I had that argument with a friend once. She just didn’t see why reading to infants and toddlers was important. I could never get her to understand that the impact this makes on not only their ability to learn but also their desire to learn is huge. I finally had to throw my hands up and walk away.

As someone who lives in a tiny apartment (albeit without kids) I get it. I’m so happy that my family stuck to the no gifts for the adults thing this year at Christmas/Yule, but there’s a polite way and an impolite way to go about making a “please no gifts” request. This one was definitely the impolite way.

No you aren’t. Nobody is as much of an asshole as these people.

Seriously? I don’t care how concerned you are about the possibility of your child being abducted; you fucking say thank you for the lovely gift and then don’t let the kid use it. You certainly don’t shame the person who gave you the gift.

I can’t deride you for dating him because I’m too busy owning the parade of losers I used to date.

This. There’s just some point where you have to take responsibility for your actions and stop blaming your family and how you were raised for being shitty to other people. It wasn’t just racism that was modeled for me; there was just a general lack of compassion for anyone that was modeled for me too. I still made the…

I get the being the product of your upbringing thing, but seriously you’ve had enough influence outside of your family by 14 that being racist is a choice. It was a choice I made at a very early age.

Thank you!

You keep acting like these girls are just the innocent by-products of the environment they were raised in. I was raised in a racist as fuck environment by embarrassingly racist assholes. By the age of fourteen I knew racism was wrong and would have never done what these two little bigots did.

You just described almost every redneck guy I grew up surrounded by.

I’m one of those people who grew up surrounded by and related to some pretty racist shit stains.

I grew up in a very similar environment in N. Georgia, and I’m sure I used that word when I was very young without really knowing what it meant because it was what my family said. I also know that by the time I was probably 9-years old I knew what that word really meant and didn’t use it. Of course this was in the…

I’d like to think that as well, but the way this fauxpology sounds I’m not holding out too much hope. This whole thing reads like they’re sorry this has come back to bite them in their asses.

Hell racism was part of the national conscience when I was in grade school in the fucking 70’s.

I always see that as a red flag for extreme narcissism and reminds me of my relationship with my mother.

I’d much rather hear those stories and see those pictures than yet another post from one woman I know complaining because the guy who told her he didn’t want a commitment actually meant that he didn’t want a commitment. Of course I didn’t say anything to her I just clicked “unfollow” and problem solved.

I gathered that. I can't even imagine going through all that, but you were definitely a trooper.

My parents idolize that asshole. I’m still trying to figure out safe topics to speak to them about because even discussing weather sets them off about global warming and UN conspiracies.

Oh damn that baked chicken sounds wonderful.

I use Herbes de Provence on my turkey at Thanksgiving. I usually just do salt and pepper on roasted chicken so I'll have to try it your way.