Yo, Yo, YO!Will I ever tire of composing obnoxious greetings one's overheard on MTV or anyplace else I'm too old to go? Me thinks not. Anywho, I'm VERY pleased to announce today's soliloquy is composed by my very first guest blogger, the gifted author and insanely hilarious Alison Lowenstein. Al, my dear friend, contributor to many a parenting mag, author of City Weekends: Greatest Escapes and Weekend Getaways In and Around NYC, and the indispensable City Baby Brooklyn, was kind enough to lend her evil pen to my cause of entertaining your ass. So sit your down and grab a drink, 'cos this shit's totally run through your head. Mom & Pop KGB: Parent Message Boards and Groups
Alison Lowenstein
Parenting message boards never fail to amuse and shock me. In my 'hood, we have a few Yahoo groups that almost every parent in Brooklyn subscribes to, and the posts range from marriage counselor recommendations (hello, the board is not anonymous!) to someone selling a used breast pump.
Parenting message boards never fail to amuse and shock me. In my 'hood, we have a few Yahoo groups that almost every parent in Brooklyn subscribes to, and the posts range from marriage counselor recommendations (hello, the board is not anonymous!) to someone selling a used breast pump.
I'll admit that the boards can be useful, but they can also feel a bit like "big brother." You never know when someone is going to post that they saw a child in a Beatles T-shirt peeing in a bush at the park while their parent watched, or that someone let their child have a temper tantrum on the floor of the supermarket while the parent was distracted texting someone on their iPhone.
Then people will remark on the parent's behavior and there will be tons of amateur psychologists digging into why parents, nannies, kids, etc. act the way they do. The whole idea of these boards make me feel like I have to be on my best behavior when I am walking through the streets of Brooklyn, because you never know when this parenting version of the KGB will post about you letting your kid soil themselves while you are engrossed in a conversation with another parent.
Although most of the members of the boards think of themselves as folks who'd rather shop in a small shop than a big box retailer, they can take a small business owner down in a single click. When one parent posted that they saw a roach at a local restaurant, I never went there again, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who stopped eating there because of that post. Of course, there isn't a restaurant (or apartment) in NYC that doesn't have a roach, but these posts sure can taint your outlook. If you own a shop and one day make a snide comment to a local mom, all it takes is one person posting about you on one of these boards to shut you down. They've somehow turned a thinking city into a small gossipy town.
My favorite is when people debate about various parenting topics from weaning to opting out of vaccines. Many of the posts are filled with tons of misinformation and occasionally (thank god) a local doctor or expert will chime in and link to published paper on the topic. Just the other day, I innocently posted a recommendation for places to stop on I-95 and alternatives to eating at a rest stop, and a member of the board emailed me saying that I was wrong to recommend restaurants off of I-95 because they were all mediocre. I emailed back mentioning that South Norwalk, New Haven, Mystic, Providence (which is also the home to a culinary school) were all right off I-95 and had tons of great restaurants. How could all food off of a major interstate that passes through many cities be bad? It cracked me up. I guess it's nice that everybody has an opinion and that everyone can show off their expertise on the boards, but remember folks, the board is public and most parents read it, even if they don't admit it.
Uh, in a word, WORD. Stand back and prepare to be judged!
Although most of the members of the boards think of themselves as folks who'd rather shop in a small shop than a big box retailer, they can take a small business owner down in a single click. When one parent posted that they saw a roach at a local restaurant, I never went there again, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who stopped eating there because of that post. Of course, there isn't a restaurant (or apartment) in NYC that doesn't have a roach, but these posts sure can taint your outlook. If you own a shop and one day make a snide comment to a local mom, all it takes is one person posting about you on one of these boards to shut you down. They've somehow turned a thinking city into a small gossipy town.
My favorite is when people debate about various parenting topics from weaning to opting out of vaccines. Many of the posts are filled with tons of misinformation and occasionally (thank god) a local doctor or expert will chime in and link to published paper on the topic. Just the other day, I innocently posted a recommendation for places to stop on I-95 and alternatives to eating at a rest stop, and a member of the board emailed me saying that I was wrong to recommend restaurants off of I-95 because they were all mediocre. I emailed back mentioning that South Norwalk, New Haven, Mystic, Providence (which is also the home to a culinary school) were all right off I-95 and had tons of great restaurants. How could all food off of a major interstate that passes through many cities be bad? It cracked me up. I guess it's nice that everybody has an opinion and that everyone can show off their expertise on the boards, but remember folks, the board is public and most parents read it, even if they don't admit it.
Uh, in a word, WORD. Stand back and prepare to be judged!
Pay Up, Sucka
TMZ reports that Kelis had to skip out on today's scheduled court date to fight Nas for child support and baby and prenatal expenses -- she's got some pushin' to do! She's having the baby as we speak.
Will Nas show up in court to argue his case while Kelis does all the hard labor?
That would certainly place him atop every woman's permadouche list. Time to bust out the checkbook, mang!
Mourning
Sometimes, nothing but Alanis, Alicia, the open road and an endless stream of indie-rock hits (oxymoron? nah, just moron) can quell the heartache.
That's it for now, bitches! Summer on!
xx
MM
I'm glad I saw this, big thanks!
I Will have to come back again when my course load lets up - nonetheless I am taking your RSS feed so I can read your site offline. Thanks.
I just want to emphasize the good work on this blog, has excellent views and a clear vision of what you are looking for.