Life — May 13, 1909 — page 12: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Departmental Ditties" - A Satire on Infant Care This page by Harry Graham presents humorous advice for new parents, sarcastically titled "Departmental Duties." The poem mocks the prevailing attitudes of upper-class parenting in the early 20th century, when children were often raised by nursemaids rather than parents. The satire targets the emotional distance between parents and infants, advising against showing affection, maintaining composure during the baby's distress, and tolerating relatives' intrusive comments about the child. Graham ridicules the era's rigid child-rearing conventions—the expectation that proper parents remain aloof and detached. The footer illustration shows nine baby heads displaying varied expressions, humorously emphasizing the range of infant emotions parents were expected to ignore.