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Post-Modern Motherhood
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Slumdog_Mamabear
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
Ok I will just say it. While 200 is ridiculous for a tepee I would gladly have paid 10x that for my miraculous swing set that allows me time to talk on the phone and even type out this message. See, it takes me a while to comment now since my two year old tore 50percent of my keys off my computer!! And yes, we read books and yes we make forts. But thank God for my expensive swing set.

This site looks dumb as hell though.
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Maritsa
05/01/09

@Slumdog_Mamabear: There are definitely toys that are worth their weight in gold. I would have gone crazy without the cradle swing.
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Slumdog_Mamabear
05/01/09

@Maritsa: You too?? It is currently outside with us. Cradle swing + swing set= Jezzie time!!

(Dude, good job the other day BTW...I read the whole thing)
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slowpoke.r
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
Did anyone else think that the cartoon mom was smoking when they first saw that image? No? Okay then.
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sassy
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
When I was little, I had a stack of books, my Cinderella VHS, and my fairy godmother wand. I didn't need anything else.

Besides, all smart kids know that if you sit under the kitchen table and pull all of the chairs in, it makes the best fort/prison.
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mommy_dearest
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
That's so funny- my last facebook update was "mommy_dearest just needs a little time to pluck her eyebrows- thank god she got kiddy_dearest a teepee!"
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slowpoke.r
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
My mom simply called it nap time- an hour or two (or more) every afternoon where we had to stay quietly in our rooms. I don't think either my brother or I actually napped after 18 mos. so we definitely learned how to entertain ourselves. And, perhaps of equal importance, we learned how to be quiet.

I should add that our rooms were about 8 x 6 and that they only contained beds, books, and clothes.

Now that I think about it, she was probably the one napping.
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TheFormerJuneBronson
05/01/09

@slowpoke.r: There have definitely been nap periods in our house where I'm the only one napping.

My kid has started to freak over "nap" so I tell him it's quiet time. He doesn't have to sleep, but he does have to stay quietly in his room for at least an hour. On weekends, we have family quiet time after lunch. Then, sometimes Mr. JB and I get to have the sex at an hour of the day when we're not both exhausted. There are times when marital romance consists of, "Oh, whatever; you do what you want as long as you don't wake me up."
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slowpoke.r
05/01/09

@TheFormerJuneBronson: I guess that would be the other thing my mom (and dad, of course) were doing! Never thought of that. I remember when I was older- 12 or 13- getting in a fight with my friend up the street one afternoon and storming home, only to find the house completely quiet...when I started yelling for my mom, she suddenly yelled back from her room that she and my dad "were napping and why did you come home early?? You never come home early!" That took me a year or two to figure out.

I think it's awesome that you also have "quiet time" as I really feel it was a huge boon to my brother and I to learn at a very young age that we had to depend on ourselves for entertainment and answers to questions, or just wait to ask them. We're both big readers but we also don't mind being alone, which is a trait I'm very glad I have as an adult.
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TheFormerJuneBronson
05/01/09

@slowpoke.r: I feel it's valuable too. Mr. JB and I both really need our alone time (apart from each other), and having a needy toddler has been a strain on that front. Maybe if we'd had two kids close together, they'd entertain each other better. There were four in my family, and we were expected to play together, not with our parents. You learn to guard your alone time pretty jealously when you have a family of six in a very small house!
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SarahMC
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
Haven't they noticed that most moms on FB prefer to update their profiles whilst changing diapers / breastfeeding / at bathtime? Liveblogging your special snowflake's every waking moment is "in" right now.
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emilyanne
05/01/09

@SarahMC: ball-cutting cybersuccubus: hahaa i would bear that in mind if i could be arsed to believe in Facebook, as I think it is the devil's work my little snowflake will probably sue me in later life for failure to exploit her every waking moment on the internet leading to her feeling inadequate in comparison with all her blogged about peers...
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Maritsa
05/01/09

@emilyanne: I have to wonder who these moms think is interested...I mean, close family, sure. My mother-in-law actually WOULD like to read about the color and texture of Baby G's every poop - and she would comment on it - but most adults have far too much going on in their lives to be interested in the fact that little Johnny tried organic pears for the first time today.
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emilyanne
05/01/09

@Maritsa: It's crazy but to be honest I actually wonder frequently what the point of facebook and twitter are at all - if i wish to contact my friends I shall do so by phone or email, i have even been known to, gasp, write letters. I do not however want to know how they intend to spend their every waking moment, how drunk they got last night or who they're currently fucking. I mean if they want to tell me in person fine but broadcasting it on the internet, really? I just a luddite at heart.
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SarahMC
05/01/09

@emilyanne: It's completely out of control. People have no boundaries anymore. It's just an exercise in narcissism.
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Maritsa
05/01/09

@SarahMC: ball-cutting cybersuccubus: I just got on Facebook two months ago and although it was fun to catch up with people, I cannot believe the stuff people put on there. Especially people I work with...
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Notes from the underwhelmed
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
See, what my mom used to do was send me into the backyard to look for leprechauns. Or she'd send me out there with a shaker of salt and tell me that if I shook salt on a birds tail it wouldn't be able to fly for a bit and I'd be able to keep it as a pet. Then, you know, when I got older, books. I didn't need no $200 teepee. Although I was fond of my $50 Huggabunch tent...
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hydrogen_jukebox
05/01/09

@Notes from the underwhelmed: You win for having the most whimsical mommy ever. I had to make that stuff up by myself.

After mudpies, and just before books, I made an entire village of acorn people in the moss on my hill. Why can't I be that focused now?
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Flackette Goes Retro
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
When did we decide that kids must be entertained every moment of the day? To quote my parents "Our job is to give you food and shelter, not to be your entertainment committee. Go play or read or something."
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tscheese
05/01/09

@Flackette Goes Retro: If I needed help with homework or if I scraped my knee or if I needed a hug or reassurance or something, my mom and dad were right there, no questions asked, in a split second.

If I was simply bored and getting on my parents' nerves, I was told to go outside and amuse myself, or read a book, or go practice any number of instruments my parents put up with me squawking and twanging and hammering on.

There's a difference between "parenting" and "amusing your offspring every single waking moment", isn't there?
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Flackette Goes Retro
05/01/09

@tscheese: Yes, I think availability is key. Hovering, not so good. And we wonder why kids can't live unplugged from their digital devices and constant ego-boosting stimulation.
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TheFormerJuneBronson
05/01/09

@Flackette Goes Retro: I'll tell you this much: if my kid is still clinging to me this much in a couple of years, I'm going to sell him to the church. This is what really drives mothers to work outside the home: years of never being able to go to the bathroom without someone rattling the knob and yelling, "Maaaamaaaaaa! Where aaaaaaaare yoooooooouu?!"
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doodley is not amused
05/01/09

@TheFormerJuneBronson: You get to go to the bathroom without an audience actually present in the bathroom? Wha?

@tscheese: I learned early that if I complained to my mother that I was bored, she had a lengthy list of things that I could do to alleviate the boredom -- extra chores.
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TheFormerJuneBronson
05/01/09

@doodley is not amused: Only because I finally drew the line and kicked him out--and put a doorknob guard on the outside to keep him out.
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Slumdog_Mamabear
05/01/09

@Flackette Goes Retro: I see your point with older kids. But an unattended 2 year old is disastrous, either to themselves or your property.
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JudgeFudge
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
For only $500, The Arapaho Lean-To Deluxe will distract your kids long enough to:

1. Watch back episodes of Samantha Who? On Hulu.com
2. Purchase a pair of Ballet Flats on Zarros.com
3. Mail off your anual donation to Vassar
4. Call your older sister and "rub it in a bit"
5. Prepare a fresh, organic meal of ehtiopian tamales.
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amsci
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
Can we stop adding "ista" to everything? Please?
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mommy_dearest
05/01/09

@amsci: you sound like a vocabista.
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Snowbunny
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
I doubt mothers without this handy teepee have any time to go on the internet and learn about this handy teepee to give them extra time. Catch 22.

Or they could use a Disney tape like my mother would.
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deitybox
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
In related news, I lost my tweezers while traveling and have been shaving my eyebrows with a bic razor for the last week.
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tomatoheart
05/01/09

@deitybox: oh god darlin....get to Ulta, they're having a sale on tweezermans right now.
[www.ulta.com]
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Snowbunny
05/01/09

@deitybox: That sounds dangerous, plus you don't get the satisfying pull of ripping your hair out. No thanks.
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tscheese
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
YOU GUYS, I AM TOTALLY GOING TO MAKE A FORT WHEN I GO HOME TONIGHT. Oh my god, this is really exciting.
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hkcd
05/01/09

@tscheese: Yes! My boyfriend and I made a fort and sat in it and ate popcorn. This was a few weeks ago. We are 20 and 19 respectively.
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AtomiClash: humanitarian misanthrope
05/01/09

@tscheese: that really does sound brilliant. I'm buying a few bottles of wine and corralling friends via text at lunch!
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Maritsa
05/01/09

@tscheese: My best friend and her husband made a castle out of their moving boxes, it was pretty awesome.
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tomatoheart
05/01/09

@hkcd: though adult forts sorta remind me of that crazy drugged out fort scene from Party Monster
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Remedios Varo can't see no huevos.
05/01/09

@tscheese: Only if you liveblog from it.
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tomatoheart
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
Sometimes I still make a fort out of my silk duvet on my poster bed....it makes me feel awesome.
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tscheese
05/01/09

@tomatoheart: I had this old, sturdy easel-thing that my dad had dug up at some garage sale, and a bed that had kind of a high footboard, and my bookshelf was right next to that. So when I was a kid I'd drape sheets over the two and clip those big banana-clip hair things and I'd have a tent city in my room. WITH A BOOKSHELF INSIDE. I'd spend hours in there in my beanbag chair, pretending I was...I dunno, a starship captain or a badass spy in a hovercraft and I had to consult my many tomes of knowledge to do missions or something. It was the BEST.
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tscheese
05/01/09

In reply to Post-Modern Motherhood
You know what my mom bought me when she wanted me to shut up and get out of her hair for a few hours?

Books.
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baraqiel
05/01/09

@tscheese: To be fair, at least this isn't a video game or a TV show. It does encourage imagination and activity a little bit, I guess. It's more the price than the object that gets me.
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deitybox
05/01/09

@tscheese: To, like, make a teepee with? I don't get it...
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dreamweave
05/01/09

@tscheese: word to your mother fucking mother.
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kowhai: Captain Awesome
05/01/09

@tscheese: The biggest arguments I ever had with my parents was over not being allowed to read at the dinner table. I used to hide my books on my lap until caught.
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LaFemme
05/01/09

@baraqiel: Exactly. And the typical 2 year old isn't going to be entertained for hours with only books.
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Majrhoulihan
05/01/09

@tscheese: My mom used to set up elaborate chains of tasks for us. We'd have to go to the table and color in a page in a color book. Then we'd have to go to the tupperware draw and put all the bases and lids together. Then we'd have a pitcher of water and we'd have to fill up different glasses up to lines she made on the outside. Then we'd have two workbook pages to do. Then I'd have to read my brother a book. Then I'd have to redress all of my Barbies. THEN I could bother her.

I think my parents probably went and had sex while we were doing this crazy decathalon.
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tomatoheart
05/01/09

@kowhai: god me too...so I resorted to reading the labels on the catsup bottle or cereal boxes.
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Mary McCarthyite
05/01/09

@tscheese: Word. My mam did the same. Or, if it was nice outside, my brother and I were banned from the house until it got dark. To this day I have anxiety about being indoors when the sun is shining.
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Maritsa
05/01/09

@LaFemme: The typical two year old isn't going to be entertained for hours by anything!
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emilyanne
05/01/09

@Maritsa: that is so so true. On the other hand i find books and cars currently keep my daughter amused for all of an hour or two.

@Mary McCarthyite: my mother also gave us books and/or kicked us out the house. It doesn't seem to have done much harm.

@Majrhoulihan: this appeals to me, when daughter older I may well try it.
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Majrhoulihan
05/01/09

@emilyanne: It was actually pretty sweet. I was a great kid in school too. I think that was part of it.
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DCDeva
05/01/09

@LaFemme: I guess I wasn't typical then...
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LaFemme
05/01/09

@DCDeva: Guess not! Most children seem to enjoy reading books, but also building forts, playing outside in the dirt, doing arts and crafts, running around and playing games. I hope I have an only-book child, sounds like a lot less effort.
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