01/13/04: The Vestibular System

juju · 01-13-2004, 10:50 PM

I learned a certain trick within the first five minutes I spent with Sarah in the hospital. Rocking her in a certain particularly complex pattern always calmed her, no matter what. This was my trump card that I could brag about. It was something that always worked, no matter what she was crying about. Two months later, I don't really use it anymore, because now I just solve the underlying problem instead.

But why is it that babies like to be bounced and rocked so much? Most parenting books will tell you, "It's because rocking babies stimulates their vestibular system".

This bit of knowledge amazed me, because if you actually do a bit of research and learn what the vestibular system is, you'll understand that this is a sentence that means nothing. The parenting books are effectively telling us, "Babies like to be bounced because it feels weird." This is like saying, "Babies like to look at bright colors because it stimulates their optic nerve". You would probably look at someone and mentally slap them if they said something stupid like that.

But see, no one knows what a vestibular system is. So, if you say this monumentally stupid thing to people, they just act really impressed and tell you how smart you are, and what a good father you'll be. Or, they'll just nod their head impressively, but you can see by the look on their face that they're thinking, "He is smarter than me". Very few people will even ask you what it means! It's brilliant!

I think that must be the primary purpose of obscure words -- to make certain people look smart.

In any case, the actual subject is very interesting, because studies show that babies who are rocked learn to crawl and walk more quickly and have higher IQs than babies who aren't rocked. It actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it, because the feeling of movement is the one thing that a new person would probably be most impressed by.

But I still think it's funny, because these books just leave it at, "Oh, well, it's just because of the vestibular system."

01-13-2004, 10:50 PM	#1
juju no one of consequence Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Arkansas Posts: 2,839	01/13/04: The Vestibular System I learned a certain trick within the first five minutes I spent with Sarah in the hospital. Rocking her in a certain particularly complex pattern always calmed her, no matter what. This was my trump card that I could brag about. It was something that always worked, no matter what she was crying about. Two months later, I don't really use it anymore, because now I just solve the underlying problem instead. But why is it that babies like to be bounced and rocked so much? Most parenting books will tell you, "It's because rocking babies stimulates their vestibular system". This bit of knowledge amazed me, because if you actually do a bit of research and learn what the vestibular system is, you'll understand that this is a sentence that means nothing. The parenting books are effectively telling us, "Babies like to be bounced because it feels weird." This is like saying, "Babies like to look at bright colors because it stimulates their optic nerve". You would probably look at someone and mentally slap them if they said something stupid like that. But see, no one knows what a vestibular system is. So, if you say this monumentally stupid thing to people, they just act really impressed and tell you how smart you are, and what a good father you'll be. Or, they'll just nod their head impressively, but you can see by the look on their face that they're thinking, "He is smarter than me". Very few people will even ask you what it means! It's brilliant! I think that must be the primary purpose of obscure words -- to make certain people look smart. In any case, the actual subject is very interesting, because studies show that babies who are rocked learn to crawl and walk more quickly and have higher IQs than babies who aren't rocked. It actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it, because the feeling of movement is the one thing that a new person would probably be most impressed by. But I still think it's funny, because these books just leave it at, "Oh, well, it's just because of the vestibular system." Last edited by juju; 01-13-2004 at 10:55 PM.

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