And now for the quick takes . . .
Heather sent me a link to an article that claims that the eldest children in big families are exploited by their neglectful parents as slave labor. She sent it with the completely understandable expectation that I would read it, and spring into a reasoned defense against the article's assault on big families and the contributions of older children therein, along with a polite critique of the article's poor grammar and nonexistent scientific research. (The data in support of the theory seems to have been gleaned from two people the author knows and some fictional television characters.)
Instead, the whole thing kinda gnawed at me. Obviously, the article is complete bunk. Poorly written bunk. But the comments made me so sad.
My kids SEEM happy, but they're still pretty young. And here were people in the comments saying how they were taken advantage of and their childhoods were stolen from them.
For a moment, it threw off my groove.
And thank goodness, because it would've been a big hassle to get rid of most of these kids. And, really, they love their siblings, and BEG to be able to babysit! And even if they don't love chores, they do appreciate being given real responsibilities and being actually useful, contributing members of our family.
My kids SEEM happy, but they're still pretty young. And here were people in the comments saying how they were taken advantage of and their childhoods were stolen from them.
For a moment, it threw off my groove.
watch it here (most underrated Disney movie!)
But thank God for those of you who follow the blog on Facebook and threw in your two cents.
You made all sorts of excellent points, like that the whole article was unsubstantiated nonsense (which it totally is). But even better were the comments of mothers of big families whose kids are grown and happy and people who grew up as the eldest children of a big family and are currently happy well adjusted human beings.
Groove restored:
I guess my concern all came down to a case of paying heed to the "Just wait until they . . . " lady. I should know better than that.
Maybe she goes to your church too?
When you have a baby it's, "Just wait until he's a toddler." Then it's "Just wait until they're all in school." Now I get, "Just wait until they're teenagers."
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| by Daniel Armstrong (so good.) |
And there's not much to say to the "Just wait until they're" lady, because she's right, I'm NOT there now, so I DON'T know how it's going to be.
But I'm pretty sure that it's going to be really hard and also really awesome because that's what ALL parts of parenting are.
Even more grooviness?
This very cute post by Julie Cole:
6 Reasons to Have 6 Kids
She is right, right, right, right, right, right. Offending article totally forgotten.
Okay, changing gears here . . . it is absolutely NOT hyperbole when I tell you that I think these are the most beautiful photographs I have ever seen in my life.
This one is my favorite:
No, wait, this one:
Aaaahhh he has a bunny :
They are all taken by a Russian woman of her two boys on their farm. She just recently took up photography. I think she should stick with it. See more here.
I was MAD at Downton Abbey after the season finale last season. It's not the writer's fault that two main characters (three actually) wanted to leave. But I hated how they handled Matthew's death. Too shocking. Too gruesome. Too heartbreaking.
But I am not mad about Downton Abbey episode 2. It was shocking, of course. And terrible. But I don't think it's a subject that should be off limits. I enjoyed this interview with the actress who plays Anna:
I understood Anna's reasons for not telling anyone. Usually a character's reasons for keeping secrets seem pretty unbelievable to me. But I think she's right about what Bates would do and what would happen to him as a result.
Let's see how it all plays out . . .
Speaking of unnecessarily shocking and gruesome season finales . . .
Sherlock is BACK! I know he's not dead because I've read the book (and because . . . duh, he can't be dead). But I have exactly no theories about how he pulls this one off. Appearing to have fallen off a cliff into a river unwitnessed but not actually having done so is considerably less complicated than leaping to one's death complete with head-blood-on-the-sidewalk in full view of dozens of people, but not being dead.
Let's see how THAT all plays out, shall we? . . .
I'm hoping my recent interview at Today Show Moms will qualify me for inclusion in the Wikipedia list of Notable Recluses. What do you think?