Posted on 07/26/2006 7:17:10 AM PDT by carlo3b
Sorry, but my children bore me to death!
by HELEN KIRWAN-TAYLOLR, Daily Mail 08:00am 26th July 2006It's the start of the summer holidays, when millions of mothers despair at how to entertain their children for the next six weeks. What none of them dare say is that they would rather their children were still at school or, frankly, anywhere else. Helen Kirwan-Taylor, a 42-year-old writer, lives in Notting Hill, West London, with her businessman husband Charles and their sons Constantin, 12, and Ivan, ten. Here, she argues provocatively that modern women must not be enslaved by their children.
The lies started when my eldest son was less than ten months old.
Invitations to attend a child's birthday party or, worse, a singalong session were met with the same refrain: 'I would love to but I just can't spare the time.'
The nanny was dispatched in my place, and almost always returned complaining that my son had been singled out for pitiful stares by the other mothers.
(snip) Kids are supposed to be fulfilling, life-changing, life-enhancing fun: why was my attitude towards them so different?While all my girlfriends were dropping important careers and occupying their afternoons with cake baking, I was begging the nanny to stay on, at least until she had read my two a bedtime story. What kind of mother hates reading bedtime stories? A bad mother, that's who, and a mother who is bored rigid by her children.
(snip) Am I a lazy, superficial person because I don't enjoy packing up their sports kit, or making their lunch, or sitting through coffee mornings with other mothers discussing how Mr Science (I can't remember most of the teachers' names) said such and such to Little Johnny and should we all complain to the headmaster.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Ditto. I'm 46 and my youngest (a little surprise package) is 7 months.
Of course, I am ecstatic. But, I'll never be able to retire. :)
ROFL!!!!!!!!
Good Lord. Who ARE these nosey people??
My husband jokes he will be attending her college graduation in a wheel chair.
True, although at the church I'm talking about, the triple barrelled names are often followed with a "III" or even "IV", so there's nothing "instant" about the lineage.
I don't know about Biblical names a generation ago; even two generations ago, I don't recall growing up with a lot of Hepzibahs or Ezekiels.
He knows about single parent families, that many children do not live with one parent or the other.
He also knows about the after-school program and that many of his fellow classmates have to stay at the school until five and then they are transported to the day-care across the street.
And lastly, he knows that time in an after-school day program takes away his time with me. My son said that those children must be sad that they only get to see their mother for two hours a night.
My sides hurt, I'm laughing so hard!!!!
When asked if she has any children my SIL responds "None that I know of."
Her last comments on line were about how anxious she is to get back to the job.
My stomach dropped when I read her words.
Some are nosy and some are confused. Tradition often has a large practical side that defines a family. Then there is no question who is part of the family.
Why?
I'd agree - this woman is a bad mother. I'm quite sure her children know they bore her 'rigid', and it will negatively impact the type of character they have when they grow up.
I do wonder if she had ever been exposed to children before having her own. If she was, did she not pick up on the fact that she's not a 'kid' kind of person? If she hadn't been, maybe she should have sought out such exposure before going off and having her trophy children.
I don't mean in my posts to sound like I've never gotten any joy or satisfaction from the kids. I've gotten boatloads of it. It's just been a struggle for me in a lot of ways, as I noted.
Our kids are literally a blessing. A few months after we got married, my wife started having agonizing pain and it turned out her ovaries were riddled with dermoid cysts and she had to have surgery. So having gotten two kids out of the three-fourths of one ovary she has remaining, we've done OK I guess. :)
Hold on there, pard'ner! Let's not turn this into a defensive "working moms" thread. I understood eprfectly what OldFriend was saying. If she had said, "I can't wait to get back to work because that will mean my son is OK", there would be no jaw-drop. But that's NOT what she said. Might be what she meant, but it's not what she said. I think OldFriend is amazed at someone who would be more worried about their career than their very ill son.
***There are women who's posts I have read on other threads who say they prefer the school year so they can have their free time, or complain about holidays and summer holiday. They say they want to do things for themselves and not involve their children.***
How sad, how very, very sad for this woman's children. If she can afford a nanny, she probably doesn't HAVE to work. And, remember, it was Eleanor Roosevelt who was around back in the forties telling women that they SHOULD put their children in child care and get jobs outside the home to FULFILL themselves.
The democrats have for a long, long time wanted socialism in this country.
How old are your kids? I've found that in early childhood, the Dad is pretty much in the way, and can easily become bored since he has no role that fits his "skills". When the kids get a little older (approaching 10) the father takes center stage and the mother recedes to the background. At this age, parenting is downright "fun" for a dad. Stressful, but "fun".
God bless you.
Amen. Just amen.
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