Letters to the Editor
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Love it!!
I love to watch 50+ year olds who start a second family after divorce . They are so wonderfully in pain.
All I can say is take them in a room and scream: WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? Where were you the first time and how did you forget?
Heh, the little kids stuff is not as bad as living through teenhood one more time. I could not imagine being in my 60's, and having to wait up for the little delinquents to come home, worrying about high school, graduating and college. Playing little kid games is piece of cake, just you wait for the teens.
One thing and only one thing ever kept me from thinking about a secon set of kids, my own or adopted, 8 years of school science projects. Any parent knows what hell that is. And if you forget that hell, and do it again, man you are really fucked.
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You betcha!
Anonymous wrote:
" laughed my a** off at this article. My husband did too. I knew not having kids was the right decision. :) "
Same here. We decided from the outset -no kiddies.
No. 1, after the cute phase wears off, they are major pests and parasites. Latest estimates show at least $350 k is needed (per kid) to get the little beast through college.
No. 2: the planet is already overpopulated, especially by enormous carbon footprint-making, resource guzzling critters from the US of A. We need more kids like so many holes in the head.
No. 3: the US of A is already an absurdly child-centered society, where the kiddie reigns. When he says "want it!" both mommie and daddy are ready to oblige, whether its the latest brand of sneakers, a new iPod, video game or Barbie.
In no other nation that I've been to have kids been allowed to call so many shots.
As Isaac Asimov wrote in an essay in his book, The Stars in Their Courses:
Today it is the woman who declines to have children and overburden the planet who is the real heroine. She deserves the commendations and kudos/
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Salon = Humorless assholes
But you knew that, right? You know that all of their kids are at the macrochaotic antiwar rally for diversity and Marxist feminism against Wal*Mart as we speak, yes?
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Age is not the issue, necessarily...
There are those of us parents out here who are as un-charmed as Mr. Rose by the relative idiocies of child-rearing but who are experiencing it the first time. Somewhere along the line, we as societal parents agreed that the issues of a child, no matter how trivial, pre-empt those of the parent, no matter how serious. I believe that occurred since the time we post-boomers/pre-Xers were kids, and while I think it was well-intentioned, I don't think it was overall a good thing. We are raising a generation of extremely self-centered, solipsistic, sociopathic children, and the behavior that Mr. Rose deplores--paying overblown, mindless attention to each scrape, cherry pit, missed grounder, etc., is at least partly to blame. So parents, claim the time and attention that is yours; read a book, take in a movie with a rating other than G, and don't lose your life to your kids--you're not doing them any favors.
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Most of these letters are more engaging than the essay itself
I don't know why I keep coming back to Salon - I've forgotten what it was I used to like about this place. This was an another un-funny, unengaging essay by an unlikable grump. While the basic premise could have been used to create an entertaining read, it seems like the author just threw it together in half an hour. And it gets top billing!
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kid worship
I'm an educator and I can tell you that kid worship in the United States is resulting in an increasingly challenging classroom. My students have been gold-starred for the most mediorce accomplishment throughout their formative years. Their toilet training must have been one orgasmic success after another, party hats and balloons for defecating. Postive reinforcement is one thing, but let's face it. We've raised a generation of kids who fully believe and accept they are the center of the universe. Kids who want an A for minimal effort. Kids who view adults as an audience who will be delighted with everything they do. Imagine their shock when I am not charmed at their astoundingly vapid efforts.
If someone can write an article like Bad News Dad and then be deluged by the insults and incriminations that Salon writers are heaping upon him, it's just further proof that kid worship is not abating any time soon.
Our parents were not adored like this. I was certainly not. Loved, yes, but I was always aware that I was a part of the family, not the essence of life itself, not the reason my parents lived and breathed and got up in the morning. Did that effect my self-esteem? I don't think so. I think it prepared me for a secondary classroom, for adulthood, for life.
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correction
I can't identify as an educator and then write a sentence using effect incorrectly.
Last paragraph of Kid Worship letter:
"affect my self esteem", not effect.
Sorry.
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Most tedious thing I have ever read online
Grump would be a very nice word for it. Signed, a dad.
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Bad news Dad
This is (& obviously was intended to be) a very funny article. I know we are in the midst of losing our entire planet, but does that mean that a sense of humor is now a criminal offense? I, for one, appreciate a chance to laugh for a bit, instead of tremble with fear & dread.
Thanks again, Salon!
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Vasectomy?
I can't believe I just read through that whole mess. I guess I did it because I was hoping that Rose would have something redemptive to share by the time it was over. But nope, nothing redemptive and I find myself sitting here kind of bummed out and thinking, "Wow, how sad for those little boys."
After watching lots of dads of all ages playing with their kids on the beach yesterday and being really moved by what I saw, I commented to my friend that dads these days seem to be a lot more involved with parenting than in years past. I'm thinking that Salon's editors could have found something more appropriate to the holiday than this cynical mess of an essay because there are a lot of gifted writers out here sharing a lot of really interesting stories about their relationships with their dads.
Rose's essay wasn't interesting, much less uplifting and it seems like a very poor choice for a holiday that's supposed to honor fathers. Perhaps it could be replaced with something more appropriate before the end of the day?