The RIDONKULOUSLY rich family I worked for received the catalogs, and all the little girls in the schmancy neighborhood wore the clothes. (Though of course they all wore uniforms to school.) Mom boss adored the clothes, but wouldn’t buy them for the boys—she just mooned over the catalog and bitched that she wanted a…

That’s monstrous.

I blame Hanna Anderson for saying their sizing is for children who are “at or below average weight.” I have an idea! Let’s start by saying toddlers are fat! That’s super!

The thing about the food is SO weird to me. Why are children expected to ASK for every bite of food they put in their mouths? I don’t mean treat-foods, either. My nanny kids, until they were about 10, had to ask for any food. Set out the things you approve of for snacking an be done with it! It’s just odd.

I bet your kids are rad. Sorry to speak ill of your family, but eff that woman. Good mommimg on your part to support your kids first! Many people have a hard time interposing themselves between their children and their own parents.

My personal favorite bit is the part where, on the sizing chart, it tells you that the size chart is for children who are “at or below the average weight.” I’m not making this up.

Some of it is cute, lots of it is insufferably twee, and ALL of it is an overpriced swindle aided and abetted by people with more money than sense.

I so appreciate your recognition of that. I know, though, that you and your partner will face a different set of judgements and difficulties. I wish people could just be nice and cool and kind.

Living the dream!

I appreciate your kind words. Thank you!

I agree with you wholeheartedly on the swearing. If a woman doesn’t say “fuck” by the second time I’ve met her, she’s not One of Us.

I like the drop-off and pick-up time—it’s sort of like throwing an Edwardian country-house party, “The train will drop you off X and it leaves our station X.” You mentioned your son is 12... I wonder when I could start doing that?

I wouldn’t say I’ve never seen it—the private school where my nanny kid went was rife with crappy exclusive behavior. The point I made about having great friends is that it is SO much easier to avoid the bullshit-bullshit when you have your own circle in place. My own friends who value me and love my kid make me…

My daughter—and this is the truth, not mom talk—is unusually pretty. I am not her birth mother so I can say that. I also dress her like a Janie and Jack model. But I do it from gifts, Zulily, secondhand shops, and ingenuity. I alter and dye stuff to make it work. I say all this so that I am properly expressing the…

Sounds about right. I’m willing to push with both feet to give my kid the chance to have a normal childhood, but I accept that it will be really difficult.

Yeah, it is. We live in a diverse working-class neighborhood, and the kids have more freedom than in the privileged neighborhoods I lived and worked in previously. We are purposefully raising our daughter in a diverse neighborhood, and I believe it will be better all around. I will be happy to text or FB another mom…

The thing about the bus really creases me. I often took the bus into town from my mom’s house, and then would walk the couple of blocks to my grandma’s after school. I just chose whatever was right for me—literally starting in fourth grade, I decided. Now, not being on the right bus will trigger a call to the police.

Depends on the neighborhood, the family, and the socioeconomic level. My bestie, who is quite rich, can let her son go to the neighbor kids’ houses, but otherwise yes, it is structured playdates and the mom stays. AFTER, and IF, the moms like each other, they might trade playdates so they can have a few hours alone.…

My daughter is two. I am blessed with a wonderful, tight circle of friends who are all her Aunties, and I have made two high-quality mom-friends at her play-place. I believe they will be long-term friends in our lives. But, I don’t play reindeer games. I didn’t as a student, I didn’t as a teacher, and I didn’t as a…

That’s because I used to say, “I’m going over to Julie’s,” and then I walked over to Julie’s. If I were a kid right now, my mom would have to phone Julie’s mom and schedule something three weeks out, between flute and tennis, and my mom would take me the quarter of a block to Julie’s and not leave while I had a…