This is really quite wonderful from Penelope Trunk on her blog about being shamed by men for saying that she often finds parenting boring.
For all you guys who Twittered back to me that I’m a bad mom and that I should love being home with my kids, here’s a link for you: CEOs who are on Twitter. Because let me tell you something: None of these people needs to earn the money they are earning. They have enough money. They can stay home with their kids. But instead, they are at work.
David, can you publicly ask each of these guys if they want to send their kids to your wife in Ohio? Because each of these guys is choosing to go to work instead of stay home with their kids. Do you know why? BECAUSE THE CEOs THINK KIDS ARE BORING. This is not news. The top 10% of the tax bracket system does not need to leave their families to go to work every day. But they do. Why is that?
Here’s another idea, David. How about approaching all those guys with Blackberries at soccer games? Let me ask you something. Do those guys check their email when they’re getting a blow job? Of course not. Do you know why? Because it’s INTERESTING. They are checking their blackberries during soccer because soccer is boring. The kids can’t figure out where the goal is. The kids (and their parents) lose interest. They want snacks more than they want to learn soccer. They are cute, yes. But even cute gets boring.
For the record, I confessed to the same thing recently and was treated rather kindly. There are about five million feminist issues in this topic and as Trunk and I both note, whether a parent is allowed to be bored with parenting varies greatly according to gender.
(Thanks to @woogsworld for the link).
I agree with every aspect of that post except the part where she found it necessary to call him at work and at home. And the part where she decided, ultimately, to not publish his phone number. I’m just sort of staring at that part, and am glad I’ve never commented on her blog.
Agreed. I read that when it was originally posted, and I thought that while her points are valid, her approach was not at all.
I agree, it did seem a little over-the-top.
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I think it was a little bit over the top, but I can also see why she did it. It was just one person, but sometimes just that one person adding their criticism to the shit pile is one person too many. She has certainly made the point that you are not completely anonymous online and maybe he now realises that he can’t just judge people without it coming back to bite him in a very real world way. I hope he has learned something from it. That said I wouldn’t like someone doing it to me.