Talk:Baby shower

Other Countries?

It seems the first part of the article refers to the tradition in one country, and then there is an 'other countries' section for elsewhere. It is never stated which country the beginning refers to. --81.109.145.143 (talk) 10:20, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

I second this. 88.109.52.246 (talk) 22:20, 18 January 2011 (UTC)

Also, I don't think "wetting the baby's head" in the UK section is a valid comparison to a baby shower. Wetting the baby's head is a post-birth celebration, more comparable to fathers in the United States passing out cigars after the baby is born. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.158.1.164 (talk) 16:25, 10 September 2013 (UTC)

The text seems to give the US a privileged position. The section international comparison should include the united states, where baby showers do occur, and the bulk of the article should be neutral as to country. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.91.168.12 (talk) 16:34, 3 May 2015 (UTC)

I disagree that the article should be neutral. Baby showers are quite US-centric. Other pre-, peri- and post-natal celebrations should be recognized, but this doesn't seem to be the location, since baby showers are separate and seem notable enough themselves to have an article. The lead does seem confused about whether the article is country-agnostic, but the rest of the article (even prior to my edits?) seemed quite US-centric, with links to other practices and stray information about international alternatives. I think it should be updated to explain how baby showers are quite American (assuming we have a citation for that and I'm not mistaken, since I'm from the UK)? Throne3d (talk) 05:10, 14 January 2018 (UTC)

Wikipedia is generally US-centric. 86.139.218.163 (talk) 11:35, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

USA is not mentioned in the country sections

The section listing all the countries (strangely called "International") has no reference to the USA. I thought baby showers were common in the USA? Why isn't it included?

Or has it been written (probably unintentionally) in an America-centric manner? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ebelular (talk • contribs) 15:28, 6 October 2015 (UTC)

Lots of WP articles on US culture have this "all the world's America" tone to them. Few people in the UK have even heard of baby or bridal showers. The practice sounds mercenary and grasping. --Ef80 (talk) 18:32, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

I'm confused. Where do you get the impression from that few people in the UK have ever heard of a baby shower? I would expect the opposite, especially with the prevalence of American TV (and am British myself, so find myself confused). I recognize it's not often practiced? Throne3d (talk) 05:06, 14 January 2018 (UTC)

It depends what sort of TV you watch. If you watch a lot of US reality shows on fringe channels then you are more likely to be aware of the concept, and the older you are the less likely you are to have heard of it. --Ef80 (talk) 13:57, 2 March 2018 (UTC)

I'm not sure how true that is, but it at least suggests it's not extremely widespread knowledge in the UK, so I suppose it's useful to know. I'm not sure what we should do, if anything, if it does turn out to be rather America-centric – I've only ever known about the practice as an American thing, but there are cites about similar practices happening in other countries. Is there a "natal celebrations" page, or equivalent, which is more general? (I'm not sure what to search for to find it, and the article itself doesn't seem to link one.) If not, should we move most of this information into a new page for that, and link this article as a subset of it? Throne3d (talk) 20:50, 2 March 2018 (UTC)

Baby showers are practised here in the UK by the younger generation, though I admit that I'd never heard of them until a few years ago because I never watch American TV. Dbfirs 21:08, 2 March 2018 (UTC)

One rule in the US is baby showers are women-only events or men over age 13 do not attend, however you have baby showers where males over age 13 are invited. This isn't a clearly defined rule in North America, because men want to celebrate a female family or friend's life event. It all depends on the host's personal preference, culture, religion, region or state, and relationship with the party. In CA (from my personal experience), I attended them at age 10-12 (oddly, my family didn't know anyone pregnant not before that age), but I avoid them since turning age 20 or 21 (I have women ask me not to attend, even if I'm their friend), because this is social graces to the majority of Americans (not so much in 2017 than in 1990), then again this "women-only" rule isn't strictly followed by everyone. 67.49.89.214 (talk) 00:14, 31 March 2020(UTC)

US idea

A US idea exported by US TV (which must be some of the worst that I've seen in the world) to the hard-of-thinking in other countries as a culture substitute. Fortunately, it is relegated by the more intelligent people in those countries to the 'US over-consumption' bin.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.156.104.126 (talk • contribs) 07:47, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

"Ancient" section is unrelated bloat.

The addition of the "Ancient traditions" is so puzzling to me. Some of these are completely unrelated to the topic. It feels like it was added to add some petty credibility to this modern tradition. Antari.koko (talk) 07:55, 25 November 2023 (UTC)

Yes. In fact all of the "Ancient traditions" are unrelated to the US event. As long as sell-whenever-you-can remains the US way it will have trouble being great, let alone great again. The saying outside the US is that US-ians know the price of everything and the value of nothing. 86.139.218.163 (talk) 11:39, 17 February 2024 (UTC)