Salon.com writer: Motherhood is not a job

Yeah, that was an extremely offensive way to refer to children.

 

Dick, the type Of people I'm referring to aren't necessarily childless. Plenty of biological parents who make a mockery of being a parent.

And Az, for many parents, especially mothers, it's impossible to overstate the challenge.

 

Some people are better because they have children. Some people are better because they don't.

 

Just do your job and do the right thing as a parent. I can't stand parents telling other people (parents and nonparents) how hard their job is. It is so fucking self-absorbed.

 

I watch these Decorah Eagles online, they have a dedicated web cam. For two years, I've seen the mom and dad eagle ready the nest, lay the eggs, protect the eggs, feed the eaglets, protect the eaglets, stay around them 24/7, teach them to fly, and start the same process again the next year. 99.4% of our parents can learn greatly from their unselfishness.

 

What about in the midst of a pre-existing conversation about whether or not parenting is hard? In other words: Is my post exempted?

 

Depends. Who will drive the eaglets to band camp?

 

Sounds like a great idea for a business startup: Eaglets Transportation.

 

Parenthood's like biscuit dough: It ain't worth a shit if you work it* too much.

*Translation: talk about, ponder, fret over, etc.

 

I've got to agree with YGBFKM here. Like I said, it's a different kind of hard. But it's tough to overstate how much it completely changes your existence as you knew it.

Now, I still think that the kvetching is ripe for satire. Not necessarily the parenting itself, but the pandering by politicians and daytime talk hosts, who, of course, have no ulterior motives for lionizing stay-at-home mothers.

But as far as people talking about how hard it is all the time - one legitimate reason is as a way to stave off all the social pressure for childless friends, who don't understand why you can no longer drop everything on Friday night at 8 p.m. for a text inviting you out.

 

Please keep in mind that I specified 'Western culture.'

Do we really think raising children here is more challenging than it is in India or Malaysia or Somalia?

 

I dunno. It certainly changes everything, but I never found parenting to be that difficult.

It's time-consuming, sure. It involves a lot of emotion. But actually difficult? Not so far. As an old editor liked to say, it's not rocket science and it ain't brain surgery.