This is what was lost in the original article, imo. That perfectionism is so often imposed by society, too, as can be seen by all of the stories in this thread of girls getting comments and judgment whether they did well or poorly. At least if you always do well, you can say you’ve done your best, regardless of what…

Oh my god, why is he wearing a baby tie?

It’d be nice if they even bothered with some of the activists here in the middle states that are fighting against all of this “economic distress” too. I know some great people who are fighting like crazy whose voices should be amplified. But I guess that would take too much thought or something.

Yep. My family is mostly like the plot of a terrible soap opera so asking me about them is actually asking me to skip the small talk and go right to the deeply personal.

The thing is, writing a REAL love story is incredibly difficult. You have to actually be a great writer, and write compelling characters who maybe have some character flaws that are loveable or deal-breakers or both. A well-written love story is as hard to write as it is to actually fall in forever-and-ever love...…

Exactly. And this is why so many men (e.g. my grandfathers, veterans of WWII and the Korean War) came home violent alcoholics.

Someone I know has had to explain why she is being prescribed a very strong opioid to pharmacists. She legitimately needed them due to a bad accident that has left her in severe pain between surgeries.

That said, hormone therapy is nothing like opioids.

Which is a perfect example of why all of us (married or not, with kids or without) should be pushing for things like universal paid family leave - because this shit should be automatic, not contingent on having coworkers who both care enough and have the time to spare.

Yep. My mother-in-law has a green card. In order to keep it, she has to submit herself to federal bureaucracy 2 hours away every ten years no matter what. And she’s from Canada; there’s no doubt it’d be worse for anyone who isn’t white.

Yes, they are. She was about 4.5 when we started reading them too. They were a little slow for her at first but then I started asking her lots of questions based on what I was reading on the page to help involve her more and then she started to get into them more. She’ll often be interested in them for totally…

Right? I have a collection of books about people like Rosa Parks, Amelia Earheart, Martin Luther King Jr., etc. that I read to my 5-year-old. We’ve had some spectacular conversations about race and gender issues, but at 5-year-old level. This kid can’t sleep when she thinks her stuffed bunny might be lost and alone,…

Sure, those might be helpful to the clinically depressed. If you don’t have a job, or kids, or family, or friends, or school, or anything that would take time away from assuaging your constant state of anguish.

This is a great start, but it’d be greatly improved with an assessment of the outer effects of depression added. I’m lucky to be in the mid-range most of the time these days but at my worst, when most of my days were an 8, I was still eating and sleeping and functioning. Because I HAD to, because it’s not optional to…

I’ve been called my husband’s girlfriend before by people who knew that we had different last names in spite of being married.

Husband and I didn’t change our last names. Our child has my last name as a middle name and his as a last name. The compromise was that I got to pick her first name (though husband liked it too).

Thanks. Motherhood in general is so isolating, which is compounded by the fact that that newborn time is when you need other people the most. I’m sorry that you’re already facing some of that isolation yourself.

Exactly this. It’s also really terrifying and isolating to live through. I lost friends and am surprised that I didn’t lose my job. My marriage was fractured and there were times I thought about killing myself and/or my child. It’s been several years and I’m still recovering. Being locked in a battle with your self is…

You clearly haven’t tried lefse or lingonberries.

As a wife and mother, I think it’s bullshit too. Neither of those things makes me any better than anyone who can’t claim them. EVERY woman who is complicit in this administration deserves to be humiliated and insulted, period, because that’s what they are doing to plenty of women who don’t have the power that they do,…

The middle to upper class common people are more stuck than we’d like to think. Political strife can make a refugee out of anyone.