More Parenting Stuff
Babble occassionally publishes some things of actual interest. They also publish a lot of crap (like the one about the mother who claims she's a better parent when she's stoned, which generated an amazing number of sublimely absurd comments) like this list of ten parenting tips you should ignore from some other mombloggers' blog.
Some of the tips are fine. Others are just re-damn-diculous. And it is obvious by the second tip that the list-maker is an Attachment Parenter. If you don't have kids, you probably haven't had to deal too much with the AP crowd, for which you should be thankful. Like with any of the parenting subcultures, I'm sure there are reasonable members of the movement but their mouthpieces are some of the most self-righteous you'll ever meet.
Highlights from the list: Put that baby down before you spoil it. Dude. Has anyone (aside from possibly a mouthy grandma) advocated this since Spock came to prominence? Could we get over rebelling against this sometime this century? Side note: ironically, many of the babble-ites tend to speak of Benjamin Spock as though he is The Man, which is funny if you know anything about pediatric history.
Also see number 9, about the vaccine 'controversy'. Sigh.
I've been sick for a few days, but now I'm back at work. I made my way through about 50 emails, and now it's time to do real work.
5 Comments:
I know nothing about pediatric history and barely any about Spock. If you get bored, walk me through it.
Well, from wikipedia: His ideas about childcare influenced several generations of parents to be more flexible and affectionate with their children, and to treat them as individuals, whereas the previous conventional wisdom had been that child rearing should focus on building discipline, and that, e.g., babies should not be "spoiled" by picking them up when they cried.
When he was first published in 1946, he was considered revolutionary. He is well-respected by some (like, me for instance) and hated by others who blame him for 'permissive parenting'.
But my point is, while he's now considered a stalwart reference it cracks me up to see people saying things along the lines of 'we don't need Dr. Spock to tell us what to do!' when one of his big breakthrough ideas was that parents should trust their instincts and find ways to parent that worked for both the child and the parent.
Claudia, I know you warned me but there is such a competition among mommy's about who is the best, what way is the best, etc. It is so hard to ignore. Most of what that woman said was either common sense (back to sleep, people) or is going to fall on deaf ears. People will use it to add fuel to the fire about what they believe.
Parenting philosophies should be like religion and politics and not discussed in polite company.
That being said, Brian's mom did worry the first few times she changed Sam's diapers. I politely ignored her and Brian gently told her that that is what breast fed babies do.
and... Search Lexington KY and Applebees on babble to see what Sam and I did last weekend.
A. You 'nursed-out'? Awesome!
B. Like so many things in parenting, you really cannot grasp what it's like until you encounter it for yourself. The judging is UNBELIEVABLE. I'm lucky in some ways that none of our friends here have kids, so I only have to deal with the outside opinions of coworkers and on-line people. Even so, the horrified reactions I get from people about the simplest things never fails to astonish me.
And I'll say that, yes, I judge too. I think some of these people are crazy. But I also think there are a number of different options that are total valid.
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