Other Mothers

Today I brought my 14-month-old with me while I got an eyebrow wax.

She took one look at the stranger touching me and screamed like she was witnessing a murder.

It was pretty sweet, save for the partial deafness that the entire salon was rewarded with. And I feel the need to come clean and confess that while she was bewailing my misfortune I couldn't help but wonder how loud she will scream when she is actually the one getting eyebrows ripped off.

Whenever I worry about my motherlynessless self (break it into syllables if you are having trouble), I instead think about any parenting failures that I witness in others and then I start to feel better about myself. Terrible, I know, but extremely effective.

As an example:

Yesterday we took the kids to the Brooklyn Children's Museum. Because it's worth $36 for my big girl to play with blue sand. BLUE sand! I don't know if she's seen sand in any other color but hey, it works! So when we pulled up to the Museum, we noticed another minivan pull up near us. The doors opened and out came two lovely parents. And then a kid. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. Were you counting? In a blur of activity I noticed at least three umbrella strollers being popped open for little itty bitty ones to sit in. I shook my head to clear it, looked back into the van and confirmed my original thought: there was NOT ONE car seat in the car. Anywhere. So to recap: that's 2 adults, 9 kids, 3 of which are too small to be walking around. ZERO car seats, and no possible way that there were more than 8 seats in that van.

So yes, I was horrified and sick by what I saw, but I did mentally add a check to my scoreboard.

Oh, and speaking of the museum. I had to tell a guy off for taking his daughter into the women's restroom. He looked at me like I was insane for even suggesting that his behavior might be inappropriate. What is it with some people? Am I really the only one who thinks it is so completely wrong? (To help ensure that you agree with me I will also let you know that he was in there together with his wife and some other kids, so they could have easily split the task with him waiting outside with some kids while she went in with some and then switch. Furthermore, a huge sign posted outside of the bathroom indicated that there were multiple family restrooms on the second floor of the museum, in the event that a daddy was alone with a little girl. Last, the men's room was next door. He could have taken the little ones with him in there and that would have been ten times more appropriate. Or 20 times. Or 100 times.)

End rant.

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Feeling motherly?

Today I told my daughter, "Sunscreen is very complicated. There are complex things about application. Really only a mommy can do it and then a girl can help rub it in after. It says so here on the bottle under directions of usage."

I don't impress her with big words, I distract her.