[charming music]

- [Hakeem] In the 1950s,
cleanliness is all the rage.

Clean houses, clean lawns,
clean cars, clean reputations.

- [Don] This is the
golden age of soap.

TV is crammed with
sparkling bath commercials.

- [Commercial Announcer]
No soap cleans so clean

as Vel Beauty Bar.

- [Jason] Soap companies sponsor
entire TV shows, giving rise

to the soap opera.

Soap Companies are
pushing this idea

that soap isn't just
about cleanliness,

it's about moral character.

- Cleanliness is
close to Godliness,

is close to Americanness.

- If a child uses profanity,

it's a negative
reflection on the family,

and there is no greater
sin in the 1950s

than making your
family look bad.

- [Hakeem] So if a child were
to drop a swear word,

parents reach for something
to clean out their mouth,

and that was a bar of soap.

- [Martin] For a child, this is
a great humiliation,

because you have soap
shoved in your mouth,

which is an unpleasant
thing to experience.

And then even after the soap
is removed from your mouth,

soap is stuck in your teeth,

and so it doesn't
go away immediately,

and you get that gross,
soapy taste in your mouth.

It lasts for a few hours,

and you're left with the
longing sensation of,

I wish I had not used that word,

at least not in
front of the parents.

- My dad was an athlete, a
black belt in Judo, whatever.

I have never seen
him move as swiftly

or as quickly as he did than
when he shoved a full bar

of Irish Spring into my
mouth, like putting a VHS tape

into the machine.

It was just. [gargling]

I mean, I guess I gotta be
grateful it wasn't Brillow

or Easy Off.

- [Jason] This punishment is
everywhere in pop culture.

It's mentioned in
"Leave It to Beaver",

it's referenced in
"The Brady Bunch",

in "A Christmas Story",

the lead character actually
becomes a connoisseur

of the different soap bars.

Topps, the baseball card
company, actually comes out

with a soap parody of Jergens
called Jerkens, which is

for cleaning up dirty words.

- [Adam] It doesn't just happen
on TV, and it doesn't just

happen at the home, it
happens at schools.

There's several cases

of teachers washing
students' mouths

out with soap at school.

Apparently in one case, the
word was as benign as "jackass".

- [Jason] School Boards say that
the teachers did nothing wrong,

mouth washing isn't ill*gal,
and this is an important part

of the teacher's
disciplinarian kit.

Teachers at other schools
all agree with the decision.

- If you did that today, oh
my God, you would get hauled

before a jury, 'cause that
would, I think, be recognized

as a*usive to a child today.

Back then, this was an
everyday punishment meted out

at home and at school.

- [Don] Parents underestimate
these products,

because there are no warning
labels on the packaging.

I mean, why would you need one?

No one's supposed to eat
soap, except in this era.

- Today, most bath
soaps, hand soaps,

and even dish soaps
that we use are designed

to be non-irritating, and the
way they accomplish this is

by making them pH balanced.

The soap's pH matches
that of the human skin.

But that wasn't always the case.

- [Don] Post-w*r soaps are
industrial strength grime

fighters with high pH designed
to strip grease off dishes,

and oil off hands.

- [Hakeem] That soap is
actually dissolving

the protective tissues

in their mouth and
digestive tract.

So if you swallow a little bit,

there could be
vomiting and diarrhea.

It's not just a bad taste.

Chemical reactions
are going to occur,

and they're going
to be aggressive.

- [Martin] I was taken to see my
grandmother at one point,

during which I used some word.

I don't know what word I
used, but it was bad enough

for her to drag me to the
kitchen, and she put dish soap

in my mouth.

And so I ended up
swallowing some of it,

which made me sick for
the rest of the night.

- [Adam] By 1961, there had
been so many cases

of children ingesting
cleaning products,

that they have actually created

a National Poison
Prevention Week.

There are poison consumption
hotlines that parents can call.

- [Hakeem] And it doesn't take a
leap of imagination to realize

that if you shouldn't
be drinking Windex,

you probably shouldn't
be sticking a bar

of soap in your kids' mouth.

- [Jason] School districts
now ban mouth washing.

So groundings replace glycerin,

and the bar of soap quietly
returns to the sink.

[gentle music]

- [Adam] But this happened to
me.

This happened to a lot of people
I know, and it didn't work.

And if anything,
I curse too much.

- As we look back at how
parents used to raise us,

whether leaving us out in the
sun, stuffing us in drawers,

or letting us bounce around in
the back of the pickup truck,

what didn't hurt us,
made us stronger.

And that's why our hazardous
history is one for the ages.

[dramatic music]