1960s PRIVATE LIFE
9285 Sarah as a Baby & the Birth of Miles
We bought Sarah all the best, and latest, toys; all of which were supposed to improve a child's intelligence. In particular, we had the 'Teach Your Baby to Read' set. This contained large print words, up to six inches high, which you were supposed to show the baby and then speak the word -- even before they spoke themselves. It was supposed to work wonders, and maybe it ultimately did, but Sarah never learned to read this way! We were, thus, typical middle-class parents of the time – and since - desperate to give our children the best start in in life.
Pat
& Sarah in the front room at Slaidburn Street
Sarah started out in a carry cot in our bedroom, but she soon became too big for that and moved down to a proper cot in the dining room. By then she had become something of a problem - in terms of getting her to sleep at night - it often took a couple of hours to stop her screaming. The parents among you will recognise how disruptive this could be.
During the day she was fine, albeit that she constantly sicked up her food. Even so, she soon started to crawl and then walk up and down the hall holding on to a baby walker. She finally walked by herself on a sunny day in Richmond Park where we used to go for picnics.
Pat & Miles in Westminster Hospital
Two years later Miles arrived. He was also born at Westminster hospital. It is said that the second baby is almost always easier, and this proved to be true. This time however I took Pat and saw her into the ward and then immediately went home to sleep, confident that nothing would happen for at least a day. In fact when I went in the following morning Miles had already been born; in the middle of the night!
By then Sarah was
climbing up the stairs to be
looked after by the wife of the couple upstairs and her children.
Sarah & Miles at Slaidburn Street with Judith and Jenny & Mike (now General Sir Michael
Jackson!) and the young girl from upstairs
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