Comments on: ‘good’ mommies don’t blog in their underwear

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 04:07:00 +0000

Everyone listen to SNMartha and read the Mommy Myth–read it, I say! And then pick up a copy of The Perfect Parent Handbook (sort of a Preppie Handbook for parents, with that same dry wit).

Yes, Hausfrau, this IS your can of worms, but I’m glad you popped the top. Start passing those martinis around and it will all be JUST FINE.

Seriously, though, the whole idea of who is (and is not) a ‘good’ parent, and what that entails, is troublesome to me. After all, I’m doing the best I can here (as are all of you, I’m sure) and some days I rock and some days I suck and some days I wind up writing in my undies or crying in the shower or opening a bottle of wine at 4:00 pm. And other days I call my husband at work because the kids did something so fantastic I can’t wait until he gets home to tell him about it.

But most days I just show up and go with the flow and hope everyone lives until bedtime.

By: Candace

Candace — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 03:55:00 +0000

*Note to self: Read “Slacker Mom”. Must be talking about me.

My husband asked me exactly once what I did during the day. It was a particularly horrible day early in the firstborn’s babyhood. He came home and said, “What did you DO today?” And IMMEDIATELY regretted it.

I said, “You might want to rethink that question. If you don’t, I’m leaving.”

He’s never asked me that again. He says instead, “Was today a good day or a bad day?”

Smart man.

By: Mary P.

Mary P. — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 03:01:00 +0000

I’ve worked with diligent, cautious, over-involved parents, who I call Earnest Mommies and Daddies, for years now, first as an elementary school teacher and now as a “daycare lady”. I’ve been planning a post on these folks for ages now. One day, one day.

The Alpha Mom is a different breed, simply scarey, but, I think, a very particular social (and perhaps even geographical) phenomena. Not worth the air time: the obsessive will be with you always. But we don’t have to follow their lunatic lead.

There’s a book out there called “Slacker Mom”. I haven’t read it yet, but I will, on the strength of that great title alone!

By: ieatcrayonz

ieatcrayonz — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 02:59:00 +0000

Have not blogged regularly this week in an attempt to become alpha mom. Okay, I’ll settle for “good mom.”

By: The June Cleaver Diaries

The June Cleaver Diaries — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 01:36:00 +0000

I think the ideal of the “perfect Mommy” brings all of us down. It’s an impossible standard to reach! It’s the married-with -kids version of trying to look like an airbrushed underwear model. I remember way back when when I looooved Duff (MTV VJ in the ’90’s) because she had the coolest hair. My boyfriend at the time always asked me to get my hair cut like hers (EX boyfriend). I spent HOURS trying to get that perfect bouncy bob— and failed every time. I saw her on Oprah a few years back. You know why she had perfect hair? She was going through chemo. It was a wig.

And this “ideal Mommy” crap is in the same vein. Competitive Mommying sucks. A great book that really opened my eys was “The Mommy Myth,”if anyone is interested. Sorry for hijacking your blog!!! Maybe I’ll continue this on my own blog in a few days. I’m always good for a soapbox rant….By the way, nice of that Alpha Mom to treat her kid like a business project rather than a person!

By: Misfit Hausfrau

Misfit Hausfrau — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 00:33:00 +0000

Yikes!

Are there days where you pray that your spouse will NOT ask you what you did that day because you know your head will spilt open and a hammer will come out and beat him?

It seems that my dearly beloved always makes that mistake on the days that almost killed me.

Did I open up a can of worms yesterday by asking what good mommies do? I don't really consider myself to be a good mommy yet. I still think I am a mommy-in-training...