When you walk into an Asian family’s house, you can usually determine pretty quickly what generation Asian owns that house. There are some definite giveaways, is there a plastic cover on the couch? A shrine dedicated to our deified ancestors? Perhaps a giant glass cabinet used solely to display their collection of various brandy & cognac? Yeah, sounds like my parent’s home, alright. You’d be hard pressed to find any of these items in a modern Asian home. But just as furniture choices have evolved through the generations, so has our parenting styles. With that, also a change in a lot of the products we use to raise our children.
If you grew up in an Asian household with first generation immigrant parents, you’ll likely relate to this list of parenting products that have changed quite a bit over time:
Cough Medicine
If our parents were sick and had to take either Tylenol or Robitussin, they’d ask for tea. Older generation Asians aren’t the biggest fans of Western medicine. They prefer herbs, roots and other natural ingredients that have medicinal properties to cure ailments. Nothing comes to mind quicker than the thick, sticky, indulgently sweet treat, I mean, cough syrup, of our childhood, Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa. It’s hard to believe that something that tastes this good actually does help when you had a sore throat or cough as a kid. But modern Asian parents know what’s up because we check nutrition labels. Although effective, each tablespoon of this delicious liquid contains 11 grams of sugar! That’s why as health conscious parents, when our kids have a cough or sore throat, we opt for remedies like Mucinex, DayQuil/NyQuil, Robitussin, etc. Despite most of the ingredients not being all natural, they do work. We’re also a group that tends to be less critical of modern medicine and have much more trust in their efficacy.
Baby Carrier
The traditional baby carrier, also known as a Mei Tai, was essentially just a sheet with four straps. Odds are, if you looked at a photo of an Asian parent before 1990, they’d be using one of these to carry around their child while cleaning, farming, shopping, anything! It can be used as a front or back carrier depending on the situation. Mei Tais are making somewhat of a comeback with new designs and variations that make it simpler for the parent to put on. But these days, we opt for baby carriers such as the Ergobaby baby carrier because it offers a more secure feel for the baby and parent. Unlike the Mei Tai, these modern carriers are very simple to put on and take off. It also allows for the baby to face forward or backward in either front of back positions.
Pain Relievers
Speaking of physical ailments, kiddo’s got a headache? backache? sprained knee? Maybe even a broken arm? No problem! Slap on some of that Tiger Balm, it’ll do the trick. You have to really rub it in until it feels like your skin is burning though or else it’s not working. This was our parents’ go to ointment whenever we had any body aches. Even if there was a chance that we broke a bone, the first step would be to apply some Tiger Balm. Then if it still hurt, may be, just may be, they’d consider seeing a doctor. As mentioned before, older generation Asians rather avoid using modern medicine if they could. But these days, parents take aches and pains very seriously. That’s why we won’t hesitate to use counter pain relievers like Advil or Tylenol immediately. Then apply cold and/or warm compresses to further alleviate the pain and speed up the healing process. The Emergency room is always an option too.
All jokes aside, Tiger Balm really did do the trick a lot of the times (the strong menthol smell has become strangely nostalgic as well)!
Cooling Device
Then
VS.
Now
Dealing with the Summer weather isn’t too terrible when you have the air conditioning blasting at 68 degrees. But remember the days when the only thing we were allowed to use were these standing fans set to oscillating mode? You’d have an air conditioner installed but don’t even think of using it unless the temperature hits 3 digits. Not only is it a waste of electricity (money) but our parents believed that by relaxing your mind and calming your body, you can naturally cool down without any outside help. But if absolutely necessary, click on level 1 of the fan and enjoy. Either that or open a window, your choice! These days, a/c is more of a necessity than a luxury in any household. Whether it be window installed, portable, wall mounted or central, air conditioning is a must. We’ve sweat enough as a child, so let’s turn up that central air conditioning guilt free and celebrate beating heatstroke. I have to admit, I do miss sticking my face way too close to the fan blades and making robot sounds though.
Take Out Containers
Whenever our parents ordered food, you better believe those plastic containers were getting cleaned and reused. They’d be used for things like storing leftovers, reused for soup containers to-go, fashioned into a water ladle for gardening, etc. Nowadays, modern Asian parents are opting for more eco-friendly options like glassware or siliconeware to store leftovers. It might be heavier but it’s safer to reheat in the microwave than plasticware, more durable and most importantly, looks fancier! Even though the practice was born out of frugality, our parents were definitely way ahead of the curve on the reduce reuse mindset!
Hand Soap/Laundry Detergent/Bath Soap
Then
VS.
Whether You’re washing you child’s hands, giving them a bath or doing a batch of their dirty laundry, this was the go to cleaner. Even though it’s intended purpose was just for laundry, this multipurpose bar of orange soap did it all. Nowadays, modern Asian parents have to consider all sorts of things before buying the right soap/detergent. Is it toxic? any harmful dyes? will it dry out my baby’s skin? does my baby like the smell of it? With all these deciding factors, it’s no wonder we need so many different types of soaps to get the job done! Go take a look at your parent’s or grandparent’s house, you may still find one of these omnipotent bars of soap laying around.
Calendars
There never seems to be enough time in the week to get things done. We got school for the kids, recreational activities, play dates, birthdays…not to mention our own grown up errands and work schedules! Thankfully, we have our smartphones and an abundance of apps to help us organize all the chaos. But how did our parents do any planning with this old school flip page calendar! These flip calendars were in every Chinese household. Most of us probably had more than one hanging up in the house. Besides telling us the date, on each page you’ll find the daily horoscope, the corresponding Chinese calendar date, which zodiac animals are incompatible on that day, and if it’s a good day for harvest (slightly more useful in a different time). How did our parents ever organize plans before planners and digital calendars?
It’s not as big of a business as back in the day but these Chinese calendars are actually still in circulation. Click the link above to purchase through Amazon.
Red Bucket
One of the first things we buy as new parents is a baby tub for bath nights. From all the books and research we’ve done, we know that bath time is a very special time for a baby. This a valuable time for them to learn and experience different sensory activities. That’s why we make the extra effort to purchase baby safe shampoo, body wash with bubbles, and bath time friendly toys like rubber duckies and foam alphabet letters. But bath time wasn’t always so “extra”. Meet the red bucket. This humble red bucket is multi-purpose and a favorite among older generation Asian parents due to its color (red for good luck), low cost, compact size, and durability. You’ll only need one of these because it will last you a life time! Whether it be for bathing a child or cleaning vegetables for dinner, this item is sure to be lying around a bathroom near you.
Oh how times have changed. For better or worse, we’ll never know. At the end of the day, we were/are all just parents looking to do what’s best for our kids!