No matter how good you are at your job … and I was good at my job … there’s no preparing you for doing a job that no one feels there is any need to get any significant training in. This is an unknown field. Yes, there are plenty of theories and everyone thinks they can do it better than the next person. But, let’s face it, most people are just winging in and hoping that they don’t totally fuck it up.
Archive for October, 2007
On a wing and a prayer
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007Join the Collective
Monday, October 22nd, 2007Every parent likes to believe that their child is unique and that what works for someone else’s child won’t work for theirs. This has nothing to do with individuality and everything to do with pride. Parents don’t like to admit that they are doing anything wrong or that there is anything that can be improved on using another parent’s advice or experience.
But most children are exactly the same. They all need sleep, milk, love and a clean nappy. They all crawl then walk, chatter then talk, eat mush and then solids, and they all get a full head of teeth as some stage before they are classified as toddlers. The only thing that differs (and ever so slightly) is when exactly they do all this … and whether or not the parent can make it through the first year.
And most mothers are exactly the same. They all enthuse about their children, talk about how wonderful the latest childcare manual is and how well they are coping with their method of childrearing. You can join in, discuss the joys of motherhood and exchange baby food recipes (smile and nod; smile and nod), or you can bitch and moan about the horror of it all and weed out the imposters.
Dispose or reuse
Sunday, October 14th, 2007You can recycle, grow your own vegetables, and cook on gas pumped from the septic tank. But you have to face the fact that when you have a baby, you stamp your greatest carbon footprint on this earth and you have to be industrious to offset your emissions.A third of landfills in developing countries consist of disposable nappies.
This is an alarming statistic by anyone’s standards. But you still have a choice – you can either contribute to this stat or you can trust in terrycloth.
My reaction to this stat was a carbon-emitting shopping spree at an inappropriate environmentally harmful shopping mall. The quest, however, was a virtuous one – terrycloth nappies, nappy liners, Enchantrix (organic) nappy sterilizer and a functional and baby-safe nappy bucket. All in the name of fighting the stats and doing my bit about global warming.
People not only took me as hormonal (a.k.a. slightly nuts), but also tried to convince me that all that soap and water undid all the perceived good. What they didn’t count on was the fact that because I had a big issue with washing crappy nappies, I started putting my baby on the toilet every time I saw him pushing. This not only meant my job was much easier but the washing machine only saw nappies once a week and, since the organic sterilizer had only to work on urine, the nappies required nothing more than a quick cold wash and a bit of sunshine to get them back on the nappy shelf.
Thus, toilet training was easy and my child has been in underpants since he was eleven months old. Sure, there was the occasional ‘accident’ but no more so than any newly toilet-trained child … and the added advantage (yes, another one) was that my child felt so much more comfortable never having to sit in a dirty nappy – come on, is this even forgivable?
I chose to use the old-fashioned terrycloth squares and had to search the web for folding instructions. This site shows you all the different ways you can fold a terrycloth square – try them out on baby to get the best fit and the least leaks (and, by the way, a disposable is just as likely to leak):
Kitty Kins – Terrycloth folding instructions
You can use the excuse that it’s just too much sweat to use this method but, with the new range of shaped nappies, there is no excuse to keep using disposables. You can find a few of the options on the following sites:
Stegi
Cuddlebabes
Natures child
… or you can just plant a tree!
The Nazi and The Rabbi
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007Deepak Chopra and Gina Ford – you figure out who’s who … All I can say is that when you are truly out to lunch emotionally and you don’t know which way to swing, you buy both the books and hope to find middle ground.
But hoping to find middle ground between these two is … er … hopeful. There is no middle ground. And I like Deepak, I really do, and I like his principles, I really do. But when you are forced to do whatever you have to in order to cope … there’s no question but to go with Gina … and stick with her through thick and thin. ‘To the point of Obsession?’ I hear you ask. Yes, to the point of Obsession.
