I KNOW there are mothers who are better than I am…at…say…volunteering at the school, pushing their child towards academic excellence, getting camp forms in on time, knowing the school holidays… I know because there are Ubermoms all around me in this upscale suburban town that I call home.
However, as much as these Ubermoms try to make me feel insecure—I KNOW that I excel at other, more important, aspects of motherhood. I consider myself a niche mom. My focus is the cultural stuff….Family Art Projects at the MoMA—we are there. Modern dance at City Center—present. Experiencing fondue at a French restaurant on the Eastside—an absolute must for little girls. Carnegie Hall kids--a prefect day. Experimental theater—kids love it. ( Nothing like strobe lights and scantily clad dancers swimming above you in a see-thru Plexiglas swimming pool to get the kids revved up about theater.) Europe over Disney for a family holiday—Venice is SO much more enchanting than the Magic Kingdom plus the wine is better too.
The next time you find yourself accidentally in the middle of an Ubermom competition—who worked the hardest volunteering at the school, whose child won some major award for ending world hunger, who has just placed their child in the most exclusive, most expensive camp on the East Coast—screw them. Focus on your niche mothering. You are not here to be the CEO of your kid’s life. You are here to enjoy your life with your kid.
See you at the museum!
Showing posts with label Disneyland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disneyland. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Disneyland or Paris--is there really a debate?
It was virtually the same price--financially, but the emotional price I would have had to pay to wallow in the depths of middle America while drowning in the consumerism would have been just too great for my fragile soul. That was the reasoning I set before my carpool buddy, Mr. Attorney, who had been chiding me, for years, for not taking The Beast to Disneyland.
“It is anti-American to deny your child at least one trip to Disneyland.” he said in his best defense attorney voice...playing it up to a jury that was not present.
“Look, I survived quite nicely sans Mickey and Donald.” I said to his flashing wire-rimmed glasses as we merged into the NYC traffic. “I don’t feel like my childhood was scarred by the absence of a Disneyland trip. What is YOUR obsession with Disneyland? Hey! Do you have Disney stock?”
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It was Fate—I am sure of it. I was SO CLOSE to pressing the “submit” button on the Disney site. Five nights in some hotel that looked like a pinball machine...pools crawling with kids....grown people dressed as Goofy...large, lumbering families who will all have diabetes in five years all wearing Mickey Mouse ears. It was SO depressing, but I was doing it for the Beast. It was a moment of true selflessness on my part.
Of course...it was JUST a moment and then the fickle finger of Fate pointed the way out. As I sat looking at the “submit” button on my computer screen, an e-mail popped up from a friend, a savior really. “Subject: Wow! Cheap Trip to Paris.”
That night during dinner I announced to The Beast. “Guess What! We are going to Paris—just like the Rugrats!”
She smiled happily and said—”Oh that’s nice, but I was sort of hoping to go to Umbria. “
“Perhaps we can do Italy next year.” I told my wonderful, beautiful, kooky Beast.
Like any true artist, The Beast LOVED Paris
From the Metro
To the Tuileries
To the Eiffel Tower
“It is anti-American to deny your child at least one trip to Disneyland.” he said in his best defense attorney voice...playing it up to a jury that was not present.
“Look, I survived quite nicely sans Mickey and Donald.” I said to his flashing wire-rimmed glasses as we merged into the NYC traffic. “I don’t feel like my childhood was scarred by the absence of a Disneyland trip. What is YOUR obsession with Disneyland? Hey! Do you have Disney stock?”
*********************************************************************************
It was Fate—I am sure of it. I was SO CLOSE to pressing the “submit” button on the Disney site. Five nights in some hotel that looked like a pinball machine...pools crawling with kids....grown people dressed as Goofy...large, lumbering families who will all have diabetes in five years all wearing Mickey Mouse ears. It was SO depressing, but I was doing it for the Beast. It was a moment of true selflessness on my part.
Of course...it was JUST a moment and then the fickle finger of Fate pointed the way out. As I sat looking at the “submit” button on my computer screen, an e-mail popped up from a friend, a savior really. “Subject: Wow! Cheap Trip to Paris.”
That night during dinner I announced to The Beast. “Guess What! We are going to Paris—just like the Rugrats!”
She smiled happily and said—”Oh that’s nice, but I was sort of hoping to go to Umbria. “
“Perhaps we can do Italy next year.” I told my wonderful, beautiful, kooky Beast.
Like any true artist, The Beast LOVED Paris
From the Metro
Just remember--when you are feeling peer pressure to act or do something that goes against your natural inclinations--just say no. Go to Paris instead.
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