I live in the deep south and have spit groomed my boys many times!

It's been quite common for as long as babies and children have been around.

Maybe you don't see it as often today because parents aren't as "hands on" with their kids as they used to be. I rarely see babies being carried anymore. They are always in some sort of conveyance be it a stroller, a car seat or a baby carrier.

Well, shows how little I know. Guess it wasn't a New York thing.

I carried my babies in a front pack or backpack, but I never spit on them.

The baby didn't look as though he needed much grooming. But his sister was determined. :-)

Justlinda, we called those curls spit curls. I did it to my girls a lot. And my mom to me and my sisters.
Leslie

I thought that was simply adorable, what a good sister Piper is! She was just trying to keep him pretty for tellabision! Yepper, my mother used to spit-groom me, too.

I thought it was adorable. But, no I have never spit on my kids. LOL!

Gayle

I thought 'spit curls' was just an expression. I've never seen anyone use saliva for grooming. Gee, I wonder if they really use saliva to 'spit shine' appliances in the kitchen?

It is international! My mom did it to my brothers! :)

Moni

And then there is the 'spit bath' where mom licks her fingers and wipes the dirt off her child's face.

I remember my mom spitting on a handkerchief and using it to clean my face. Yuck! Spit-clean! Later she started carrying wet washcloths in the plastic bags carrots came in for the same purpose.

Oh my goodness....I forgot about the "spit bath"...yup ~ sure did clean off all that chocolate icecream real good, lol

My Mom also did the spit thing. I did it in a pinch with
my kids also.

I thought everyone had to endure the spit bath ....works great on a dirty little face. :)

When I was young and was out somewhere in public my mother seemed to spot dirt or something sticky on my face as well as my brothers faces and she spit cleaned them. She also tamed our flyaway hair with spit. When I was a teenager I used my own spit to make spitcurls.

Linda

So did my mother, and my grandmother.

She was such a cute, motherly big sister taking care of her chubby little brother. Such a cute scene.

That was adorable! That shot about stole the show for me. I will remember that more than the speech. That, and the hand-made "Hockey Moms" signs. ;o) And when the whole family was on stage, and little Piper whispered something to her mom, DH and I were betting it was "Mom, I have to use the bathroom!" It was actually the cutest election convention I think I've ever seen.

I don't know if I was ever literally "spit" cleaned/groomed, but I know it was teased. I think I did it a few times to my kids as babies when it needed done and I had nothing else available. Not when they were old enough to resist, though.

Oh, and I prefered to carry my babies in a sling over pushing a stroller for almost every outting. (It's a more convenient position for spit grooming.)

I've had spit curls, but never spit on them. I've never spit on my kid"s hair either but I've given them spit all baths if they had a smudge. They hated it and I don't blame them. LOL

In regard to Piper and her baby brother, I thought it was the cutest thing I've seen in a long time. She was so relaxed and seemed totally unaware of how many of us were watching her.

I remember spit curls. Also before the days of enzyme cleaners and Tide pens spit was "sometimes" used to clean things like small spots. Because it is a digestive juice it works on small organic stains.

It was also common to spit on a hankie and wipe a smudge off your shoe!!

My mom would put a little spit on her hanky and use it to wipe smudges off of my face. I don't remember her doing that to groom my hair, but she might have. We are from Southern California and earlier generations were from Nova Scotia and Connecticut.

I thought that Piper was being a good big sister, cuddling and grooming the baby. Very cute.

I missed it, but of course U-Tube caught it!

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Piper Palin gives Trig Palin a spit bath

I loved it, what a sweet innocent gesture from a big sister to her baby brother.

Have you ever seen someone in a teasing way, put saliva on their finger, and go over their eyebrow? Spit is good for lots of things. Many times I wiped specks of food off the babies with it.

My Mom and Grandma would spit on me to slick down an unruly cowlick. I'd also get the spit on a hanky face cleaning treatment. Which, by the way, is a great incentive to be more careful with that chocolate icecream cone when you're 4 years old.

Ron

Digger's first full sentence was 'stop spitting on me!'

Lori

I'm sure I was spat on, else why would I know to spit clean my children?

But dumb me, I always wondered why spit curls were called that! I never had them.

My Marine brother always spit shined his shoes.

Sue

midwest here...and I'll admit to it..."S"

What a delightful post this is and sure brings back lots of memories of spit curls and spit baths and don't forget spit polishing your shoes. And I bet many of us have spit-cleaned our sunglasses and regular glasses too.

Several have referred to not having, " ... spit on their kids" - inferring that others appeared to have done such to theirs.

I don't think that I've ever seen a Mom (or Grandmom, either, for that matter) spit on her (grand)kid, in the hundreds of times that I've seen this kind of action take place.

They spit on the fingers (in the absence of easily available water), then used the fingers to do the grooming, aware that moistened hair is more amenable to discipline.

Sometimes a hanky is the means of transmission, in case of a dirty face.

It's second-hand spit, see?

You've heard of the tumult raised in recent years over the bad results in the life of children due to second-hand smoke, especially in a confined space, such as a car? I think that the spit-groom often takes place in a car, just prior to arrival at a friend's house, party, gathering or concert, etc. (possibly less frequently so in the case of a sport, such as a baseball game).

Well, I think that most of you may agree that this was much less harmful to the child (though not to the child's dignity, possibly, once the child became aware).

I doubt that any woman would spit-shine her stove, in that a water supply is almost always easily available.

On the other hand ... a man might (though I haven't seen or heard of any).

Rumour has it that dunking a child in a pool makes it more amenable to discipline, as well ... but there's been little research conducted, as far as I know.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone.

ole joyful

Yep,I have done that with all of my kids,boys and girls,and spit on a kleenex to wipe a face when water was not available.My mother did it,her mother did it and I know all the aunts that had kids did too.My grandmother always wore an apron at home and she would spit on a bottom corner and wipe faces.
I thought little Piper was adorable with her little brother.In fact she stole the show during all the parts where the family was being shown,waving her little hand like a beauty queen.She waved all the way off the stage!LOL
LOL at OJ!

I don't think that I've ever seen a Mom (or Grandmom, either, for that matter) spit on her (grand)kid, in the hundreds of times that I've seen this kind of action take place.

LMAO!

It a common occurence handed down from mother to mother from early America. It's called "mommy spit". A typical sceneario of a 100 yrs ago: The family is on their way to church in the family buggy. As they near their destination, mom notices a lock of air out of place and there is no water around, just your spit, a hanky, and a comb, and that is what gets applied. The daughter copies this action and the act perpetuates through generations. It was common in farm folk on the frontier, and less so among the more sophiscated eastern US society.

This may not be a good analogy, but I was born with large, black splotches on my back and an elderly lady told my mother to use her saliva on it every day for two weeks and it would go away. Mother says she didn't realize when it left, but all of a suddrn it was gone.

Every mother I know has used the "spit bath" on their children. LOL

It's another case of women getting by with whatever they have on hand. LOL

A local woman recently made the news (before the Palin thing-y) with an invention called Mommy Spit. It's basically some type of lubricant to tame babies or children's hair. According to the article several movie star mom's (Katie Holms, Gwyneth Paltrow, the spice girl) bought some. So there. You're the only one who never knew about mommy spit!

here's a link for the mommy-spit, which is touted on-line as a cleaner. But in the newspaper article it was a hair-tamer. Could be used for both, I guess.

Here is a link that might be useful: mommy spit

I "spit clean" my two youngest boys all the time!! My 4 yr old absolutely hates it and one day my 6 yr old told him that "mommy has magic spit, so quit throwing a fit and let her clean your face!" I can remember my mom doing it to me and my brother when we were little.

or being at a restaurant, after dinner, my mother would spill a little water (ice cold of course) on a napkin and wipe my face...

The main thing you've got to remember is
"It's not saliva...it's spit!!

I thought it was the cutest thing that I have see on television in a long time.
I use to do that to my kids, them darn cowlicks won't hardly lay down without a little spit. I still pretend do it to them. We think it is hilarious.
That little cutie was the show for me, even though I think her mother is a cutie too.

Okay, maybe it's because I spend alot of time in the garden, but when I read the title of this post, I thought someone was rubbing salvia on a baby's hair and I thought, oh, what a neat custom...

I thought someone was rubbing salvia on a baby's hair
Me too...and of course had to see why...

Sue

I read Salvia at first too and wondered when that came into vogue. LOL

Oh yeah, my sister and I got plenty of spit baths when we were kids. I thought everyone did.

My Mom from New England did it and I am afraid so did I with my son.
Clare

Yuck!!! My gramma did it and my mom did it. I dont want spit on and I dont spit on my kids or grand kids!And I cant stand when people let dogs lick them ot their babies in the face!!! You KNOW what else that tongue has been licking!!!!

Who would have thought that this question would have generated 49 replies - mine made 50! I've never tried to tame an unruly lock with saliva, but I have tried to wipe dirt off my kids faces once or twice.

This is too funny. I used to use my spit until I thought...hmmm, why not use their own spit? So I get them to lick my finger and then I use it to wipe off the grungies. :D

Too funny! Everyone's stories are just great!

Danielle

I hated that "spit bath" thing soooo much when I was a kid.
When my own kids needed a quick spot-cleaning or hair taming, I used their spit!

Dogs licking/kissing is a whole other ball game!!

I don't like dogs getting their noses close to my face ...

... I wonder what other dog's ass that nose might have been smelling, a couple of minutes ago!

o j