Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a single dad of a toddler, and there is a mother in my building that I try to avoid at all costs. Every single thing she says comes back around to my daughter not having a mother.

"Oh, look at your pretty yellow dress! Your daddy must not know all girls love pink." Then to me, "I know she doesn't have a mother so you have no way of knowing this, but pink is the way to go. Any time there's a pink option, pick that. And if a store doesn't have pink, ask."

She actually believes she's helping me. Never mind that my daughter picked out her own yellow dress when we were in the store.

The woman does this EVERY TIME we run into each other in the elevator. I have taken to giving my daughter piggy back rides and taking the stairs to avoid her.

Sounds risky to do a piggyback ride on the stairs. That's not a good parenting skill.

Anonymous wrote:I am a single dad of a toddler, and there is a mother in my building that I try to avoid at all costs. Every single thing she says comes back around to my daughter not having a mother.

"Oh, look at your pretty yellow dress! Your daddy must not know all girls love pink." Then to me, "I know she doesn't have a mother so you have no way of knowing this, but pink is the way to go. Any time there's a pink option, pick that. And if a store doesn't have pink, ask."

She actually believes she's helping me. Never mind that my daughter picked out her own yellow dress when we were in the store.

The woman does this EVERY TIME we run into each other in the elevator. I have taken to giving my daughter piggy back rides and taking the stairs to avoid her.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. We were once at the Playseum on the Hill playing in the pizza kitchen and this mom came in with her kid and loudly explained "oh we've never eaten this, have we?" We ignored her and kept playing. Her dd asked mine for the pepperoni and I smirked. The mom hurriedly said "oh, she must have learned that from your kid because we don't eat pizza." Thing is...we follow a faith that doesn't allow pork. Also, this whole family was really overweight. I remember thinking that maybe they weren't eating pizza, but they aren't exactly all munching exclusively on organic celery and tofu either.

Anonymous wrote:I am a single dad of a toddler, and there is a mother in my building that I try to avoid at all costs. Every single thing she says comes back around to my daughter not having a mother.

"Oh, look at your pretty yellow dress! Your daddy must not know all girls love pink." Then to me, "I know she doesn't have a mother so you have no way of knowing this, but pink is the way to go. Any time there's a pink option, pick that. And if a store doesn't have pink, ask."

She actually believes she's helping me. Never mind that my daughter picked out her own yellow dress when we were in the store.

The woman does this EVERY TIME we run into each other in the elevator. I have taken to giving my daughter piggy back rides and taking the stairs to avoid her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All. the. time.

My SIL has to detail how healthy her kids eat. She will tell you everything they ate the day before, meal-by-meal. It is smug and boring.

My SIL does the same and ALWAYS mentions that she is sooo glad that she is a SAHM. Turned into a drinking game for me and DH

This is an EXCELLENT idea! Our version will be: drink whenever SIL mentions how much money they spent on X. Guess we will need to stay over a ILs house though because we will be loaded!

+1 Great idea, I'm going to employ this technique for whenever my MIL mentions weight, food, her very low weight after DH was born, her exercise routine, or other random bystanders' weight problems. I will be smashed.

Anonymous wrote:All the time. We also had a reverse type of mom recently.

Our DS had a BD party couple of months ago. He is into the solar system, so we asked folks at the Little Gym to do a space theme. One of the moms acted totally clueless and was constantly asking why my DS wasn't doing a Thomas/Sponge Bob/Dora party. She assumed he had no idea who these characters are. He does, it just he is over his Thomas phase and has been so for quite a while. He's 5 Go figure.

Anonymous wrote:We don't have a TV either but my DD still has learned who the Disney princesses are, who Dora and Diego are, who the Super Friends are, who Sponge Bob is, and more. This is all from other kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok call me smug or whatever but I am hoping to be able to keep my now 7 mos old boy away from commercialized characters as much as possible. (Although I think the male characters aren't as bad as the girls -- the female characters have impossible body shapes and beauty.) I suppose Dora is different...not sure bc my last encounter with baby world was pre-Dora

but disney characters, female superheroes, all pinched waists and ridiculous beauty. eff that.

not sure yet what to replace it with, however!

Umm, your child is only 7 MONTHS old!! Come back and talk to us when he's seven YEARS old!!!!

Don't let others discourage you, PP. I feel strongly that the stories that feed my child's mind should be of the highest possible caliber, so I am one of those crazy moms who limits media consumption and "characters."

I agree it is impossible for most families, because if you stick your kid in daycare then preschool, then public, you lose control over what they are exposed to from friends and from classroom materials. I kept mine with a like-minded nanny, then sent them to a character-free preschool, and they are about to start a character-free elementary program. I know others who have stayed home partly for this reason. I may seem like a silly priority for some, but if you want to, you can make it work.

When my then-3-year-old saw Dora at the white House Egg Roll 2 years ago, she yelled, "Look! It's the girl from my pull-ups!" Only assocition for her. She is now 5 and in the princess phase, but the only Disney princess she knows is Merida (an intentional choice on my part). Other than that, we look for stories about princesses and queens who display bravery, sacrifice, leadership, and--most importantly--ownership of their choices. Her peer group is friends from her school and we have had only one princess birthday party so far. Her brother is right there too.

You can think this is a stupid or wasteful priority, but if you think it's impossible, you're wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok call me smug or whatever but I am hoping to be able to keep my now 7 mos old boy away from commercialized characters as much as possible. (Although I think the male characters aren't as bad as the girls -- the female characters have impossible body shapes and beauty.) I suppose Dora is different...not sure bc my last encounter with baby world was pre-Dora

but disney characters, female superheroes, all pinched waists and ridiculous beauty. eff that.

not sure yet what to replace it with, however!

Umm, your child is only 7 MONTHS old!! Come back and talk to us when he's seven YEARS old!!!!

LOL! Seriously, good luck with that!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All. the. time.

My SIL has to detail how healthy her kids eat. She will tell you everything they ate the day before, meal-by-meal. It is smug and boring.

My SIL does the same and ALWAYS mentions that she is sooo glad that she is a SAHM. Turned into a drinking game for me and DH

This is an EXCELLENT idea! Our version will be: drink whenever SIL mentions how much money they spent on X. Guess we will need to stay over a ILs house though because we will be loaded!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not the PP but if you don't own a TV, I think the chances that your kid won't recognize a TV character at a birthday party are pretty high. We don't have one because if we did, DH & I would never talk; once it's on, we just zone out of everything else, which clearly not everyone experiences but for those of us who do, it's not some mommy crusade, it's just a lifestyle choice. PP could very well raise her child without TV. It's not that crazy of an idea IMO.

No, the chances aren't pretty high. Characters are on clothing, toys, valentine day cards, birthday invitations, gift bags, books at the library, glittery tattoos, hair bows, lunch boxes....It takes one person, telling a child one time, that is Dora or Spiderman and they will know it. Doesn't mean they watch the shows but they will know it is a fictional character.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All. the. time.

My SIL has to detail how healthy her kids eat. She will tell you everything they ate the day before, meal-by-meal. It is smug and boring.

My SIL does the same and ALWAYS mentions that she is sooo glad that she is a SAHM. Turned into a drinking game for me and DH

This is an EXCELLENT idea! Our version will be: drink whenever SIL mentions how much money they spent on X. Guess we will need to stay over a ILs house though because we will be loaded!

SAH Smug Mom does that, as well. Incorporates how great it is to be a SAHM into EVERY single conversation.

"I'm soo glad that I'm a SAHM, we can have a dog!"
"I'm soo glad that I'm a SAHM, I give homemade gifts, they are soo much more thoughtful."
"I'm soo glad that I'm a SAHM, it doesn't matter what time the cable guy shows up!"

Blah, blah, blah.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok call me smug or whatever but I am hoping to be able to keep my now 7 mos old boy away from commercialized characters as much as possible. (Although I think the male characters aren't as bad as the girls -- the female characters have impossible body shapes and beauty.) I suppose Dora is different...not sure bc my last encounter with baby world was pre-Dora

but disney characters, female superheroes, all pinched waists and ridiculous beauty. eff that.

not sure yet what to replace it with, however!

Umm, your child is only 7 MONTHS old!! Come back and talk to us when he's seven YEARS old!!!!

Don't let others discourage you, PP. I feel strongly that the stories that feed my child's mind should be of the highest possible caliber, so I am one of those crazy moms who limits media consumption and "characters."

I agree it is impossible for most families, because if you stick your kid in daycare then preschool, then public, you lose control over what they are exposed to from friends and from classroom materials. I kept mine with a like-minded nanny, then sent them to a character-free preschool, and they are about to start a character-free elementary program. I know others who have stayed home partly for this reason. I may seem like a silly priority for some, but if you want to, you can make it work.

When my then-3-year-old saw Dora at the white House Egg Roll 2 years ago, she yelled, "Look! It's the girl from my pull-ups!" Only assocition for her. She is now 5 and in the princess phase, but the only Disney princess she knows is Merida (an intentional choice on my part). Other than that, we look for stories about princesses and queens who display bravery, sacrifice, leadership, and--most importantly--ownership of their choices. Her peer group is friends from her school and we have had only one princess birthday party so far. Her brother is right there too.

You can think this is a stupid or wasteful priority, but if you think it's impossible, you're wrong.