If it helps anyone else out there: no one else thinks about your hair besides you. Getting rid of my anxiety around how my hair looked (checking it in the mirror all the time, using products to make it look less thin, etc) was absolutely worth giving up any illusion that my hair was going to stick around. Plus, it has made putting on sweaters so much easier, and I never have to worry about helmet hair.
If you're reading this post with a touch of anxiety about your hair, just know that it's gonna be fine and you probably look cool as hell (albeit a bit different) with a buzz cut.
People notice and care. Hair is sometimes seen as a health indicator and it matters to a degree in society. We've never had a bald president and probably never will. Look at the lengths Trump went to with his "hair". I doubt he would have been president had he been bald. The same goes for biden. Search for elon musk before and after hair. He wouldn't be the "media darling" if he looked the way he did in his paypal days.
Also, it's probably easier dating or finding a mate if you were not bald - as a man or a woman. Consciously or unconsciously, many people hold negative associations when it comes to baldness. But it's not the end of the world and you shouldn't lose any sleep over it - unless you hope to be president one day or in a position where image matters. For the average joe, baldness doesn't matter much.
We have three kids and we sleep trained them. (Not a pediatrician, standard disclaimer.) This article calls it an ‘extreme’ practice. For us, ‘extreme’ was the sleep deprivation we experienced with baby number one as we tried every ‘no cry’ method in the book. The baby cried and cried and cried. Once we started sleep training, there was a bit of crying and then - a sleeping baby! Through the night! Total amount of crying went from hours to zero. The kid became happier — they weren’t sleep-deprived anymore. And neither were we. I no longer felt like I was going to drop the ball due to extreme exhaustion.
Babies two and three had the benefit of our experience, and they barely cried at all. The third one would lay down eyes-open and fall asleep. “So it actually does happen! — I thought the books must be lying.”
By all objective measures our kids are happy, healthy, and well-adjusted. But that doesn’t mean we still don’t get the stink eye from people who think it’s a cruel practice.
Just raise your kids with love. Be compassionate, and patient. Find a doctor you trust. Don’t let people add to an already stressful endeavor.
What you describe isn't a "hunter gatherer society" issue. It's an innate human/pre-human/primate issue. Throughout human existence and our pre-human ancestor's existence, the infant/baby is with the mother 24/7 for the first few months/years of its life. This is something that stretches back millions of years. We really don't know what effects separating the baby from the mother at such an early age does for its emotional, psychological, etc development. Not to mention the mother's emotional, psychological, etc well being and of course the mother-child bonding.
> The baby cried and cried and cried.
It would be shocking if it started to lecture you on the pros and cons of the modern geopolitical world order. That a baby cried is par for the course.
> Just raise your kids with love. Be compassionate, and patient.
Unless you need a good night's sleep? This is comes off as new age nonsense we just love in the US. It's trite and meaningless. Of course you raise it with love, it's your kid. Rather than the obvious, we should raise kids so that they are well prepared to compete and fend for themselves in the real world.