Posted on 11/07/2010 7:55:33 AM PST by smokingfrog
Unless you've been living on another planet, you know that we have endured an orgy of motherphilia for at least the last two decades. Movie stars proudly display their baby bumps, and the shiny magazines at the checkout counter never tire of describing the joys of celebrity parenthood. Bearing and rearing children has come to be seen as life's greatest good. Never mind that there are now enough abandoned children on the planet to make breeding unnecessary. Professional narcissists like Angelina Jolie and Madonna want their own little replicas in addition to the African and Asian children that they collect to advertise their open-mindedness. Nannies are seldom photographed in these carefully arranged family scenes. We are to assume that all this baby-minding is painless, easy and cheap.
Today's bible of child-rearing is "The Baby Book" by William and Martha Sears, which trumpets "attachment parenting." You wear your baby, sleep with her and attune yourself totally to her needs. How you do this and also earn the money to keep her is rarely discussed. You are just assumed to be rich enough. At one point, the Searses suggest that you borrow money so that you can bend your life to the baby's needs. If there are other caregivers, they are invisible. Mother and father are presumed to be able to do this alone—without the village it takes to raise any child.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Well, I agree with the author on this point.
I guess after their careers are over, Angelina Jolie and Madonna will ship their "pets" back to where they came from...
Remember the pet baby involving Melissa Etheridge, her GF, and David Crosby? That sure was a heartwarming story! How'd that work out? Last I heard, Melissa wrote a nasty tell-all book after they broke up.
In among the dreck, there’s some common sense. There are a million books offering (contradictory) instructions about what every mother *must* do to have a perfect child, save the planet, and win a blue ribbon. I’m sure it’s very stressful for women who don’t have the gumption to say, “No, of course I won’t, but you have a nice day, anyway.”
LOL be careful, they will glom onto it! And then we will have to find you and cane you! ;)
There we go, again. >:-(
Families are God's unit intended to raise the kids...screw the commune...er..."village" !
Oh come on, what do YOU know about child rearing?!!!
Just kidding. Really, seriously! ;) <3 <3 {{{hugs}}}}
If you ask my kids - at least those over age 6 - I don’t know a thing about childrearing ;-). This tells me I’m doing it right!
I remember having my first child and reading the “baby” books and magizines...by the time my son was 4 mos. old, I was this is BS!
I have told pregnant friends, trust your instincts and stay away from those stupid books and magazines. If you need advice ask your mother!
Ask your mother or call your doctor. What you don’t want to do is listen to a celebrity or some French broad with a lot of complaints.
A cheerful mother with reasonably agreeable children might have a good suggestion or two. My two are “Clean the baby’s ears with tea-tree oil to prevent ear infections,” and “Let him wear his pajamas all the time.”
As if the author of the "zipless f*ck" would believe in any form of 'reproductive responsibility' which actually entailed rasisng one's own offspring.
No offense meant by the phraseology, there, it was the writer's own in Fear of Flying.
≤}B^)
≤};^)
It’s funny, my kids were the same way. Now, as adults they think I was pretty smart! :)
I know. I actually read that book in college and thought it was totally gross, even at the time.
Or maybe tabloids should just stop speculating on whether everyone is pregnant or not. Maybe they’re just getting chubby. ;)
I will never “wear” my children nor will I ever sleep with them past the first couple of weeks. I can’t do it! It’s not for me. There are too many of them and I need my sleep. There were actually a couple of sane thoughts in this article but they were lost amid the “enough abandoned children on the planet to make breeding unnecessary” comments. I am such a breeder!
Since Ms. Jong has made it back-to-the-'70s day, I'd like to add what George Gilder said back then. One of the facts in his book Sexual Suicide was lifted from Margaret Mead's Sex and Temperament In Three Primitive Societies: she detailed, and he excerpted, descriptions of three minor tribes where traditional sex roles were either bent or reversed.
Two of them had passive men, with passive women in one and aggresive women (the gender reversal) in another. The third stuck in my mind because there are obvious reasons why the first two tribes would be in trouble. The last was a tribe where the women were aggressive...and the men were more aggressive. Think of it as a grafting of traditional roles onto female aggressiveness. The women were feminist types, but the men countered by becoming hyper-aggressive.
As it turned out, this tribe was in trouble too. Child abuse was rife, as children were treated brusquely. The aggression overdose was leading to it breaking up into hostile factions.
Hey Erica, I read the book that you’re famous for. It sucked.
You wear your baby, sleep with her and attune yourself totally to her needs.
Didn’t even have to know who wrote this...the above sentence bears the gender bias against boys and men. I have one of each and neither is better than the other nor do I love either one more than the other. Our boy has grown into a loving caring son, brother, husband and father just like his dad and our daughter has married someone just like them. He treats her with love and respect as she does him and our son treats his wife the same way. Love and respect and by the way eryikkah...they are teams and helpe each other. Go away ... you are so yesterday.
yea and let’s see all those “stars” with their hands in the toilet flushing down little baby doos. Oh wait, I forgot...that isn’t done anymore because of toss away diapers. Well, let’s see them get food spit on them cause the baby doesn’t like peas. Let’s see them juggle one toddler while juggling the baby and putting them into the car so that they can get all the errands done in one day while they have the ONE CAR. Oh wait...they have drivers. I forgot.
Let’s see them go to the store like Sears or one of those other places and buy their outfits for the kids...oh wait...they buy designer clothing...I forgot.
They all make me SICK. Phonies to the max.
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