Given that every human on this planet was once a baby, I've often thought that it's kind of weird that we don't have more _data_ about raising a child. Like, I

Given that every human on this planet was once a baby, I've often thought that it's kind of weird that we don't have more _data_ about raising a child. Like, I know everyone's a unique snowflake blah blah blah, but we're not THAT different. If we were, we wouldn't have shared hobbies or like the same clothing or tolerate the same foods. Looking at babies, for instance. OK, your baby is crying. There's a checklist (somewhere) of why the baby might be crying. Maybe they're hungry, maybe they're tired, maybe they pooped their diaper, maybe they're too hot or too cold or have something stuck up their nose or don't like the smell of your cologne. But there's a finite list of possibilities, and surely -- SURELY! -- there's enough data out there to give you best practices for determining which of the things it is and what to do when you find out. Like maybe if they're crying because they're hungry, you just straight up feed them, or maybe science shows the best outcomes are when you let them cry it out for 30 minutes and THEN feed them. I don't know. I'm not a baby scientist. Long story short, there are potentially billions and billions of data points out there, and surely some sort of meta-analysis could surface some best practices for how to raise a child. It can't just be "reinvent the wheel" every generation. That's just bonkers to me. Given all the other scientific advances we've made in the last few centuries, I sort of wonder why nobody has an IKEA-style guide to raising a child. I say this all a bit tongue-in-cheek, since I'm not a parent, but as a person of science and a fan of data-driven decisions... The way Americans like me raise a child is basically "figure it out for yourself with a few anecdotes from your family and friends and maybe you read a bunch of books full of conflicting advice and don't worry at least if you're trying you're ahead of most people" just strikes me as... well... not very scientific or data-driven! Anyway. Congratulations! I wish you the best of luck, and who knows?! Maybe you'll be the one to write The Book!