I suggested to 3 today that, now that she’s feeling better, perhaps we should have something yummy for lunch…
“Would you like to have a frozen pizza?” I inquired.
“Hmm..” she said, thinking about this honestly and seriously, “no…I think we should probably have it hot. I like it better hot.”
I didn’t see the Today Show segment on Cocktail Playdates when it ran last week, but after reading all the controversy I watched it on MSN.
Since it ran, the blogosphere’s been aflutter with support and disdain for blogger Melissa Summers. If you don’t want to take the time to watch the entire clip, here’s a long story made short:
Summers has admitted she has combined social drinking and children’s playdates. So the Today Show invited her to come on the show and talk about that with Meredith Viera. They also invited a psychology pundit named Janet Taylor to argue the “other side” and say something along the lines of ‘you need to do something way more appropriate to relieve stress lest you be a bad role model, endanger your children, and wreak havoc in the modern world.’ (I’m paraphrasing, of course.) As a side note, I found Melissa’s reflective and thoughtful response to the experience, though lengthy, to be worthy of my reading time.
The thing is, Janet Taylor’s got the high road, and there’s really no arguing with her logic. Of course we need to be reasonable about what we do when we have children. But the show, and the whole “Cocktail Playdate Controversy” leaves me still begging for an answer to the same question I posed last week …
Why [Oprah, or Meredith, or Katie, or Elizabeth]? Why do you, and the media machine that drives you, continue to pit mothers against each other and take us to task for every choice we make for ourselves and our children?
… Mommy, do you work or stay home? WRONG. Mommy, do you cook or eat out? WRONG. Do you ever have a drink? WRONG. Do you spank, yell, Ferberize, bribe, punish, swear, allow TV, disallow TV, run, play, blog, have sex, go out, stay in, craft, read, speak languages, join PTA, homeschool, no school, private school, public school, sports, dance? Ooh - bad, bad, bad, bad and double bad.
Alas, I renew my demand for One.Single.Story from a national news program that grills (or even just politely asks) the modern father about:
1) Men and how their work choices impact their children; 2) The application of Family Leave laws to MEN; or, as here, 3) The impact it has on the children when men drink a beer at the family SuperBowl party.
In the alternative, I guess we can all just keep martyring ourselves at the foot of the duty mother, ignoring the role of fathers, and arguing over who gets the title of Best Mommy.
Here’s me doing my part in sing-songy schoolyard voice … ”Not It.”
If I am ever going to make it in this blog-eat-blog world, I am going to have to get stuff up here more quickly as, apparently, this story has been … well-covered. Luckily, I think most [both?] Mommy Tracks readers may not yet have heard about the lactivist blogging mama who angered the National Pork Board by printing fundraiser T-shirts that said “the other white milk.”
Warning: This article, pointed out to us by frequent reader and commenter Amy Jo, is not for the germaphobes among you.
Snopes.com reports it’s no urban myth: among other disgusting bacteria and disease-causing germs, the bottom of your purse is probably covered with E.Coli. According to the Cleveland news report cited by Snopes, ”[i]f you wouldn’t eat a hotdog after rubbing your hand across the sole of your shoe, you shouldn’t eat one after handling your purse.” (The question is would you eat a hotdog at all, much less after rubbing your purse?)
Please, show us we’re not alone in the blogosphere and join the discussion - are you a card-carrying, antibacterial-handgel-applying germaphobe or more a fan of the 3 (30?, at least I think it’s from today?) second rule?
Colts win predictably. Grossman sucks predictably (or so I understand having not actually followed football this season until yesterday). And, predictably, Prince causes no sorrow or pain, but surprises all by sporting Miami colors.
The question remains, did you actually like the Budweiser commercial with the crabs, because I thought it was kind of dumb. I did, however, giggle much at the Blockbuster animals clicking the mouse.
Other highpoints for me included rushing 3 to the doctor right before kick off because she apparently OD’d on spicy chips. Highpoints for you?
I celebrate Groundhog Day. To me, it’s a holiday about hope and optimism. All the parenting magazines and websites overflow with wonderful, fun, holiday-centered activities for all the other holidays … where’s the love of the Groundhog? Fear not, I have done the googling for you. Tell your kids that spring is always around the corner… and check out these fun activities. (No, I am not kidding. I really do like Groundhog Day.)