There are no words - parenting edition

[BurnsWhenIPee]

Saw this about an invite to a 1-year-old's birthday party.

Almost makes me weep for the future of society - or at least makes me know how people like Britt McHenry turn out like they do.

SEE IT: ‘Most demanding 1st birthday invite ever’ | Q13 FOX News

 

[Starman]

You'll get nothing and like it.

 

[spikechiquet]

This is "kind of" how we handled my son's 1st. But not to that extreme....by a mile. Plus we didn't make it into an email.
We just told people we would prefer books to toys and to sign the books with a happy birthday message. We were loaded up on toys and games and clothes by the time he was 1.
Only one friend gave us a toy (they just happened to be in town that week so I was shocked they ever brought something, showing up was cool enough) and we exchanged it for other stuff without making a deal out of it.
People are nucking futs.

 

[Starman]

Clothing with names is the #1 thing that leads to kidnapping

Dead giveaway the author is one of the ****ing idiots constantly sharing and forwarding bat**** paranoid emails and bull**** on FB etc etc. "SHARE IF YOU AGREE"

FWIW, I bet 36 gazillion internet dollars the #1 factor in kidnapping is "leaving kids unattended." Just a wild-ass guess.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

I'd happily get the mom a shirt with a 4-letter word across the front...

My youngest was invited to a party a year or so ago and in the invitation there was a link to where the kid "was registered"

All of the gifts were appropriately priced and I suspect the mom, who is very nice but perhaps a bit clueless, just thought she was saving us from having to ask what he wanted as a gift. It's been kind of an ongoing joke for every party since. "Yes, I am letting you know that my son will be attending the party, where is Will registered?"

 

[DietCoke]

Dead giveaway the author is one of the ****ing idiots constantly sharing and forwarding bat**** paranoid emails and bull**** on FB etc etc. "SHARE IF YOU AGREE"

FWIW, I bet 36 gazillion internet dollars the #1 factor in kidnapping is "leaving kids unattended." Just a wild-ass guess.

I would win that bet by putting my money on, "Estranged other parent."

 

[Starman]

I would win that bet by putting my money on, "Estranged other parent."

Factors #1 and 1A. Factor 1A doesn't work unless Factor 1 is already in effect.

With the exception of course if the estranged parent directly seizes the kid from the custodial parent, and when that happens you probably have a pretty good idea of where the kid is.

 

[zagoshe]

I am not kidding - if I got some drivel like that, I'd send it back with a note -- "Your son is destined to be a *****"

 

[zagoshe]

Jesus Christ, what the **** is wrong with this generation of parents?

I'm so glad my kids are all done playing sports and in college.

Last year my daughter was a senior and so I still had to go to events and games she was involved in and parents are just ****ed up -- and the younger the kids (in general means the younger the parents) the more ****ed up they are.

 

[TigerVols]

You folks are missing the worst.

What the **** is a "Fill in the Missing Cheerios Book?" I'm guessing it's a way to assure the country's grain-based obesity epidemic continues ahead full-throttle.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Jesus Christ, what the **** is wrong with this generation of parents?

I'm so glad my kids are all done playing sports and in college.

Last year my daughter was a senior and so I still had to go to events and games she was involved in and parents are just ****ed up -- and the younger the kids (in general means the younger the parents) the more ****ed up they are.

I agree with about 1/10 of 1 percent of what you say here. But I can't disagree with much of this.

It's brutal to be a parent in 2015. My wife and I were at lunch yesterday, and she was fretting about "not measuring up" to other 2015 parents. ("We haven't even been to Disney World yet! I'm embarrassed to tell people that!")

I said, "Do you really want to measure up to these people?"

 

[Starman]

My siblings and I generally do exchange gift-list emails in advance of birthdays and Christmas, but rarely are any gifts listed more than maybe $25, and never ever is there any condescending explanation of why you should NOT buy a particular gift. Nor is there ever any big offense taken if people deviate from the list.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

I agree with about 1/10 of 1 percent of what you say here. But I can't disagree with much of this.

It's brutal to be a parent in 2015. My wife and I were at lunch yesterday, and she was fretting about "not measuring up" to other 2015 parents. ("We haven't even been to Disney World yet! I'm embarrassed to tell people that!")

I said, "Do you really want to measure up to these people?"

Yeah, I hate the competitive nature of parenting. It can bring out the worst in some really good people.

 

[bigpern23]

For my son's second birthday, we asked people not to bring gifts at all. We felt like he has enough stuff, he wouldn't get enough use out of anything, wouldn't remember it well enough to appreciate it and, overall, it would be a waste of people's money. That didn't work at all.

Everyone brought gifts and, while no one said anything directly, my wife and I kind of felt like we must have looked like assholes. This year we didn't just didn't say anything about gifts. If people asked us, we told them he's into dinosaurs.

Oh, and BTW, I wish people would stop wasting their money on expensive invitations that they stamp and put in the mail. If it doesn't show up on my Gmail or Facebook calendars, I'm probably going to forget it. Save yourself the money and make a Facebook event invitation rather than going to Shutterfly or some such site.

 

[User 11148]

Yeah, I hate the competitive nature of parenting.

I hate it way more than you ... SCOREBOARD!

 

[Ace]

My email replay would be:

Formula? You are not still breastfeeding your baby? What kind of monsters are you?

Put me down for clothing with his name on it. He'll be better off if he's kidnapped.

-- Uncle Ace

 

[YankeeFan]

You folks are missing the worst.

What the **** is a "Fill in the Missing Cheerios Book?" I'm guessing it's a way to assure the country's grain-based obesity epidemic continues ahead full-throttle.

Eh, he hates when they try to read to him anyway.

(These ****ing parents are already letting a one-year-old make decisions. That's going to work out fine.)

 

[YankeeFan]

I agree with about 1/10 of 1 percent of what you say here. But I can't disagree with much of this.

It's brutal to be a parent in 2015. My wife and I were at lunch yesterday, and she was fretting about "not measuring up" to other 2015 parents. ("We haven't even been to Disney World yet! I'm embarrassed to tell people that!")

I said, "Do you really want to measure up to these people?"

LOL.

You need to write a book or sitcom with a just slightly exaggerated version of your wife as the main character.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

I agree with about 1/10 of 1 percent of what you say here. But I can't disagree with much of this.

It's brutal to be a parent in 2015. My wife and I were at lunch yesterday, and she was fretting about "not measuring up" to other 2015 parents. ("We haven't even been to Disney World yet! I'm embarrassed to tell people that!")

I said, "Do you really want to measure up to these people?"

I can't wait for the Whitman family Disney World trip thread...

Seriously, there are few things I hate more than doing anything in response to being shamed by family members or neighbors or anything like that. I could give a **** how big your house is, how new your bike is, how recently you went to Disney World, how much your shoes cost, etc.

I get so nauseated by comments like, "Billy said his basketball shoes cost $150." It makes you want to say, "Well, since Billy is 9 and doesn't play basketball, his parents are pretty ****ing stupid."

 

[Dick Whitman]

LOL.

You need to write a book or sitcom with a just slightly exaggerated version of your wife as the main character.

For the record, she's a wonderful woman. The absolute best. She just gets convinced that "other women" are monitoring her every move, and worries about measuring up. Hell, maybe they are. I don't care about any of this stuff, because I have no interest in being BMOC of the suburbs. (This comes and goes. She can go for months without mentioning this stuff.)

Her mom, my mother-in-law, is extremely, extremely dowdy, and I know that kind of looms over some of her insecurities.

But more generally, it can be really hard to be a parent today, if you let it be. If you get into all the outside noise.