5 ms·

As a person with small children who does have to do this, it actually is easy. We need to stop normalizing "frazzled parents can't handle their kids", because I

As a person with small children who does have to do this, it actually is easy. We need to stop normalizing "frazzled parents can't handle their kids", because I see a lot of parents around in my neighborhood who do use it as an excuse to not handle their kids.

PakG1 5y ago
Perhaps a better way to say it would be it's not necessarily easy, but it's doable and necessary.
- mbg721 5y ago
  The "necessary" part is the real political bone of contention. The "doable" part is where the argument shifts to "parenting isn't about doing what's easy", and the "easy" part is where it varies by individual.
xyzzy123 5y ago
There are good mornings and there are bad mornings, depends what's going on in everyone's lives.
- moron4hire 5y ago
  Your children are not your peers. Consensus and compromise are highly overrated. When you give up on the bad days, you're guaranteeing the next day will be worse.
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    > Your children are not your peers. Consensus and compromise are highly overrated Again. I am not a parent, but isn't this a completely unwarranted, assumptive over-reading of what xyzzy123 said?
tasha0663 5y ago
Your family is not every family. Your definition of handle is not everyone else's definition of handle. Your kids are not everyone else's kids. "Frazzled" is normal because the past few years have been completely batshit. Your community's response is not everyone else's community's response, nor are the stresses and behavioral side effects.
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  I cannot imagine my parents ever being able to manage to do the nose swab on me, let alone a tonsil swab. Even now the nose test triggers enough sensitivity for me that I cannot go anywhere for an hour after I administer it because of the sneezing. At seven or eight years old? No way. I would have been unmanageable. So I guess my parents would have been breezily looked down upon too. Which is ironic considering that were they still working now, one of them would have been designing or scrutinising such tests and another checking large numbers of them on a daily basis.
- moron4hire 5y ago
  I'm sick of seeing parents digitally drug their kids with iPads and NetFlix. I'm sick of seeing parents let their kids roleplay Lord of The Flies on the playground. And I'm sick of people talking about the pandemic like it's some insurmountable challenge. Yes, people have lost jobs and partners and other terrible tragedies. The people I see complaining the most have had none of that happen to them. They're complaining about having to cancel a trip to Disney World. They're complaining about the state mandating masks, or not mandating masks, or suggesting that maybe wearing masks might be a good idea, or not mentioning masks at all. They're complaining about something about football--I don't know what exactly, there can't possibly be anything of consequence once the subject turns to professional sports, so I start tuning out. As a parent, you have a whole person's life in your hands. You have a moral (and if it goes far enough, legal) responsibility to not screw it up. "But I'm tired" is just "excuses, excuses, excuses".
  - unfocussed_mike 5y ago
    > I'm sick of seeing parents digitally drug their kids with iPads and NetFlix. I'm sick of seeing parents let their kids roleplay Lord of The Flies on the playground. And I'm sick of people talking about the pandemic like it's some insurmountable challenge. IMO you should a) be aware that you have directed this rant at people who are responsibly testing their kids at home and b) consider whether all of this is therefore just rude, patronising assumptions about what has and hasn't happened to them.

PakG1 5y ago

Perhaps a better way to say it would be it's not necessarily easy, but it's doable and necessary.

mbg721 5y ago
The "necessary" part is the real political bone of contention. The "doable" part is where the argument shifts to "parenting isn't about doing what's easy", and the "easy" part is where it varies by individual.

xyzzy123 5y ago

There are good mornings and there are bad mornings, depends what's going on in everyone's lives.

moron4hire 5y ago
Your children are not your peers. Consensus and compromise are highly overrated. When you give up on the bad days, you're guaranteeing the next day will be worse.
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  > Your children are not your peers. Consensus and compromise are highly overrated Again. I am not a parent, but isn't this a completely unwarranted, assumptive over-reading of what xyzzy123 said?

tasha0663 5y ago

Your family is not every family. Your definition of handle is not everyone else's definition of handle. Your kids are not everyone else's kids. "Frazzled" is normal because the past few years have been completely batshit. Your community's response is not everyone else's community's response, nor are the stresses and behavioral side effects.

unfocussed_mike 5y ago
I cannot imagine my parents ever being able to manage to do the nose swab on me, let alone a tonsil swab. Even now the nose test triggers enough sensitivity for me that I cannot go anywhere for an hour after I administer it because of the sneezing. At seven or eight years old? No way. I would have been unmanageable. So I guess my parents would have been breezily looked down upon too. Which is ironic considering that were they still working now, one of them would have been designing or scrutinising such tests and another checking large numbers of them on a daily basis.
moron4hire 5y ago
I'm sick of seeing parents digitally drug their kids with iPads and NetFlix. I'm sick of seeing parents let their kids roleplay Lord of The Flies on the playground. And I'm sick of people talking about the pandemic like it's some insurmountable challenge. Yes, people have lost jobs and partners and other terrible tragedies. The people I see complaining the most have had none of that happen to them. They're complaining about having to cancel a trip to Disney World. They're complaining about the state mandating masks, or not mandating masks, or suggesting that maybe wearing masks might be a good idea, or not mentioning masks at all. They're complaining about something about football--I don't know what exactly, there can't possibly be anything of consequence once the subject turns to professional sports, so I start tuning out. As a parent, you have a whole person's life in your hands. You have a moral (and if it goes far enough, legal) responsibility to not screw it up. "But I'm tired" is just "excuses, excuses, excuses".
- unfocussed_mike 5y ago
  > I'm sick of seeing parents digitally drug their kids with iPads and NetFlix. I'm sick of seeing parents let their kids roleplay Lord of The Flies on the playground. And I'm sick of people talking about the pandemic like it's some insurmountable challenge. IMO you should a) be aware that you have directed this rant at people who are responsibly testing their kids at home and b) consider whether all of this is therefore just rude, patronising assumptions about what has and hasn't happened to them.