This is very true. I’ve been assuming that the baby in the OP’s story was youngish - 6 months or less - and pre-mobile, based on the parent’s actions. At a year or more you wouldn’t expect them to sit twiddling their thumbs in a stroller while you sat in a park - you’d let 'em out for a walk or a crawl (well, maybe not this time of year if the OP’s in the Northern Hemisphere) or a maneuver-themselves-round-the-park-bench.
No, you don’t. Unless you’re (a) a professional in the field, or (b) a parent, you’re speaking from a position of ignorance.
As others have said, under about 6 months, give or take, you cannot “spoil” an infant. They are crying because they are hungry, thirsty, wet, in pain, lonesome or some combination of the above. If the child is 2 years old they can (and probably will) be manipulative.
There’s another thing that sometimes happens, and that is night terrors. Some children of about two and under have horrible nightmares and wake up shrieking in absolute panic. At this age they do not yet understand the difference between dreams and reality, and are not necessarily being manipulative.
IANAD but this is based on my observation as the mother of two children and the advice provided by their doctors over the years.
I don’t think that’s an old wives’ tale; I think it’s an old child psychologists’ theory. I suspect old wives would just pick up the kid until it was too heavy; easier on everyone’s nerves.
You know, good double-blind metric based experimentation came into use along with informed consent and limitations on human experimentation.
Scientists know jack about babies.*
- From a scientist, who knows only that babies are messy and noisy things things that must be cuddled.