Caricaturizations

Once in a while I Google the term “Mainstream Parenting” just to see what’s new (I’m proud to say that this blog is still #1 in the search results ). I don’t know why I didn’t find this sooner, as it’s been online for nearly 2 years, but I came across a series of 3 comic strips created in Bitstrips (a website that enables even the non-artistic to create their own comic strips), in which an APer – appropriately, in my opinion, nicknamed “Tokenweirdo”, decided to vent her spleen at mainstream parents and their “wisdom”. You can view the three comic strips here.

You gotta love how the author assumes that 1) mainstream parenting has exactly one method of dealing with any given situation, regardless of age, 2) any negative outcomes are portrayed as a direct result of not APing (because, yanno, APed toddlers never yell “I don’t wanna!” at their parents…) and 3) children and adults are exactly the same.

It’s almost as if I asserted this with regards to an AP parenting practice (excuse my amateurism. In case you were wondering, that was supposed to be a family in bed).

Killing him softly with their love: over-attachment as child abuse

Or at least, that’s what the mother and grandparents of a 12-year-old Italian boy named Luca are being accused of by the boy’s estranged father:

Ghosts of blogposts past

It’s really nice to be back at blogging, and sorry for the longer-than-usual hiatus. Holidays, work, kids and house renovations (along with a dose of self-destructive perfectionism and writer’s block. Don’t ask) and just plain life conspired to keep me away from this space, but hopefully, things will be settling down in the next few weeks and we’ll be back in our blessed groove again.

Just because I was busy, however, doesn’t mean I gave up my online life entirely. Those of you who blog can probably attest that reading other people’s stuff, and even reacting to written stuff in comments or messageboard posts, is a lot easier than composing blogposts. So I kept up with my reading, and found a lot of material in the past month which made for worthy sequels to things I’d already written about here.

Sanctimommy Sighting!

Dr. Amy over at the Skeptical OB has a great post about that rare (but unfortunately, not rare enough) creature, the Mater Sanctimonius, commonly known as The Sanctimommy. Amy describes her attributes far better than I could, so go over there and have a look…I’ll wait. .

I’ve come across some Sanctimommy doozies in my day, some of whom have even commented here. But I think this particular specimen takes the cake:

How to win friends and influence people

Not:

Is overparenting becoming passé?

The NYT’s Lisa Belkin thinks it might be:

Consumer Reports: The new Motrin?

Wonderingwilla emailed me a couple of days back with this link to a recent Consumer Reports article titled “Five products not to buy for your baby”. The mention of two AP-related paraphernalia – cosleepers and slings – has, like the babywearing Motrin ad last November, raised the ire of the AP/NP crowd. It hasn’t quite yet reached the proportions of that particular storm yet (see Twitter activity), but it may still.

The case against breastfeeding

I was pointed to an article in the April 2009 issue of The Atlantic, The Case Against Breastfeeding. Hannah Rosin is a mother of 3 (and, to read the article, an ex-compatriot of mine) who dutifully nursed her first two children until they were a year old, as per the AAP’s recommendation. However, when her third child arrived, she found herself thinking heretical thoughts:

Mango Mama Redux

Back around the turn of the decade/century/millennium, a young, beautiful woman lived amidst the banana groves on Maui with her husband and her three unassisted-birthed, unschooled, natural-fiber clothed babes. She claimed to have healed herself of uterine cancer; her family ate their raw, organic vegan meals at a low, Japanese-style table…when they weren’t roaming the plantations, eating fresh bananas straight off the plants.

My obligatory 2 cents on the Motrin brouhaha

By now, I’m sure most of you have heard about the Motrin ad about babywearing that was pulled due to some mommies’ noses being put out of joint (my personal hat tip goes to Nancy ). In case you haven’t, here’s the ad: