Childfree Reflections

With Marcia Drut-Davis
April 11th, 2012

Jill Smokler’s book, “Confessions of a Scary Mommy”

I know! I Know! The title is so close to my own, “Confessions of a Childless Woman” chosen years ago. The difference is that Jill chose to be a Mom. I chose not to. She writes about those things Moms know, but don’t want to share. The fear of upsetting the mom and apple pie myth was too great…..until now. To admit to awful realities like: pooping on the table during birth, pretending to come to the end of a bedtime book because she’s finished for that day, the hell of running after a toddler or the boredom of the every day mommy activities made me smile and warmed my heart with gratitude for the publisher who took on this project.

I wonder if this will open a Pandora’s box of honesty? I wonder how many more people can openly and honestly relate the realities of raising a human or two?  I’m not saying everyone should not want this job! It’s an important one. I’m suggesting everyone should know the truths and have the courage to ask themselves if they are parent material and ready to face to agony of raising teens and not just adorable babies.

April 2nd, 2011

Parenting Education

As a retired middle school teacher, I watched as my students ran around their school carrying little baskets with hard boiled eggs in them. The girls always added little blankets and bows on the top of their eggs. (One boy left his basket in his locker where that egg rotted!) The students were told this would teach them about the responsibilities in parenting…hoping to show them some realities and stop the rate of teen-age pregnancies. If the egg fell, it was “egg abuse”. If they didn’t want to watch their egg, they had to get someone to sign a paper saying they had egg-sat. Do you feel the schools are teaching enough about what the job of parenting entails? Do you feel it’s the schools job?