You probably read the article in the New York Times Style section last month – the one about the New York parents who couldn’t bring themselves to put their kids back in their own beds and so ended up sleeping on the couch, on the floor, and in the cramped twin beds their kids disdained.
You probably read about it on a dozen blogs, or received a half dozen forwarded copies in your inbox. You may have shared my reactions: “Where on earth does the New York Times find these people?” and “Are we really still talking about this?”
I can’t answer the first question, but oh, yes, we are, and we’ve been talking about it for decades.
When I turned to our own archives to dig up an interesting item for this column, what did I find? In April 1997, two readers responded to a previous cover story about the family bed – one pro, one con (and both admirably respectful, by the way).
And, five years earlier to the day, in April 1992, editor Craig Cox asked whether he and his wife should send their 1- and 4-year-old packing when they crawl into the parental bed. Both writers who responded said, “Nah, let ’em stay.”
Note to self in 2017: Check in on family bed issue. Surely someone will want a feature article.
