06
Oct
Suspicious
- After four babies, I have a hard time believing that the little orange level that car seat designers put on the car seat actually shows the safest position for a baby. When my infant’s head flops over on a normal car ride because the level position doesn’t offer enough head support, I cry foul.
- I cannot buy into any supposedly child-centered philosophy of childcare that depends for its success on people having small families or widely spaced children. Whether it’s the always-pick-your-baby-up-the-minute-she-cries school, or even the spanking-is-child-abuse hysteria, some fashionable ideas depend on parents having the time and attention to devote to each child as though that kid were the only one around, and big brother wasn’t currently wiping his poo on something or screaming for his own dinner or sitting on his other younger brother’s head. If I sense even a whiff of the motive “I love children so much that I think there should be fewer of them,” then I know that is not a childcare expert; that is a con artist.
- “Just plain folks” do not want to be president. Stop telling me you are one.
- When someone tells me that something is “just part of being a man,” I know they are about to justify something stupid. No, not every man refuses to apologize/consumes porn/cheats on his wife/gets drunk. Some things really do happen not because you are male, but because you are a jerk.
Mad
That second point is spot on and hilarious.
“Just plain folks” don’t really exist unless someone needs them as a demographic.
Mrs Lemon
A report I read on spanking=child abuse says that spanking even by a loving parent helps promote violence and risky sexual behavior in teens.
I know grown up kids who never got spanked, and I know grown up kids who always got spanked, and I think it still just comes down to the choices each individual makes as to how they turn out as adults, not whether or not their parents spanked them.
Now, whether or not their parents disciplined them at all … that could play into how those kids make choices, because they may not have been taught that there are consequences for bad choices.
And this is exactly why I have my own blog, so I do not hijack your comments. But, your tag does say “troublemakin’ ” right?
Mary-LUE
Those four points pretty much say it all.
Aunt LoLo
Ha! LOVE the last one. To clarify, a “natural man” might get his (or her!) kicks from porn/cheatin’/bein’ crass/never apologizin’/never askin’ for directions….but a MAN fesses up/ comes clean/ stays true/ talks straight/keeps humility with ‘im in the glovebox to pull out when needed.
It’s kind of like saying “I’m a woman, so I’m allowed to spend all day on the phone/spend all your money at the mall/nag until I feel better/rip on your Mom whenever I feel like it. ”
AMEN.
suburbancorrespondent
A family should be parent-centered, not child-centered. There is no other way to handle more than 2 children; and it is healthier for the children, no matter how many there are!
And that’s why large families seem to be so organized and able to keep their kids in line - they have had to discard cockamamie child-raising theories in order to survive. Let’s hear it for common sense!
boomama
That noise you just heard? Was me slapping the table and screaming “AMEN” to the third item on your list.
chaotic joy
Yep.
Sherri E.
Ha!
One time, in some blog comments, I made an argument similar to #2 in defense of the Duggars– whatever theological or other disagreements I might have with them, their kids will NOT grow up think they are the center of the universe, which is a HUGE advantage over most North American kids. You would not believe the ire this aroused.
Well, I guess you would believe it.
Julia
On #2, I am certainly supportive of everybody’s right to make their own decisions about family size and procreation but I do think there are arguments to be made for consciously limiting the number of biological children we have. Environmental concerns are one of our top reasons for stopping at 2 bio kids and planning on adoption for growing our family further. And like I said, I wouldn’t want anybody (government, church, etc) telling me that I COULDN’T have more than 2 children, or 1, or whatever, but calling such family-planning rationale anti-child seems pretty out there to me. We’re making such plans for our current bio kids and future adopted kids because we do care about the earth we’re leaving them.
Katy
Preach it, Sister! Amen!!
JulieC
Go Veronica! Go! Woo hoo! We’ve missed you so!
Alison
Your second point is so interesting. I never thought of it that way, because my two are spaced three years apart (fortunately for my sanity) but…yeah. How did families in past eras SURVIVE with so many closely-spaced children, when they were clearly giving their children sub-optimal care by letting them cry for a few minutes or (gasp) spanking them when they misbehaved?
Frankly, I am suspicious of any expert who promotes his or her ideas as the Only Way to do something.
turtle
I laughed. FOUR times!
Beck
This guy I knew growing up who is now a total heroin addict/convience store robber had these utterly supportive hippy parents who never spanked him. Which goes to show I do not know what.
I think that those parenting theorists don’t depend on widely spaced children: I think they depend upon children being in DAYCARE.
Jeana
I would be willing to believe that talking with sound effects and peeing while standing are just part of being a man.
I guess that first one tends to be more “boy,” but still.
Jennifer (Et Tu?)
“If I sense even a whiff of the motive “I love children so much that I think there should be fewer of them,” then I know that is not a childcare expert; that is a con artist.”
Can I get that on a t-shirt?
Betty Beguiles
LOVE #2.
And #1 drives me insane. Forget about safety during an accident. I’m more worried about them being able to breathe every time they fall asleep.
Tonggu Momma
I am nodding my head like a bobble doll here… especially for that last one. I have oft been heard to say, “At some point, a person is no longer just ‘young’ or ‘immature.’ At some point a person is just a plain old jerk.” Usually I’m saying that in reference to some man in his late twenties to early thirties.
angela michelle
I agree with suburban correspondent. My third son’s 1st grade teacher has this lovely homework system where I must sit down with him every night and do one-on-one homework for like 15 minutes. And he’s not the only kid whose homework I’m supervising during that time! How is this supposed to work? Besides, shouldn’t homework be about learning to work independently?
Stephanie
Amen!!! to all of the above!
Herb of Grace
I don’t comment very often, but I read every day and this post has made me break my lurker silence to say
AMEN
Kelly @ Love Well
I love it when you get a bee in your bonnet.
I’m suspicious these days of the phone calls I keep getting with an undisclosed “Out Of Area” caller ID and a solicitor who portends to be calling on behalf of “my local police officers fund.”
Julie H
Yeah, I definately get number two. My oldest son was four and my daughter not quite two when our youngest was born. I just went into survival mode…eat, change diapers, get everyone dressed, sleep at some point and repeat over and over. It would always bug me when I would mention casually in a conversation about being so tired and someone would answer with a simple, “Why don’t you try sleeping while the baby is sleeping?” Yeah, that works with one child, but what am I going to do with the other two who aren’t asleep at the same time? Oh yes, suspicious indeed.
Take care,
Julie
Minnesotamom
Oh, Veronica. I love it when you’re a sassamouth!
Carrie of Ceaseless Praises
I totally agree with the second philosophy- sometimes it’s hard not to buy into it (since I only have one) but I don’t think it’s good for a child to pick them up at every whimper!
Jennifer
YAY!
Oh, and what about those people that tell you to put your baby on their back to sleep every night, even though 1. they can’t SLEEP that way, and 2. their heads get all FLAT in back and sometimes they then have to wear a HELMET to bed. My common sense kicks in at about that point…
(And if your baby’s head is flat in back, just ignore #2, please.)
I think maybe my favorite was that normal people do not want to be president. I’m not so sure “normal people” want to be governors, senators, or representatives, either.
This is exactly why I make it a policy to never trust a politician.
allysha
so funny. (and cute baby, btw)
Jennifer
I love these! Every single one!
ewe_are_here
I cant’ argue with any of these, especially number two.
Beth
I agree about the children stuff. It’s hard for me to believe that people really do like children when they think people should have less of them. When they ask us why we had more why we would consider having more, I always say, well, I like the ones I have. Who wouldn’t want more?