When I see this picture, I imagine LB in another 15 years, wearing a hemp necklace and barefoot, hula hooping on the street.
That quote was actually written by someone in one of the big private online lesbian mom groups I'm part of. And that, my friends, is what I love about the internet. In my travels through '70s back-to-the-land/old school taciturn New England, and 1980s lower middle class New England, and some 25 years of urban America from Boston to Seattle to Boston to Chicago to Baltimore and now Providence, it never occurred to me that the above was something a person could think or say.
I just don't think mothering/parenting is Amazing-able. Parenting is life, and you can tell yourself that you are amazing at life, but it's just a series of triumphs and disappointment, choices and things outside your control, learning and not learning that makes up what becomes a life.
We do okay here-my new house needs a name. And I've discovered there's another name for what I call "1970s parenting," which is as close as I get to a philosophy. "Slow parenting," who knew? This article about having a slow parenting summer has been making the rounds. Makes sense to me, although it's a little different for working out of the house homes, because I think we feel additional pressure to make summer fun if our kids are in summer childcare that is a lot like what they experience during the school year.
I'm hoping to take LB to this amazing event: the Urban Pond Procession. Despite being focused on ecology, it's challenging to get to on public transit from our neighborhood. If the weather is good, we'll go, but if it's rainy, I don't think we can manage. My alternate rain plan is to take LB to see Alice: A New Musical at the local Jr. High School. I'm a little worried about her ability to sit through without talking. With a four and a half year old, would you try it? Or I could just take my own advice and we could have a quiet day. I feel like I've been over-scheduling LB a bit, just because I don't want us to fall into a sitting sad and alone in our rundown apartment, but I've definitely overcompensated.
And, just now, my four year old got the pizza box out of the fridge and served me a slice of cold pizza. I'm going to pat myself on the back for some amazing parenting.
And, finally, we got a couch! A kind friend not only gave me the couch, but brought it to me and set it up. People are really nice sometimes.
We've found shows with a 4.5 yr old have been okay. We sit on the end of a row (or close to it) and I mentally prepare myself to leave. We haven't had to, but it's perfectly okay if we did. Maybe that would work! Also, yay for amazing parents!
ReplyDeleteYeah, that sounds like a really good strategy. We ended up bailing on both plans, because I have this neverending sinus thing, and we went to an epic birthday party today and we needed to save our strength. I think it was the right call, but I do need to check out some kids' theatre. Providence must have some weird-ass hipster kids' theatre scene, or I'll eat my hat.
ReplyDeleteI rarely meet anyone with our hybrid parenting style. I agree with all this. It seems most parents lean toward a certain set of ideas and any other way of parenting is foreign. I agree with your online friend: I totally see her barefoot and hula hopping on street somewhere in 15 years!
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