Strollerderby : Dadcentric

Mom and Dad Are Arguing About Girls and Boys

Kelly Mills — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:23:00 GMT

You know we Derby queens love DadCentric, we really do. We totally have a hard-on for those guys. But like all good relationships, there are times when we don't see eye-to-eye and have to respectfully disagree. A recent advice post was one of those occasions when we say "tomato" and the DadC's say "tomahto," and I think we all know what the correct pronounciation is here. Anyhow, a reader wrote in and asked if her son's seeming lack of empathy and frequent unprovoked head-butting was just a case of "boys will be boys." Dad Jason responded that boys are kinda like that, and, "Girls, from what I've seen of my friends' female kids, are decidedly more genteel... boys, in my experience, like to run into walls and talk about bodily functions. This does not end at 3, or 5, or 38."

Ahem. I'm raising a girl, and I know she's a girl because she likes to talk loudly about her vagina, then she snickers. She also frequently cracks (tee hee) jokes about poop and butts. She did tell me one of her friends hit her, but when pressed for details it came out that he was standing up for his buddy after my kid kicked him for no reason, yelling a menacing "Hi-ya!" Amy K. here has a girl who tackles and sprints and makes fart jokes. And Madeline shared this tidbit about her brood: "They were chanting "penis! penis!" one day so much that I told them I didn't want to hear it again for the rest of the day. My compliant 6 year old got silent but my two year old stopped for a second and then started chanting "poonis, poonis, poonis!" Lost on a technicality! We try to keep the windows closed."

My point is that I think the girl-boy differences are perhaps a question of social conditioning, but an equally likely explanation is that when boys do this stuff it is attributed to the fact that they are boys. I also wondered if perhaps some parents train this stuff out of girls, but that maybe other moms and dads are somewhat more tolerant of poop humor and so on in their little ladies. Then I realized I had participated in a number of e-mail threads with the Derby-ers that day that centered around penis jokes and crass references. So it might just be us Strollers, cuz, you know, girls (plus two guys) will be girls.

I just don't believe it's a boy thing. And I've got the vagina jokes to prove it.

Are Parents Irresponsible for Writing About Their Kids?

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 16:38:00 GMT

Whit is not only a snarktastic genius over at Famecrawler, he also gives good blog over at Dadcentric. Recently, he explored the issues parents face when they choose to write publicly about the lives of their children. As we've recently seen, once pictures and stories enter the public sphere, all hell can break loose.

Whit rightly points out that sometimes we think we corner the market on exploiting our experiences as parents under the aegis of artistic expression, when in fact this has been going on forever. Look at the story of Christopher Robin...

AA Milne wrote the books of Pooh and used his own son as the model for Christopher Robin.. What follows from there is an unhappy ending, but I'll let Whit tell it....

But the bottom line is we aren't the first group of parents faced with judgment calls about what level of privacy and protection to grant our children in service to the art of blogging our lives (their lives). At what point does this become merely exploitation? At what point do we no longer own their story?

Getting Your Kid to Poop on the Potty: Do Bribes Work?

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 20:01:00 GMT

I am bracing myself as the countdown to the official start of potty training hits five days. I'm dreading it. And as I see the other moms from our playgroup scooping up their children and running to their cars, where they have potties stored in the backseat for playground emergencies, I dread it even more. I've been reading books that outline how to potty train your child in one day and others that take a laid-back approach with strategies to stretch out over a year. I've talked to other parents about how they're doing it or what has worked best to get their kid into Thomas the Train undies (for good). And still, no matter how much I prep, I dread.

Perhaps what has me worried are the obstacles, like forgetting to put the potty in the back of the car or the small child's inevitable stubborness about something -- flushing, pooping, pulling on the underwear, going at all. Clearly, there will be something, right? The questions have already made my week a bit anxious, filling my head with "Will I spend the rest of my life in the basement laundry room of my building washing kiddie underwear?" and "How much carpet cleaner do I need?" and "Please, God, can you make this child think it is fun to sit on the potty?" and most serious of all, "What kinds of stickers, cheapy toys, bites of candy, anything will work magic on this kid?"

I have to say, it helps to know I'm not alone in my ramped up feelings about the transition to toilets and in wondering if bribes really work at all. I'm not sure what Dadcentric has offered up to his daughter in his (so far, unsuccessful) quest to get her to overcome her own obstacle of pooping on the potty, but he's assured us that she'll own the world once she does the deed. I just wonder if his daughter and my son are laughing evilly in the other room while we blog about our potty training frustrations, knowing full well how and when they will drop the kids off at the little plastic potty. I fear they'll pull out a crayon-scribbled list of the booty we've bribed them with, ready to collect and very satisfied at all they'll acquire just for making us wait for the big splash.

Strollerderby Playdate: Have Parents Lost that Lovin' Feeling?

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:49:00 GMT

Strollerderby Playdate is a new daily feature which covers the latest happenings in the parent blog world. Got a mom or dad blog you'd like us to know about? Holla at us in the comments.

Humorous observations about parenting while attempting to keep romance, love, and sex alive provide some of the cleverest, non-diaper-related parenting discussions on the web. Here are some of the ideas being batted around out there:

Mitch McDad's Sex Watch 2007 encourages readers to write to his wife and enlist her "help" (wink wink).
Mommy Has a Headache recommends afternoon delight, but don't forget the shag lock.
Dadcentric's sex tips for parents includes strategic use of the movie "Nemo"
Strollerderby's Mike Adamick describes the importance of the wall kiss
Redneck Mommy on absence really making the heart grow fonder.
Motherhood Uncensored is having sex with your husband.

Reading these blogs, one thing is clear. We may have dishes, laundry, and kids who need bathing, but many of us are still finding time to light the candle of love.

[Photo Credit: Anvari.org]