I have a lot of sympathy for them. I live in the Pacific Northwest where woo (psudoscience) is endemic. I fell down a black hole of postpartum depression after my son was born; I was desperate to feel better. I spent money on so many dumb things over the course of the year. I was surrounded by people who were…

It’s very easy for me to be sympathetic to the people who buy this stuff, because usually they’re not so much gullible as desperate. If you have a chronic condition like fibromyalgia that medical science still hasn’t made much progress in treating, you really do need some kind of hope that your days and nights aren’t…

Thankyouthankyou for this. You are an internet angel. #shitisscary

No I did but thank you for assuming what kind of parent I am. Unless you were made the legal gaurdian as a teen it still isn’t the same as being an actual parent. I thought it was I thought I was so prepared but it’s not. And most of these commenters who are harkenig back to how tough their parents were when they were…

Yeah I did that too. And ya know what it still wasn’t the same.

It’s required in my school district for a parent to be at the bus stop during pick up and drop off.

Money, mostly. And/or a spouse that throws a fit every time their partner gets fed up and hires somebody because “they were JUST ABOUT to do X!”

Tricks are indeed, <clears throat> for kids.

So you have kids? And this is your experience?

And that’s fine if it’s the same dynamic you want for your kids but not all of us do.

A couple can be happy and still argue about housework.

I have no problem with thanks: it makes both of us feel heard and appreciated. But I do have problems with a spouse expecting a parade because they put their shoes away.

“Six year olds are not 4 year olds, they can remember to do things every day without much prompting at all and are actually pretty self sufficient if you’ve taught them correctly.”

Our life is so different now that we have a kid that comparing to pre-child doesn’t work at all. The way we did things before has nothing to do with how we have to do them now. Sure it’s true that both of our deficiencies were clear before, but they didn’t seem to matter. Now they do matter, but it’s very much like…

I think there’s some truth to this. However many women find they are stuck in an inequitable relationship but want to stay because the dude has some redeeming qualities, and/or because divorce is hard. Plus, I think that divisions in labor that seem tolerable when there are no kids all of a sudden no longer work when…

It’s fine to do things differently as long as they get done

Similar but completely different. My husband just bought a new (cheapie) bass. He swore (seriously!) that he could reuse a case he already had and he wouldn’t have to spend another $100 on a new one. Bass comes in the mail today and it doesn’t fucking fit. It’s too big. So. The $450 ($500 after tax) becomes way more…

#2. #2 might need to be repeated. My husband seemed to believe that I just came equipped with the knowledge of how to feed/bathe/care for the kid. I was very quick to tell him that there is no special knowledge that I just came pre-packaged with. I Googled that shit or read books or asked my mom, asked his mom, asked…

All women? Really? You talked to all women AND most men? Color me impressed, magical survey person.

"It must be true — I read it on the cover of Cosmo!"