conuly, posts by tag: commentary - LiveJournal (original) (raw)

OMG! Seriously! She lifts her shirt up to her head at first, baring both nipples and flashing the world while she takes the baby out of the sling. Then she lowers one side and sticks the baby on, while obviously sitting down (or walking around if the baby's fussy. To make things worse, she makes a point of announcing to all and sundry, loud in clear, that the "baby is having milk" and similar.

And here I thought that this sort of thing was a myth!

...

Okay, yeah, I'm talking about Ana. Calling her a woman is a bit of a stretch, but if I'd said person you would've guessed faster :)

I'm not posting to talk about nursing today, I just thought that was a cute intro. I'm talking about children, imitation, slings, and the "easiness factor". All in one post!

As you know, I can't abide strollers. Up the stairs, down the stairs, on the bus, off the bus, on the train, off the train... no. They block doors, they're awkward, and, besides, I can barely maneuver a shopping cart. Shopping carts don't always have children in them. Slings are the way to go. Indeed, I'm so enamoured with my "Aunt" mei-tai that I chat about it to everybody I see who is foolishly carrying their child in their arms while lugging a stroller around. Slings. They're the way to go.

Because they're easy. Not because they help the baby bond with you, or promote child development, or any of that nonsense. They're just easier. And easier in more ways than one. Typical children mimic the adults around them. Of course they do! That's how they learn, and it's truly a sincere form of flattery. Ana's taken to carrying a doll in a sling with her wherever she goes.

This is infinitely better than the solutions I see other adults come up with: Either the kid lugs the doll around, and it falls on the floor and gets dirty and lost (or the adult ends up babysitting it and lugging it around), or else the kid puts the doll in a toy stroller, which promptly gets lost or snatched by some other child (or the adult ends up babysitting and lugging around both doll and toy stroller), or the doll goes in the real stroller, and the child pushes *that* (and bumps people in the legs, and takes forever, too!).

But the sling? Ana can do whatever the hell she wants while carrying her doll around, and all I need is a scarf to tie it to her. Even when she gets bored and mostly forgets the doll, I don't have to watch it for her. She doesn't have to lose it. (She's lost toys that way, already. Probably'll lose a lot more.) She wouldn't think the sling was so cool if she didn't see Eva in one all the time, but as she does, well.... It's just another way slings have made my life easier.

And other people think it's adorable, too. They always are talking about how cute it is that she has a sling for her baby. But strollers? Man, I don't know about you, but I find they take up a lot of space. Here you are, trying to leave the walk-in workshop at the museum, and there's a little traffic jam as everybody figures out how to move their strollers. That room just isn't that big. I understand why the Met bans them on Sundays.

Now, here's the tangent. I could talk myself silly trying to convince people that what I want them to do is what they should do because the other way is WRONG, ALL WRONG. And I've done it. But I've finally figured out something, something important: Most people are kinda dumb, and they don't listen. Like, at all.

So when you say "Gee, you know, they've recently found that doing this one thing with your kid could make them healthier", they don't hear "Gee, this is one way to make your kid healthier", they hear "OMG! You're horrible! Stop doing that stupid thing you're doing, you stupid person you! NOW!" And then of course they don't even consider your suggestion, because that would mean admitting that they could be wrong, and they just can't have that.

People shouldn't do that. Unfortunately, telling them that doesn't work any better than telling them the other things they could change.

I've had some success, though, by going with the laziness approach. You should eat less processed foods not because it's healthier (which it is), but because it's cheaper, and easier than you think! And all the money you save can be used to finance your next vacation. Be lazy, live better. You should breastfeed not because it's better for your kids, but because it's sure easier than making bottles in the middle of the night, and the diapers smell better. Plus, all the money saved in formula (same goes for disposable diapers) can be used to pay your kid's college tuition. Be lazy, be happy. And so on and so forth.

The lazy argument works well enough - I think it takes people by surprise. They don't know how to deal with "It's better to be lazy than working yourself to death".

Tags: commentary, family
I'm feeling: lazy