In response to this previous post, Maude Lebowski — you remember Maude — shared a link to this auto-animation video.
It’s quite a hoot, and I thought that with everyone talking about the “Tiger Mom” book these days, y’all might appreciate having your attention drawn to it with a separate post.
Mind you, by posting this, I’m not just totally making fun of the blonde Mommy character, as it might seem. We started having kids in the mid-70s, and we lived across a tiny side street from a natural food store (“The Pumpkin Seed”) and we were totally into natural. My wife was a member of the La Leche League, so of course our kids were all breast-fed for as long as possible. And yes, we used real diapers, not disposables, for the sake of the Earth. And no soda or anything junky like that. And we ground our own baby food from fresh cooked (but alas, unseasoned) food. I say “we” — but the truth is that my wife did almost all of it. She was at home, I was at the newspaper.
Of course, we relaxed a bit on some things with our later kids, as the older ones will complain — although not on the breast-feeding or the real diapers. By the late 80s, we really stood out on the diaper thing.
But on most other things, we were pretty cool. And the intensity of middle-class parents today toward their kids is scary, which is why I like Lenore Skenazy’s work.
It’s not just scary, though. It can also be funny.
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See, ladies — I don’t just talk about throw-weights and stuff here on the blog.
So… next time you’re in your favorite store or restaurant, tell the proprietors to advertise with me, THE WAY THEY DO WITH THE SHOP TART!
Sorry. Didn’t mean to shout…
Why do you assume that all “ladies” give a rip about motherhood?
Please, Brad. Use your indoor voice.
As for the rest, I’d watch the video, but I don’t have time. I have to chop organic vegetables for our soup this evening (we used to grown them until we moved to the desert) and prepare our Farsi CDs for a long drive we have this weekend. It’s their third language, so they need to brush up. We were planning on walking the 31 miles in order to save on fossil fuels and cut down pollution, but it’s going to be 40 degrees and I don’t want the guys to get frost bite.
True story: A bunch of parents at the day care/preschool my kids were at once freaked out on the directors because their kids were red-faced when they picked them up one January afternoon. They swore up and down that their kids had frost bite and demanded that the director keep them inside if the temperature was below 50. The director told them they couldn’t staff that and their kids would have to stay home if they couldn’t full participate in activities that were going to include playing outdoors.
What can I say? These women are blessed in that they are able to have this conversation and are living the life they want.
This one is my favorite, since strangers have made every single one of these observations and queries to me multiple times (including “at least you’re not like that octomom” and “are they natural?”: http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7767627/?page=2
I mean I understand this is a cartoon but, honestly, I have heard this conversation! I tried to do the best for my children, and it did seem to consume me, but I didn’t have time to go “over the top”, though. I didn’t have time tennis partners, either. My exercise time was at 5 a.m.
Worth reading, for sure– Tina Fey’s piece on working mommies…
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_fey
That’s the point Pat – the cartoon is just making fun of the reality.
My kids got scooters for Christmas last year and I let them ride down to the park by themselves. When they were about 1/2 block from the house a neighbor came over to tell me that they’d “gotten out.”
@ Maude re “gotten out” How funny!
The main problem I see about such intense parenting is that kids get the idea that EVERYthing should revolve around them. Their training should include consideration of others, having to wait, take their turn…valuing community and the environment (Brad:))
I tried reading Tina Fey – I guess I’ll have to subscribe. I have the utmost respect/sympathy for working mommies having been one.
Mr. Warthen,
In one of the GOP presidential debates, Gov. Rick Perry (R, TX) called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. Mitt Romney (R, MA) disagreed. One of them was wrong. Which one was it? The Wall Street Journal will not answer that question.
BB