Life — May 14, 1891 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Discipline" (Life Magazine, May 14, 1891) This cartoon satirizes parenting and childcare standards of the era. An unsophisticated parent complains to a nurse that he cannot understand why a baby is crying. The nurse responds that the child is "cutting his teeth," and threatens the parent with job loss if he allows the baby to continue the behavior. The satire targets two things: (1) the parent's complete ignorance of basic child development, and (2) the strict, almost punitive approach to infant care—suggesting the nurse would rather suppress the baby's natural teething discomfort than tolerate it. The joke mocks both parental incompetence and the era's harsh attitudes toward children, presenting discipline as absurdly rigid even for infants.