This article by Rebecca Eckler, author of Toddlers Gone Wild!, is so offensive in so many ways it's hard to know where to begin. Posted on 05/07/2008 9:54:47 AM PDT by PercivalWalks
This article by Rebecca Eckler, author of Toddlers Gone Wild!, is so offensive in so many ways it's hard to know where to begin.
Here's one. Rebecca writes:
"On behalf of my four-year-old, who has a Yahoo account in her name, I recently sent an e-mail to her father, who lives in Alberta.
"'Hi Daddy,' I typed, as my daughter was fast asleep. 'Mommy has been talking about Mother's Day. I only have 143 pennies in my piggy bank. She's the best mommy ever. She's been pretty exhausted. I'd like to get her something nice. Can you help? Love you.'
"It was a slightly pathetic, but possibly cute, way of reminding my daughter's father about Mother's Day.
"On what is perhaps the Hallmark holiday of all Hallmark holidays, what's a single mother to do to get some sort of recognition? It's certainly not going to come from a child who still licks glue and is too young to understand the concept.
"But modern single mothers, whether they've chosen to be single, still get along with the father of their children, or have no contact with the father at all, are finding new ways to make Mother's Day special (and, in some cases, more fruitful)...
"As for me, the e-mail worked. I'll be at a spa, thanks to my four-year-old's request via her mother's e-mail."
I love that--mom is so entitled to even more of dad's money that she brags in the national media about using her four-year-old's identity to deceive her ex. She feels the need to "remind my daughter's father about Mother's Day," as if it's his problem.
Here's another:
"All mothers of young children rely on gifts made by someone else. For the single mom, feeling the need for something more than a crumpled card in a knapsack - something that comes with a gift receipt - presents a particular dilemma. You can't very well hand over $20 to your three year-old to do your shopping.
"So some have learned to lobby on their own behalf.
"'I've drilled it into him,' says Toronto-based Vanessa Craft, the author of Out of Character, about her three-year-old daughter's father, who lives in England.
"Growing up, Mother's Day, like most holidays, had always been recognized in my house. So it's a big deal. I even remind my daughter's father that on her birthday I should also get something, for the fact that I gave birth,' Ms. Craft says.
"'Her dad knows to make me cards, at the very least, on behalf of our daughter,' says Ms. Craft, adding, 'I've never had a bad Mother's Day being a single mom.'"
Huh? Her ex owes her a Mother's Day gift?
One other note--in both cases (Rebecca Eckler and Vanessa Craft) the children are very young and the fathers live far away. Rebecca dumped the father of her child, to whom she was engaged to be married, for another man. I don't know what happened in Vanessa's case, but statistically the odds are good that she was the one who initiated the divorce/breakup. In both cases it was probably the women who moved away. So having already severed most of the loving bonds between the fathers and their little children, the women now feel deprived and entitled to even more from dad.
Here's a third section:
"Stacey Otis, a single mother of three, says that without a partner there is 'such a greater connection with your children,' and that Mother's Day is always 'awesome.'
"She celebrates the day at her house, or at one of her siblings' houses, and has turned it into 'Family Mother's Day.'
"Unlike many of my mother friends, who moan about husbands forgetting Mother's Day entirely, or who complain about partners not even giving them two hours of alone time, Ms. Otis says, 'My Mother's Days are always special. When my kids get excited to give me what they made at school, it's like gold. When you know all you have is each other, it makes the day really special.'"
So Stacey Otis' kids are better off because they don't have a dad? That's odd, since being without a dad greatly increases their chances for most youth pathologies, including drugs, crime, teen pregnancy, and dropouts.
And of course Stacey is better off, because all of her friends' husbands are louts who spend much of the their time working to support their wives and children. And Stacey's excessively critical female attitude probably gives you a good clue as to why her and Rebecca's and Vanessa's relationships ended, too.
The full article is--get this--Get what you want this Mother's Day. Twist the ex's arm (Globe and Mail, 5/6/08). To write a Letter to the Editor of the Globe and Mail about this piece, click on Letters@globeandmail.com.
Glenn Sacks, www.GlennSacks.com
[Note: If you or someone you love is faced with a divorce or needs help with child custody, child support, false accusations, Parental Alienation, or other family law or criminal law matters, ask Glenn for help by clicking here.]
Not to excuse the mother in this but how could the father not know that this was not typed by a four year old? What four year old uses the word "exhausted" and can spell it?
He wasn’t fooled. Four year olds can’t count to 143, and theyrarely use terms like exhausted. It reminds me of Lucy Van Pelt trying to get Schroeder to give her a present for Beethoven’s Birthday.
What a bunch of selfish be-yotches! “Honey, I know you’re only four but Mummy thinks your clay hand print plaque is lame. Go hit Daddy up for $700 so I can get me some Christian Louboutins!”
And the men are stupid enough to give them the money! Hell, they were stupid enough to lie with these harpies in the first place.
Gosh, who wouldn’t dump these women? The one who expects her child’s father to send HER a present on the child’s birthday is a real piece of work.
I don’t need a thing for Mother’s Day, but I’d better remind my husband to get cards in the mail for his mother and step-mother.
Sorry to bother the Mom list with this, but I am absolutely appalled and thought I would pass it along.
Good thing she remembered to capitalize “Mother’s Day” and the apostrophe was a nice touch too.
It’s protection money. If the gifts stop coming, these women will make those mens’ lives a living hell in court. They’re running a protection racket on their husbands. Tony Soprano would be proud.
}:-)4
They have been divorced for 3 years and she still expects my friend to act like her husband in every way except she can go party whenever she wants.
I think she is insane.
Sounds insane to me. But then, expecting a present on your child’s birthday seems insane, even if you’re married to the child’s father.
I really don’t get the obsession with gifts. If I want something beyond the basics - groceries, gas, Wal-mart clothes - I ask my husband, “Can I get myself Item X?” and he says either, “Sure!” or “Wait until payday.”
It’s important for kids to learn to give, and to honor their parents even if their parents don’t deserve it.
That said, my ex lives with her parents and they can give their grandkids money for my ex.
This type of attitude shows how selfish people are. I thought homemade cards made lovingly by your child were great gifts. As a dad I would rather get that from my kids than something bought at the store.
I agree. It's creepy. If one is going to observe Mother's Day, the point is that it's a recognition to a mother from her children. If your child is 3, that means you get a page he colored and a flower he picked out of the neighbor's landscaping, and you tell him that it's wonderful and he's wonderful.
I thought all mothers knew this stuff.
I have a bit of throw-up in my mouth.
Your husband sounds like mine!!!!
I remember my first Mother’s day. I hadn’t even given it a thought at the time because back then May was a really hectic time for me with work (and the baby). Wednesday before Mother’s Day, a particularly hellacious day, he asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day and I flippantly said “no responsibility, no phone, no cooking, nothing.”
Mothr’s Day came, he packed a picnic basket, our fishing gear, a cooler, the chairs and we spent the day on the beach surf fishing and he had bought me a new book just for the occassion!
This will be the first Mother’s Day weekend we won’t have our fishing picnic. Since both of our mother’s are passed away, we’re filling in at the Moose Lodge so the other gals who usually work weekends that are mothers and still have moms can be with them.
That’s very sweet. I’ve never heard of this custom, but if it’s your family’s observance, then great.
My husband recently went through a stack of homemade Father’s Day cards and birthday artwork given to him by our sons. Those provide lasting memories of the love we have in our home...he had tears in his eyes.
So did I. It’s like dads always getting a screwdriver set for Christmas.
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