An aspiring writer and mother of four pains in the ass (hey, she said it, I didn't!) has gotten a bit of attention for a Help Wanted ad she posted recently on Craigslist. The NY Times has her story on the front page. And nearly every mom along the eastern seaboard has a copy of her ad in their Inbox.
Rebecca Land Soodak, whose kids are 12, 9 and 6-year-old twins, has been praised for her honesty, excoriated for her lack of sensitivity, and admonished for her sense of entitlement. Let's get down to the details:
Soodak's self-deprecation is more dishy than refreshing with gems like this: I can be a tad difficult to work for. I'm loud, pushy and while I used to think we paid well, i am no longer sure. i work from home, so you get the pleasure of being hounded by me all day long. and, you get to pretend to like me, because i am deeply sensative [sic]. (but well dressed and a know it all, a winning combination I assure you ...). She confesses, indirectly, that her children have inherited her me-first style.
Crumbs are a big deal to her, as is full embrace of Ritalin. Seek help and don't apply, she advises, if you smoke, drink to cope or do drugs. (It's not like she doesn't care!)
When I was first reading the ad, I couldn't help but wonder what's really going on here. The Times article reads as if this were a rich mom's manifesto! The last straw for a frazzled mom in a world where you just can't find a decent doormat, uh, I mean babysitter! A cry for help ... for help!
But read the entire ad and you see three goals: (1) approval. She's a pain in the ass with kids who don't listen to her and she's rather ashamed of that. Please love her anyway; (2) a friend she can push around -- I'm just a woman doing my best. I'm willing to learn from you, or anyone, but not so much about how i should parent my spawn. teach me to knit. introduce me to yoga, the white stripes, russian literature or the best place to get a burger in the village at 2Am, but do not tell me to put star stickers on a good boy chart. stickers irritate me ... oh, and wipe off the table!; and (3) a book deal. She says it herself in the closing lines:
Okay, if you're still reading this ad, it means:
a) i am a halfway decent writer and maybe i really will get that book deal i'm yearning for
b) you need a job desparately [sic]
c) you think this just might be destiny, and that you could be one of the few, the proud, the potential babysitter of our dreams.
D) you want all the information about job requirements, so that you can write me emails about how I should stay home with my kids otherwise they are going to grow up to be sociopaths.
What do you think? Brave confession or clever ruse to get attention? She found a nanny, by the way, a college grad from Virginia who wants to study midwifery. Hope the paired readings of Tolstoy go well!
Photo: NY Times
