Snow fatigue and parenting styles

Lord have mercy we have A LOT of snow here in Boston. Because of all of the snow blowing and drifting, the snow mounds in my front yard are as tall as I am (64 inches) and we have received officially a total of 60.7 inches of snow so far. We are due to get 5-6 more inches tomorrow, and a possible 12-20 inches on Wednesday, depending on where the snow/mix line falls. The entire metrowest area and downtown Boston has no where left to put the snow. Roads are down to one car width at most, and roofs are collapsing under the weight of the snow. It is getting tiresome.

So, in an effort to distract myself from all the blinding whiteness, the exhausting routine of boots and hats and coats and gloves and carrying all of our indoor shoes around from office and school to home, I have been catching up on some reading and found two articles on parenting styles that fascinated me.

I had been thinking I would just avoid talking about the first one, because it sort of caused a big stir and people got a bit hot and bothered about it. But it is such a stark contrast to a) my own personal parenting style and b) to the style discussed in the second article I want to talk about, that I decided it would be fun to compare them.

Article one is the much discussed Wall Street Journal article by Amy Chua, whose book on the same topic was just released. The article is an excerpt from the book. I read the article waiting for the punch line. The "Ha ha, just kidding" kind of comment. But she was serious. You need to read the article for the full effect. I won't be buying the book myself, and while I am all for parents parenting the way they feel is best and works for their kids, I will admit to being horrified and slightly nauseated by the description of her piano lesson episode with her daughter. I suppose if this is the parenting style you have always known, as a child it is not necessarily upsetting or disturbing. But I am fairly sure I will never take this approach to parenting. The short version is she has very high standards for her children, they must get all A's in school or she may resort to calling them garbage, and if one of them can't play a piano piece correctly, no one leaves the room until she learns it. There may be screaming, ranting, threats of donating all toys to charity, but the child will learn that piece, by God.

In contrast is the parenting style of Mayim Bailik, known to many as Blossom and as a recurring character on The Big Bang Theory one of my favorite shows. She is now writing a blog about her own experience as a parent. The short version is she is a huge fan of natural childbirth, breast feeding, co-sleeping or the family bed approach to sleeping, there is "gentle discipline" used in her family, they do not ever demand their children say please or thank you. Everyone sleeps together on the floor on two futon mattresses.

I see these two approaches as different points on the parenting spectrum. Both articles have caused a great deal of discussion, and some flat out hostile reactions. Some called Ms. Chua abusive, and some have said Ms. Bailik's decision to breast feed her child up through age 2 as disgusting.

They are extreme positions to be sure. To their credit, in both cases neither woman said "This is the way YOU should parent your child." They are simply sharing how they choose to parent. And making money doing so. Kudos to them for parlaying their world views into a paycheck.

No one is paying me to share this, but for what it is worth - I will take the categories that Ms. Bailik used in her first introductory blog and share our experience with them.

Birth. We planned on delivering the old fashioned way, in a hospital, probably with an eipdural, but nature intervened, I got sick and because continuing to be pregnant was going to kill me and my baby, we had an emergency c-section at 34 weeks. Fortunately it worked out in the end and Cooper is a healthy 4 year old.

We do NOT bed-share. I certainly appreciate why people do, but Cooper started out swaddled and in a bassinet in our room, and after one night was wheeled into his nursery because the kid was the noisiest sleeper I have ever shared a room with. Now, the fact I was not breast feeding helped make this possible. I know when you breast feed on demand, keeping the baby close by helps to facilitate that. Perhaps if we had gone full term and he had been able to breast feed we might have made different choices. But we did what worked for us.

Which leads to her next topic, Breast Milk. I would have loved to breast feed. I did pump for a month, but ultimately Cooper was so tiny he never had the energy to do it. He was very happy with being bottle fed, and eventually he became a formula baby. Again, we went with what worked, and he is a fully developed, happy, healthy 4 year old. We are OK with it.

Baby wearing. Ms. Bailik carries her children in a sling or carrier almost exclusively, and avoids strollers. Again, we gave that a try. I tried a bunch of different slings and carriers, and it worked for awhile, but Cooper was not a baby who really enjoyed being worn. Some kids don't. So we took our cues from him and all is well in the world.

Discipline. Ms. Bailik believes in gentle discipline. She does not negotiate with her children, there are no time outs, but they do set boundaries and have expectations for them. I have used a time out on occaision, but don't find them particularly effective, but I DO negotiate with Cooper. He is, if nothing else, highly motivated by rewards. And I don't think it is ever too early to find out that life is one big negotiation. Whether you are negotiating with your sibling or friend over a toy, or with yourself about how you will spend the next half hour (I can sit hear and read this book, or I can vaccuum the living room, if I don't vaccuum now, I will have to do it later) we are constantly making choices. Cooper is given options all the time. It offers him the opportunity to feel in control, and get something he would like, and I get him to do something I need him to do. Sometimes there really isn't a choice but still he gets to choose to either do what I am asking him to do, or he doesn't get to watch TV, play with that toy or he goes to bed.

I guess our approach has been to figure out what worked at the moment and then do that. We didn't go into this parenting gig with an expection for HOW we would do it, we just knew we HAD to. I appreciate when people have ideals and asipirations and then live them out. I just hope that when they do that, the first question they ask themselves is "What is the best choice for my child in this scenario" and not just do something because it is on the list of things you do when you are X kind of parent. I have seen plenty examples of people who make decisions based on some principle or set of rules they apply to their lives, without really considering if those rules or principles WORK. Are they functional? Do you really get the result you need? It really is okay to change things up if you need a new result.

There is no right or wrong way to parent, in my humble opinion. There may be right or wrong FOR YOU, in that moment, but really, we are all out here just trying to get through life. And find a place to put all the damn snow.

I live in a frat house...

I have always appreciated the companionship of the male of the species. Other than my mother, the roommates I had in college and grad school, and my cats, everyone I have lived with, and a good percentage of my friends throughout life have been male. Every dog we had growing up and all of my dogs right now are male.

The male of the species can be funny, and often, although not always, they are less emotionally complicated than their female counterparts. I have appreciated the lessons I have learned about communication, both the good and the bad, from the men in my life. "The facts and just the facts" is often the key to communicating with men/boys. Making sure you know WHICH facts they need can be critical, but once you know that, learning to hone your message to just those facts is skill that will serve you well. Don't muddy the waters with extra words that they will just ignore anyway. Simply state "Please take this over there" or "No you cannot have another cookie" and leave it at that. Adding phrases like "...which you would do if you had a considerate bone in your body without being asked..." just makes their brains go a little numb, or irritates them and will delay getting the results you desire.

However, males have their flaws. The fact that Beavis and Butthead were so popular might be one example. And farts are HILARIOUS.

This week I realized I live in a frat house. I spent time cleaning up puke at 2:30am after Buster the dumbass beagle ate a large quantity of food that was not good for him - a bag of flour - and then experienced the unpleasant side effects of that decision. Too much pizza and beer is to a college kid what flour is to a beagle.

Then I watched my son laugh himself silly - I mean bent over, giving himself knee slaps gasping for air laughing - while he was naked, standing in the bathtub, because he was saying "Poophead" and "Fartbutt" or "Poopbutt" and "Farthead" over and over cracking himself up. Cooper spent time at his grandparents house, watching Daffy Duck get shot in the face by Elmer Fudd, laughing out loud by himself the whole time. He didn't want to watch any other episodes. To say he has a highly developed appreciation for physical comedy is not an exaggeration. He now acts these scenes out for me while telling me I am "despicable" with a lateral lisp, just as Daffy Duck does to Bugs Bunny. I cannot wait for the Monty Python years.

In the meantime, he also has begun repeating things that have been said by his father and myself, and using them appropriately. Example: when he muttered "Jesus Christ" after knocking over the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs that is used to keep Buster downstairs. That one goes to Bob. "Dammit" will be mine.

To review, I have overindulgence induced barf in the middle of the night, fart and poop jokes, and swearing. And a bathroom lined with superhero costumes. For Cooper, not me or Bob. That would be weird.

New Year's Eve - Party like a 4 year old.

Well, Happy 2011! I am not one for major new years' celebrations, but we did have fun with it this year as Cooper was very into the concept, thanks to Max and Ruby. He has seen this one episode several times where Max and Ruby (brother and sister bunnies) stay up with their grandma bunny (they have no parents, a situation that has been the point of discussion in many forums for YEARS) to celebrate the New Year. They make clock cookies, i.e. sugar cookies with the face of a clock pointing at 12 and wear hats and eventually fall asleep before the big event.

So there we were on NYE, with Big Ma, Bob's mother, our friend TR and Coop, having eaten our body weight in BBQ stuffs and hanging out, when Coop announces he wants to make "Craw cookies" which I figured out were the clock cookies. Fortunately, he and I had made some sugar cookie dough two days before, and it was sitting in the fridge waiting to be used. So off we went to the kitchen. But how to put the clock face on it? TR came up with a quick egg wash paint her mother used to use, which you put on before you bake the cookies so it gets cooked. Raw eggs are not my idea of yummy. 10 minutes later, clock cookies were in the house, along with some seriously deformed gingerbread guys.

Then Coop said he wanted to stay up til midnight. *I* didn't even intend to stay up that late, he sure wasn't. So at some point he was in the kitchen being distracted, around 8pm, and I ran and changed the giant clock we have to say 11:50. This will never work again as he will likely learn to tell time somewhat proficiently in the next 11 months, but this time it worked. He came back in, we all exclaimed over how it was almost midnight, we yelled happy new year 10 minutes later and he went to bed. And we followed not too long after. Because that is how we roll around Casa de MLM.

That was how we rung in the new year. 4 days into 2011 and so far, so good.

Where have you been?

Hi there! It's been a busy few weeks over here at casa de MLM. First I caught the dread cold that everyone at work has had, but managed to perform in our end of the term "concert" with our jazz group on campus. Then we went away for a week to Oregon to visit my family. I have not been out there for 2.5 years, Cooper hasn't been since he was 9 months old and The Bob hasn't been since before Coop was born. So it was time. The flight had me the most concerned, as it is a long ass trip. Turns out Cooper handled better than either of the grown ups. It helped that I had downloaded a bunch of games onto my phone he liked.

The visit went really well. We did all kinds of things - Salem has a lot to offer like a beautiful, well preserved carousel, the A.C. Gilbert Discovery Museum (he invented the erector set among other things. Bob calls him a show off) and at least one vineyard where the grown ups did a wine tasting. We also went to the Evergreen Aid and Space Museum which is great, but fabulously frustrating if you happen to be a 4 year old who wants to sit inside every plane, jet and rocket on display, which is generally frowned upon by the management. The simulator for one of the Gemini launches was mildly satisfying but really, but inside the Spruce Goose, the gigantic plane that Howard Hughes built out of birch and made float on water by using beach balls for flotation devices, you only get to stand in a space about 12 feet by 12 feet. You cannot go anywhere interesting, like down below where they kept the fuel, so Cooper was all "NEXT, what can I touch NOW?.

We came home last weekend, and it is back to reality for a week, and then the holidays hit. I have wrapped NOTHING. I am considering piling everything unwrapped under the tree and letting people sort it out for themselves. No not really.

Last night I performed again with Harvey and Matt in our little trio at the retirement center on campus. We did an hour again. It felt more comfortable than last time, but now Harvey says I need to front more. Which is to say I need to do the chit chat in between songs, introduce the band, etc. I think I need to watch many hours of old Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin shows. I can hold a conversation with anyone, really, I can, but the idea of doing the "Heeeeey, how's it going, where are you folks from, don't forget to tip your waiter" chatter adds another layer of crazy to my brain. He says it should be FUNNY and light, and I am thinking it is hard enough for me to stand there and sing the right words and notes, now you want me to make JOKES?

OY. That is all. OY. I will have to work on it. Just another opportunity to stretch my wings a bit, step out of the comfort zone and grow. Or crash and burn. It is currently a toss up.

Here is hoping you all have a lovely holiday weekend!!

A view from my desk, the mythical monster series

Several items I have on my desk have been given to me by either The Bob, or our friend TR. Who, by the way, people think is named "Tiara" when I say her name for the first time and if you ever met her you would know that she is the LAST person in the known, and unknown for that matter, universe who would be named Tiara. But I digress.

Introducing the most mythical, shy and sought after office dwelling creature: Loch Desk Monster. AKA Desky. I asked him if he prefered Deskie, but he felt that was too feminine.



He is joined by two other mythical creatures of the deep,

Octavias "Otto" Octopus



And SnailBit, of the giant snail species, more rare and harder to find than the giant squid.



I acquired these two at the Venetian in Vegas many moons ago when there for a conference. I cannot abide Vegas but that is another story.

An ocean view from my desk

I haven't had much to report lately, Thanksgiving was lovely, we still have no snow, one of my dogs might be really sick or not sick at all, we are waiting for some test results, and work is work.

So I decided to show you a picture of one of the favorite things I have on my desk. I have A LOT of things on my desk. I am a chachke person. This is a paperweight I bought for myself probably 10 years ago during my divorce. It is handmade by Robert Held of Cananda. I just googled him. I guess he is kind of a big deal. I loved it because it looked like the ocean inside a glass ball. I love the green and browns. It is very peaceful. Which may be why I was drawn to it during my divorce. A small enclave of beauty and peace I could keep on my desk and disappear into as needed.



Hope you all have a lovely weekend! I will be trying to see the student production of Cabaret on campus. That is no small piece of theater to pull off.

Go Mommy GO! Sing Mommy SING!

Yesterday I stretched my wings again and sang FOUR songs at Ryles Jazz Club during their jazz brunch, with Harvey Finstein and the bass player from our little jazz group, plus Harvey's regular trio. Cooper behaved himself quite nicely, despite having to tolerate SITTING and EATING (or not in his case). It didn't hurt that I brought bribes. Oh yes, I bribe my kid to do things I want him to do. I am sorry, I REWARD him for behavior I find useful. Like sitting still and being quiet while I am performing. M&M's are MAGIC.

This video is one and a half minutes of Black Orpheus, a song I did not know prior to Harvey suggesting it and Cooper made a contribution at the beginning.