Posted on 02/14/2008 9:09:55 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
WHEN Jacqueline Brown and her husband, Gavin Friedman, were in their early 30s, they lived in a condominium in Santa Monica, Calif., with a black leather Ikea couch Mr. Friedman had bought for law school, a few modest pieces from Pier 1 Imports and assorted hand-me-down furnishings. Within a few years, though, having acquired professional and financial stability — both were litigation associates at prominent law firms — they bought a house in Cheviot Hills, an affluent neighborhood in West Los Angeles, and began remodeling and decorating.
During two renovations, each costing more than $100,000, they built a two-sided fireplace to separate the living and dining rooms, put in a wine cellar and installed a sleek maple and granite kitchen. They bought molded-wood chairs in the Arne Jacobsen style, Murano glass pendant lamps and a custom walnut entertainment unit. Ms. Brown, who had become obsessed with interior design in law school, poured heart and soul into the projects.
But just as Ms. Brown and Mr. Friedman were establishing their first truly grown-up residence — she was 38, he 37 — Ms. Brown gave birth to their first child, Harrison, a boy who turned out as bouncing as most.
Suddenly they were confronted with a question that had never before occurred to them: given the way baby gear and toys take over households, the uncivilized habits of toddlers and the dangers posed by sharp-edged contemporary furniture, could Ms. Brown and Mr. Friedman continue to live their high-design dream?
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
We were lucky, we didn’t have “nice stuff” before the kids either!!!!
Exactly.
When my kids were little, I didn't "kid proof" my home. We were married 12 years before my daughter was born, so the house was pretty much the way we wanted it.
We just taught the kids "no" and "pretty" when they grabbed at something.
You’re telling me that I am spouting nonsense, and you have no children.
I decorated my children’s rooms when they were toddlers. Painted, put up shelves around the ceilings, wall borders.
The wall borders were ripped off by the next day. All the lovely collectible stuff up by the ceiling didn’t last more than a month.
Maybe you will be lucky and have “normal” children. I have scary, highly intelligent children, who come up with absolutely horrendous “ideas”, and who don’t learn from experience. I have a son who was climbing out the second story window and ripping the shingles off the roof at age 3. Have you ever seen what “Slime” does to a ceiling?
Wow. The NY Times broke the story that having a baby changes your life. Someone alert the Pulitzers.
My parents house was always more about beauty than function even when there were 3 kids living there.
I’ve always been more about function than beauty.
I’ve told all my kids that when you become a parent, your likes and fun are no longer options. If by chance you do have a fun time, enjoy it-it won’t last- you’re a parent now and every ounce of your being needs to be put into taking care of that child. So far, my grandchildren are being raised by some very intelligent and well adjusted parents- Thank the Good Lord above.
This is one of the many purposes of having children, methinks.
It does concentrate the mind wonderfully.
I don’t allow eating or drinking in the living room. But my cat can “puke” hairballs on the couch.
‘used a pen to carve her name into a cherry dining ....
I think maybe you don’t get it.....the woman is bragging that her superior child can write her name at only 48 months.
My feeling is...........decorate when the kids move out. My home is somewhat plain because of children.
And thats alright with me.
That’s the irony of this. These type of parents will lead the children to have little or no appreciation of “high design.”
Unable to appreciate it aesthetically at a young age, it will only reak of suppressing one’s freedom and creativity.
Same with the yard. Before kids, we were really into landscaping. Now we are growing boys, not lawn. We don’t allow them to purposely destroy it, but they get so much pure joy from being able to ride their bikes through the back yard, for example, we saw no point in taking that away from them.
As the old adage goes, you can have children/pets or furniture - but you can’t have both.
Perhaps we should go back to having children while you are young and have no good furniture yet. Time for the swanky nice stuff when they get older.
I make changes to accomodate children. Dogs, however? One day my wife was brushing her teeth and afterwards she went into the family room to find our dog had eaten a 4” hole in our carpet. We got rid of the dog the next day. If we were Vietnamese, I would have had NO problem eating it! I’d be happy to do the butchering and skinning.
I could certainly write my name when I was four. But I didn’t live in a pseudo-museum with parents who cared more about the furniture than about me, so I didn’t feel the need to display my writing talents on the furniture. Honestly, in the circles these people move in, I think it would be very unusual for a 4 year old not to be able to write their own first name, so I don’t think that’s what mom was focusing on. Really, the furniture is what’s occupying her mind.
Well for Pete’s sake, don’t let the kid eat in his room ! Sheesh ! That’s what kitchens and dining rooms are for.
I get it. Another set of parents who just want to be their kid’s friend. Another self-absorbed narcissist growing up in that household...
Given the fact she did not even take the name of her husband, I would hardly describe her as “maternal”. Does the boy even have the father’s name or is she going to raise the son to be a eunach?
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