06 March 2010

The Shock! The Horror! Letting Tots Watch Baby Einstein!

What on earth is this world coming to? Do these parents not know how horribly they will corrupt the young minds in their charge? Don't you know that precious IQ points begin fly out the window after your TV screen has been on exactly 45 minutes?

But my goodness, I'm just in awe of this mom, who survived spending more than an hour ALONE in the house with her child:

"The thing is, raising a small child involves a lot more than sitting in the playroom, giggling together over a pile of board books. There’s also washing at least three loads of clothes per week, vacuuming up the dust bunnies so the baby doesn’t eat them, preparing healthy meals and chopping them up into tiny pieces, scrubbing the dishes (and the highchair, and the floor under the highchair) clean of all the pieces of food the baby deems inedible."

What an incredibly busy and harried mom! Three loads of laundry a week, I tell ya! Scrubbing things and vacuuming dust bunnies! Wiping up the baby's tray AND chair AND the floor? Will the tragedies never end???

Just try to picture this horrid scene: her husband was away at work ALL NIGHT and left her in charge of the baby, who (shockingly!) got messy at dinnertime so... just this once, she let the child watch Baby Einstein while she ran and got a bath ready. She must be Supermom. Maybe she can give all you military moms with spouses overseas lessons or somethin'.

Three loads of laundry per week. I'm still in awe. I don't know how she does it!!

9 comments:

  1. I think the Newsweek woman (I forgot her name and I don't feel like relinking the article) became a mom strictly show she could write about it and lord over the rest of us parents who don't feel compelled to follow the latest experts on child rearing.

    Rather than leaving my children alone in front of the TV when they were little, I think it was better that I was there with them watching Loony Toons so that we could all sing, "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!" together.

    Baby Einstein? Please . . .

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  2. ONLY three loads of washing? I do that most days! Every day.

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  3. And she's a senior writer for Newsweek--scary!

    1. Wait until she has more than one child, both under 3. Oh wait--that would be ethically and morally irresponsible what with over population and such.

    2. I hate Baby Einstein--those cartoons are SO incredibly annoying. We prefer Veggie Tales or (dare I say it)--The Wiggles.

    3. I'm with Chris--I wash about 3 loads of laundry a day. Also, highly irresponsible of me--what with the environment and such.

    The only thing I can relate to is freaking out a bit when DH is away. I am never as appreciative of how much he does to help with our 1.5 year old and our 2.5 year old until he is away for a few days. But someday this Newsweek writer might discover that when you are bit overwhelmed in the cleaning and laundry area--take an aspirin and realise it doesn't have to be perfect. We all just do the best we can--don't we?

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  4. A reporter once asked a woman who had 13 children how she coped and she replied, "When I had my first child, I was busy all day long. It's the same with 13 children."...!
    (The Word verification is ANDAND...)

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  5. Good grief. When I only had one I was using cloth diapers so I was doing laundry every day.

    I shamelessly, unhesitatingly, used Sesame Street to keep the boys occupied while I did all those loads of laundry and I didn't think twice about it. Gary has worked nights for most of our marriage (because that's where the money is) and for many stretches, he worked two jobs.

    And you can bet that we watched Loony Toons as they got older. In fact, I assumed it was my duty to introduce them to it. :)

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  6. I am supermom today... I painted, washed three loads of laundry and shampooed the carpet. I couldn't miss the opportunity to really clean while the furniture was out of the living room. My kids watched a movie while I was painting. Now, because the carpet isn't dry and my living room furniture is still in the dining room, they are watching another movie and EATING dinner in the family room. Yes, right in front of the TV. No, I am not in there with them.

    I think we all need to find a way to get done the things we need to do. Now, I wouldn't do this every day. But, I am not this busy every day. Balance...

    I have tried to avoid all annoying cartoons with my kids. Remember that old television series Dinasaurs? That's what I put on when I need them to zone out for a few.

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  7. Can I join the three loads a day club, too?!


    I'm so glad that the Newsweek mom has now realized that people with no kids just don't have much business giving parenting advice. How happy for us that she now has one 11 month old, so we can all glean from her vast parenting wisdom! ;p

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  8. I think if I look rilly, rilly hard, I can detect a tee-tiny bit of sarcasm there....

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  9. Hey! I don't even have a TV. But I do have them view a library online at times to have books read to them. Heh heh. For the most part my kids are doing something productive like donning soldier outfits and chasing each other with play swords (just had to clarify "play" for some). 3 loads? Heck, I just took all 30 loads the other day to the laundry mat. I'm never caught up.

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Non-troll comments always welcome! :)

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