Jack Daniel's Special Oak Reserve

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, an American holiday that supposedly celebrates the blessings we have received. It's loosely based on the Puritans surviving with the aid of the Native Americans. When they finally had food, they feasted together. The conquering by force of those helpful Natives came later. God bless America.
Most Americans who can afford to still celebrate the holiday with a feast. We didn't have any Native Americans at our feast, though we live in Indian Territory. I don't know how my family would have reacted if I had chosen to invite some Natives. I have a lot of friends who have some Native blood, but I only have a few with pure Native blood.
What does all of this have to do with Audra?
And what does whiskey have to do with Audra?
Certain members of my family chose, as they have chosen many times before, to give us advice on raising Audra. I expect this from grandparents and great-grandparents. Audra's grandparents (on both sides) have been quite reasonable with dispensation of advice. They offer it as a series of suggestions, coupled with anecdotes about raising us.
Audra's great-grandparents on Carolyn's side are pretty low key with advice. Her father's mom is especially funny, because her attitude is sort of, "I haven't raised babies in a long time, so what do I know?"
Back to my family, with whom we spent the holiday.
My grandparents on my father's side were in attendance. They talk often about how intelligent and educated Carolyn and I are. They talk about how we are more intelligent than they. We are more intelligent until we disagree with their unasked for advice.
My dad has one sister, my Aunt Robin. Robin is his younger sister and, though she is in her 40's, acts like a teenager, until the topic of children comes up. On this she is an expert. She is an expert, because she has 3 maladjusted children. Her older son, 17, often refuses to visit her on her weekends (joint custody...). The other 2 live with her, a 16 year-old boy and a 12 year-old girl. The 16 year-old boy is actually doing fine, but it is as a reaction against his mother. He escapes his family life with the aid of fiction. He does well in school. He has his life planned out. He wants to get away, to have a life vastly different than that he has been given. The girl is only a young version of her mother. Some in the family are worried, because she is dating a 16 year-old, whom she says would never try to take advantage of her.
Fending off advances from Robin's advice or my grandparents individually isn't too difficult. But yesterday they joined forces to tell us we must put whiskey on Audra's gums. That is the ONLY way to make it through teething. She has been teething for a couple of months now, and I'm the only one who has had any whiskey. It wasn't her teething that drove me to the whiskey. I was just thirsty.
I understand that my grandparents had few options for relief of pain, so I can write off their suggestion of whiskey as a consequence of generational gap. Robin got in my face and yelled at me about the whiskey. Had she merely told me that she used it with her children and it worked fine for her, I could have said, "Thank you, but Carolyn and I have chosen not to use that method of treatment." Had she not berated me and insulted my intelligence and decision making ability, I probably wouldn't be upset.
My wife and I have many choices to make as we raise Audra. We want to have the counsel of those who have gone before us, but the choices are still ours. We are her parents. So we are choosing not to use whiskey as an analgesic, and we are choosing not to allow her to date 16 year-olds (ever) ;-)

Daddy Weiss