TERRIFIC article in the Dallas Morning News today about the madness of motherhood. Timely, no? I've never been (or wanted to be) a Soccer Mom. Apparently the type of parenting I do is Old School, say, from the 50s and 60s. I'm a Cocktail Mom! Hee!!
Our motto? "Y'all go on out and play."
Do you give your kid Benadryl before long road trips? Do you kick your kids out of the house early in the AM with the directive to not come back in until dinner time so you can see your house clean for a brief period? Have you ever sent your child to the store for tonic water and limes? *snicker* Welcome to the club. You do not mistake your kids for your friends or peers. You let kids figure it out instead of butting in. You realize that you have earned the priveledge of being an adult, entitled to pleasure and privacy. AMEN, sistah!
And the best thing from the article: "[You know] that mom's anger is God's way of giving children helpful feedback when they're being obnoxious."
Today is the lovely
sangueuk's birthday. SHE is the one who turned me on to Connor last year. Punk, rap, motherhood, fabulousness... That is my Sanguelina. I have a music post full of downloads coming up later just for you! I wish I new how to do the poinging letters and sparklies... You deserve sparklies!
Our motto? "Y'all go on out and play."
Do you give your kid Benadryl before long road trips? Do you kick your kids out of the house early in the AM with the directive to not come back in until dinner time so you can see your house clean for a brief period? Have you ever sent your child to the store for tonic water and limes? *snicker* Welcome to the club. You do not mistake your kids for your friends or peers. You let kids figure it out instead of butting in. You realize that you have earned the priveledge of being an adult, entitled to pleasure and privacy. AMEN, sistah!
And the best thing from the article: "[You know] that mom's anger is God's way of giving children helpful feedback when they're being obnoxious."
Today is the lovely
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Date: 2005-03-23 08:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 08:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 08:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 09:19 am (UTC)Well, not MY kids... but other peoples? Oh. Hell. Yes. I'm only thinkin' of the children, you understand.
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Date: 2005-03-23 09:24 am (UTC)I have a colleague who is living her second life through her daughter. She talks and brags about her daughter so much, I stopped going to the teachers' lounge because of her. It's insane.
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Date: 2005-03-23 09:29 am (UTC)THAT is the best thing I've reading a while about parenting! Go cocktail mom's! So the better way to be! Good GOD do I ever not want to be a soccer mom...I can see it now...pearl earings...pink cashmire cardigan...french tips...minivan...tastefully expensive slacks...latte from Starbucks...and nothing to do all day but sign little Billy up for camps and teams..."because he's a prodige, you know." *shudder* If that's what happens, shoot me. I WILL send my kid to the store to buy limes and tonic. I WILL make them go out and play. I WILL make them pick up tampons for me at some point (small revenge against my mother...or merely paying it forward) *g* I will also get angry when they're being shit heads, because otherwise how they hell are they supposed to know?
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Date: 2005-03-23 09:53 am (UTC)You mean, they DON'T do that anymore? Huh. How else would you get through a long road trip without having to threaten to stop and kick someone out of the car? (Which I suspect is thought of as verbal abuse these days.)
I figured you probably weren't the "Soccer Mom" or the "I live my entire life to serve my children" type when I started reading your fic. (Unless, of course, you're reading Wee!Spike to them for bedtime stories, which would count as something far different from Old School.)
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Date: 2005-03-23 11:57 am (UTC)I'm going to get that framed.
Or made in neon tubes and hung above the dirty dishes in the sink. (When they reach a certain height it'll light up)
Or..or..or..recorded on a loop that blares through the whole house when someone doesn't put the toilet seat down...
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Date: 2005-03-23 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 01:03 pm (UTC)Hear an enormous thump upstairs? Don't rush up to see who's hurt, you wait to see if you hear crying first. That's a slacker mom! Of course, it could be that someone just broke something you treasure, but bad news can always wait, right?
The only thing I can't do is kick my kids out of the house for indefinite periods of time. We live in an area with no sidewalks and narrow roads, cars whizzing by. My kids can play in our small backyard for a while with Deb's kids from next door, but it's not like a housing development tucked away from the traffic, with lots of kids running around in packs all day long. Must drive them to playdates or to the pool. We talk about moving sometimes to a nice cul de sac somewhere, but we have to buy adjoining houses with Deb and her family. I'm not sure our husbands see the necessity of this.