Letters to the Editor
HesterEastman
Published Letters: 227 Editor's Choice: 21
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Channeling that Ivy League energy
[Read the article: Million-dollar babies]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Whether you judge these women or not, I think the article makes excellent points about women focusing on their children to fulfill their career ambitions. Those of us who were raised in the 70's and 80's were taught that we could do anything - we didn't have to choose just from teacher, nurse or mom. So we went to college and planned and started careers. Somewhere along the way, and for a myriad of reasons, some decided to stay home and take care of the kids. All that ambition and prompting to "be anything!" will make you feel a little guilty if you decide to stay home and raise kids and largely ignore them like our parents' generation did. So people had to become uber-moms. Quality time all the time! Flashcards! Super-duper classroom mother! Micromanage the kids's lives! Because otherwise, what are you? An overeducated babysitter? Unambitious? Certainly not fulfilling all that potential everyone told you you had. But if you're great at your job as a mom, then it's ok.
This is not a matter of money, although the women in this article have the financial means to take this to another level by having more kids. Many middle class women don't work and fall victim to making their children's lives their sole focus in life. I know I've seen it, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Overparenting crosses socio-economic lines. I have no problem with women who decide to stay home with their kids, I just don't know why that means that so many have very little else in their lives. Having a hobby does not make you a bad parent.
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What the cool moms are doing
[Read the article: Million-dollar babies]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]these women are having more kids than they ever wanted, strictly because all the cool moms are doing it. Here's some quotes to ponder
Catnmus: I agree that the quotes from these moms are repulsive, but I have to point out that people have been having babies because of social pressure for a very long time. Is this really different from a poor Latina 16 year old who has a baby because her sister and her best friend did when they were 16? That these women are so shallow as to actually make those statements is just part of the problem.
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Duggar family
[Read the article: Roundup: Secret wardrobes and caffeinated memories]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That poster is priceless. Thanks for the laugh.
I'm just shocked that all the kids' names begin with J yet they didn't get to "Jennifer" until number 17. That takes creativity.
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Choices??
[Read the article: Roundup: Secret wardrobes and caffeinated memories]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And then there's the further problem that I thought we wanted women to have reproductive choices.
The poster is funny - what does that have to do with choices? She can choose to have as many babies as she wants, no matter how irresponsible it is, and we can choose to laugh at some very funny graphics. Everyone wins!
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My isolated world
[Read the article: What's that giant suckling sound?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I nursed two kids for 10 months each and I nursed them EVERYWHERE - without a blanket or something covering them - and no one ever said a single word to me or even looked at me funny. I guess I lived in the right place.
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Mitt is partially correct
[Read the article: Chris Matthews skewers Mitt Romney]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If his sons do indeed help him get the Republican nomination, it will be a service to the country because the Dems will have a easy walk into office.
And Matthews - what took you so long? Seems like you could have brought this point up, oh, 5 years ago?
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2nd Place?
[Read the article: From tears to cheers: Huckabee's surprise second in Iowa]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]He came in second when Giuliani, Thompson and McCain sat out. Is that really that much of an accomplishment? Let's face it, if everyone competed, he would have come in 5th at best.
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Regis and Kelly fan alert?
[Read the article: TV Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You do have to wonder about the criteria that is being used to pick these programs. I am very curious how many Salon readers are checking in here to see who is today's guest on Regis & Kelly.
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opting out isn't that easy
[Read the article: Too young to be a supermodel?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If only opting out were as easy as not buying magazine and turning off the tv. But there are billboards, trash magazines in the supermarket line, the NY Times, People in doctors offices, pictures of women modeling clothes in the stores themselves, internet ads, etc, etc, all of which are very hard not to see. How do you really opt out in this world? Stay home, don't visit friends who might have magazines (even "quality" ones) or tv in their homes? I'm all for turning off the tv for various reasons, but it's just not that easy to avoid the images of models in our society.
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Astonishing
[Read the article: Fishing for boys, pedicures for girls]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm with the mother - what year is this? What is astonishing here is that when deciding what the girls' camp would offer they came up only with "spa day". How could any thinking adult in 2007 think no one would complain about this?
There may be reasons to separate the boys' camp from the girls' (not that I can think of any off-hand), but why would girls not be offered hiking and fishing as well as pedicures? Plenty of boys would choose crafts - at my 14 year old son's camp one of the first activities to fill up was Photography. Very few children, male or female, are so one-dimensional as to only prefer such a narrow selection of activities. It's just a bad camp.