Because y'all know I love to share a good article with people, I found Julep's post below particularly timely, as I just happened to be reading the following articles about parenting. The first very extensive article was published by the New Yorker magazine, and the second is more an opinion-piece from the Washington Post. Both of these article touch on recent polling which suggest that parents are less happy than their child-free peers. In light of my own delicate condition, I am not certain how to best incorporate these into my own world-view, other than to just hope for the best, I suppose. But I have been trying to embrace, own, and revel in the current countdown of my child-free state, while mentally steeling myself for the impending drudgery of infant-parenting. (I figure if one is pragmatic that it won't be all rainbows, fairies, and Dreft-smelling wonderment, one is less likely to find herself in a severe case of PTSD - or the mommy equivalent thereof, PPD.) Again, here's hoping.
And not to say that I don't stare at my shifting belly with wonderment that there is a whole other person moving around in there; and that I don't find myself tearing up in the shower thinking about walking hand-in-hand with him on his first day of school - perhaps a little nerd-child with glasses and a big, curly jew-fro. But I also anticipate that the heartburn does not necessarily end at delivery; and that my child will not be the center of the universe. In the end, you just have to roll with a water-off-a-duck's back attitude... or Else.
LoLa, I actually read those articles earlier this week. There was one comment, I can't remember if it was one of those or somewhere else, where someone said, "It's not that chldren aren't a source of joy, it's just that they turn every other source of joy to shit." Not all that encouraging for someone trying to conceive - and surely even less for you!
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about the attitude. Stay loose - keep the Classic Cocktail sacred - and you'll be just fine.
By the way - the Situation is going to be so adorable walking to school with his big ol' glasses and his clarinet case.
-- Julep
Here is the antidote article which I do find comfort in - and should your sister step away from the baby for 3 hours, might offer some welcome mental relief as well:
ReplyDeletehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704289504575313201221533826.html
There's something refreshing about being told that it doesn't really matter what you do - the kid is predisposed by its own genetics. (Almost Calvinistic in its approach to parenting).
xoxo
Lola