How about you grab their hand and prevent them from touching the stove? I’m never sure where in this scenario I’m supposed to start smacking and beating a child too small to know that a stove is hot. I also have this weird thing where I would supervise them in the kitchen and not leave the stove on, with nothing on…

The bottom line is that it’s our fucking job to watch them. That’s what really sets off a lot of parents— their own feelings about having failed to watch the child, or really immature reactions to the tiny child’s inability to refrain from doing stupid shit (because kids do stupid shit, that’s why you need to watch…

Screaming at your kids sucks, but the whole “I calmly hit my children” does not resonate with me much.

You’re taking offense when none was intended. Look forward to also freaking out and bitching to everyone you know when old ladies see you with your young children (should you have any) and say “enjoy them, it goes so quickly.”

The real trick is when you have one under each arm. Glad I did that when I was younger.

The street is always the example they give to support spanking. I don’t get this. When something like that has happened with my kids, I hold their shoulders, bend/kneel to look at their square in the face, and then do whatever explaining and scolding is needed. Yes sometimes you have to grab little hands, pull kids…

Is there a gif for “why not neither?”

Also the conflicting reasoning from the parents who do it. They say they don’t do it hard enough to hurt (it’s not assault, it’s a “quick pop” or “tap”), but apparently it’s still super necessary and their kid will turn into a serial killer if they don’t.

Totally agree. My son and daughter are individuals. My daughter behaves in a more stereotypically female way, but my son doesn’t in a lot of ways. And there are a million things about them other than their gender.

Right? I think I’m supposed to be tolerant of people who want a certain gender but I’m just not. I feel like they don’t understand what having a child really means.

I wanted a boy first, no idea why. And he came and he is awesome. Then I had a girl. She’s not harder- she’s actually my kid who I never worry about socially, she is the ultra nice kid. Just academically because she’s more normal (and sometimes slightly struggling) where her brother is that off the charts kid. God…

Yea I always knew we were only having two, so that likely made me more likely to be okay with whatever I got. I’m okay with anyone’s preference, until they start getting teary about it and whining when they’re pregnant with a healthy baby because it’s the “wrong” gender. My sister in law to this day loves to talk…

Yea I wanted the opposite of what I had. Honestly, I didn’t want to be a two boy OR a two girl family. I love having both. But you know what, I would have loved having two boys just as much because that’s what I would have known.

And the pink tutu on the baby girl— argh! Why are we still doing that? All these assumptions about who she is and what she will be, all based on her gender. And then my sister in law went on about her girl being her buddy, the one who would understand her, etc. SO WEIRD.

Right? I found some pants I liked, and then ordered them into two more colors. Both were too small, but different— one was like 3 sizes too small, and the other maybe 1.5. I don’t care what size I order. But some consistency would be nice.

Ugh, yes. My sister in law, who is a doctor, wanted a girl after having one and then another boy, and she always used to talk about “spinning” the sperm. They never did it, but they did end up with a girl. And then she started treating the boys like they were unwanted alien beings.

That’s the thing— I think it’s weird to only want one sex or the other. I don’t so much have an issue with the embryos— a bunch were going to get tossed anyway. But I’m forever suspicious of people who are obsessed with gender. What I see a lot of near me are people who keep having kids until they get a boy or a girl.…

Definitely. I may be thin with a smallish waist, but I have T-rex arms and I hunch at a computer all day.

Thanks- those are nice, just not my style.

I think all this is great, and I encourage everyone in their 20s to travel extensively if they can afford it and otherwise figure out how to make that happen. But don’t be that person who comes back a poser who feels the need to shit on everyone who isn’t sufficiently third-world enlightened.