Delicious Irony

I recently read an article on extreme mothering by celebreties.  For instance, Alicia Silverstone chews her son's food before giving it to him to eat.  Mayim Bialik is still nursing a 3 1/2 year old son.  And Gisel Bundchen is among celebrities who are raising their kids without diapers.

The first seems to me to be made unnecessary by the invention of the blender, though, truth be told, finding a nice stone to pound the food to mush would work just as well in a pre-blender society.  The long term breast feeding seems like a relatively recent idea, and certainly is not common in the US.  The diaper bit can be traced back throughout much of human history, naturally.

The one thing these all have in common is that the require the presence of a mother with a child 24/7, especially the latter two.  Mom better be around for that breast milk snack, and she sure as hell better be around to watch the child like a hawk for signs that bowel or bladder activity is imminent.  Evidently that's how it's supposed to be done, so the kid can be held over a toilet.

The irony in all this sort of child rearing by women from what's generally considered left leaning celebrity land is that it's a very conservative view of women.  Women are primarily present to provide sustance and training for children, and by these labor intensive methods, do not have the time for any other role.  Certainly they don't have the time to work a job that requires an 8 hour day, 5 days a week.

Of course, it has a double irony because it's so elitist.  Women who live in lower economic circumstances, who have to work to support their families with either a second income or a primary income for the family, don't have these options.  They can't stand there watching for signs of impending poop.  A diaper will have to do.  They can't be around to be a ready faucet whenever junior wants a snack, either.  Work is calling.

Not that I'm saying that any of these child rearing things is a bad thing.  I reserve that for raising a kid vegan.  We're omnivores, people.  Our bodies are the product of millenia of evolution in which our ancestors ate whatever they could get their hands on.  Eat meat in moderation.  It's good for you.  And vegan kids, especially boys, have stunted growth from the vegan diet.

Ah, well.  Far too late for my kids to have this sort of high end rearing.  They're long past the diaper and mommy masticating stage.  Instead of focusing on these sorts of peculiar things, I'd rather someone focus on finding a way to get my kids to hand in the work they've completed instead of getting docked for being late, even though they were done on time.  Sheesh.