Not that it is my job to explain this site, but when I mention I write here the first question people ask is:
“Oh, is that the one for hip parents?”
I answer by saying that babble is for urban parents. That is, people who have kids, and who happen to live in a metropolitan environment. This has nothing to do with being a hipster to me. It’s just that living in a city has a totally different set of challenges than living in a house in the suburbs. Both have difficulties, both are good, and both are bad. From where I stand, in the middle of Park Slope, I’m almost urban, not quite suburban, and alls I can say that the farthest thing on my mind is trying to be cool.
Here's the thing. I remember when Mamie was 6 months old I went out and spent $32 on a Sex Pistols t-shirt for her. Here I was imposing my youth on her, like my punk days would show everyone how cool my kid was. How cool I was. So can I tell you how stupid I felt when nannies at the local playground would look at me and ask me about the shirt.
”Well, it’s this band that I used to love.”
I didn't mention that the only time I listen to Never Mind The Bollocks these days is when I clean the house. Punk rock man, yeah. (Isn't John Lydon like 60 now anyway?) But saying that sentence I realized the shirt had nothing to do with my kid, and everything to do with me trying to show everyone what kind of parent I was trying to be. Which is so wrong.
A lot of people feel that when they become parents they need to figure out a way to still be cool but it’s not about looking or acting cool for your kid. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. It’s about being silly, mostly in public, with them. It’s about singing “Wheels on the Bus” with them, out of tune, on 7th Avenue because it's the only thing that makes them happy when they are strapped in the stroller. It’s about changing your kid’s diaper where “cool people” are, while getting looks from said people because “yuck, look at her. “ It's about, well, it's not solely about you anymore.
I think for those who spent their young-adult years living in some place like New York City, it’s hard reconciling how a kid fits into the mix. Big cities in general are about image and what you are projecting. It’s about putting on a street face, acquiring a fast gait and looking impeccable even when you just run out to the local bodega. However, the reality is when you have a kid, all of that kinda disappears. It’s not about actively trying to be cool. You had your 20’s, and in my case, all of my 30s for that. It’s time to grow up. And maybe that’s what I’m hoping babble can help a lot of us do.
Sure, you can have hip clothes and cool furniture and all that jazz – that doesn’t define cool anyway as much as personal style. But I think that if anyone was so concerned about coolness in the first place, they were probably never cool to begin with. But frankly, who has the time and energy, especially NOW, to even think about it?
That's all I’m sayin’.
