Comments on: “My Children Bore Me To Death!” http://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2006/08/10/my-children-bore-me-to-death/ No Assumption is Sacred Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:20:24 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: shiloh http://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2006/08/10/my-children-bore-me-to-death/#comment-5905 shiloh Wed, 16 Aug 2006 18:51:05 +0000 https://creativedestruction.wordpress.com/2006/08/10/my-children-bore-me-to-death/#comment-5905 I think Mythago's analysis is spot on. I've yet to meet a mom who doesn't admit to being bored with various aspects of child rearing - different aspects for different moms. I love reading to my kids, and have never complained of that - I pick the books to read and for some reason have a high tolerance for childhood favorites. I didn't mind reading Sandra Boynton's <i>Doggies</i> repeatedly to five different toddlers from the boredom perspective, although some nights it didn't do my throat any good. Other moms hate that part and love things that bore me to tears. My problem with Kirwan-Taylor is not that she admits aspects of child rearing are boring - it's that she seems to say that her perspective of boring is the only valid one. My kids and I have fairly similar tastes in movies, ranging from <i>Appollo 13</i> to <i>Pirates of the Carribbean</i> to <i>Everything is Illuminated</i>, and we all like museums, too (although I usually let hubby handle the zoo beat), so I found it annoying to have these pastimes dismissed as boring. OTOH, I find the aimless shopping she apparently enjoys to be deadly dull, and would not like having my highlights done not only because it's boring and irritating to have someone fussing with my hair (unless it's hubby or kids brushing it, because they don't insist I sit still for that), but because I don't like all the chemical smells. I think Kirwan-Taylor's life sounds as dull and irritating as she'd find mine. There's also the fact that different kids thrive under different treatment - my kids are thriving in an environment that would make many kids insecure and unhappy, while the environment recommended by many experts would strike them as confining and frustrating. Loving parents will treat their children as individuals and try to find what works with that child - one of my problems with "the experts" is that they tend toward a "one size fits all" solution that may work well with most kids but can be a disaster with some. As you mention, Kirwan-Taylor falls into that trap. I think Mythago’s analysis is spot on. I’ve yet to meet a mom who doesn’t admit to being bored with various aspects of child rearing – different aspects for different moms. I love reading to my kids, and have never complained of that – I pick the books to read and for some reason have a high tolerance for childhood favorites. I didn’t mind reading Sandra Boynton’s Doggies repeatedly to five different toddlers from the boredom perspective, although some nights it didn’t do my throat any good. Other moms hate that part and love things that bore me to tears.

My problem with Kirwan-Taylor is not that she admits aspects of child rearing are boring – it’s that she seems to say that her perspective of boring is the only valid one. My kids and I have fairly similar tastes in movies, ranging from Appollo 13 to Pirates of the Carribbean to Everything is Illuminated, and we all like museums, too (although I usually let hubby handle the zoo beat), so I found it annoying to have these pastimes dismissed as boring.

OTOH, I find the aimless shopping she apparently enjoys to be deadly dull, and would not like having my highlights done not only because it’s boring and irritating to have someone fussing with my hair (unless it’s hubby or kids brushing it, because they don’t insist I sit still for that), but because I don’t like all the chemical smells. I think Kirwan-Taylor’s life sounds as dull and irritating as she’d find mine.

There’s also the fact that different kids thrive under different treatment – my kids are thriving in an environment that would make many kids insecure and unhappy, while the environment recommended by many experts would strike them as confining and frustrating. Loving parents will treat their children as individuals and try to find what works with that child – one of my problems with “the experts” is that they tend toward a “one size fits all” solution that may work well with most kids but can be a disaster with some. As you mention, Kirwan-Taylor falls into that trap.

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