MetaChat - Moms

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03 July 2007

Moms My friend has started a blog about being a "Beta Mom." It looks promisingly funny. I hadn't heard the term before, but hey, we needed a name for parental anxiety for the 21st century.

post by: Miko at: 18:36 | 14 comments

Bleech, what a gross set of terms (Alpha Mom, Beta Mom)- as if loving your children isn't enough! As if we should have to go around justifying the way we choose to raise our children. I say BLEECH to that, BLEECH.

But the blog looks really cute and I've added it to my blogroll :-D

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 July | 19:19

Didn't someone make a post about the whole "alpha-mom" thing on mefi? Maybe I'm just imagining it. There was definitely a salon.com article or two about it.

I'm bookmarking this one though, so thanks, Miko!

posted by gaspode 03 July | 19:36

I'll take a beta minus here, and I will be quite happy with it, frankly. Phew-like happy.

I do not believe A-moms exist. Sure, there is a wide range of approaches but none is perfect or criticism-free. You can always trump any card someone plays. It is very subjective.

Bookmarked too.

posted by carmina 03 July | 19:40

As if we should have to go around justifying the way we choose to raise our children.

Oh just you wait, honey. It's brutal. Epidural or natural birth, breast or bottle, sling or stroller, disposal or cloth, family bed or cry it out, binky or thumb, circumcise or not, immunize or not, TV or no TV, Santa or no Santa. Everything is a controversy. Every. Fucking. Thing. No matter what you do, someone will find it morally offensive to their core.

Now I'm off to check out that blog...

posted by jrossi4r 03 July | 19:50

Yea, I've seen it already, in the lives of some friends (both on the internet and in real life). Bleech. BLEECH I SAY!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 03 July | 19:58

The good thing is that when you meet another mom who thinks like you do, the heavens part and a light beams down and it feels like falling in love.

posted by jrossi4r 03 July | 20:02

Epidural or natural birth, breast or bottle, sling or stroller, disposal or cloth, family bed or cry it out, binky or thumb, circumcise or not, immunize or not, TV or no TV, Santa or no Santa. Everything is a controversy. Every. Fucking. Thing. No matter what you do, someone will find it morally offensive to their core.

as long as you're not beating or starving or psychologically abusing them, it's nobody's fucking business but your own.

Oy. Thanks for the warning.

posted by jason's_planet 03 July | 20:38

Given the high expectations that many of us now place on children, the role of the mother in the family has undergone corresponding changes. In order to juggle hectic schedules that involve numerous extracurricular activities, community service, and other events, moms need to be more organized and more motivational than ever before-coaches as much as caregivers.

Higher expectations = more work for women.

How nice.

posted by jason's_planet 03 July | 20:47

Yeah, true. Newsbreak: Expectations of Women High. Film at 11.

posted by Miko 04 July | 00:21

my favorite early comment:

Young,woman!
Clearly you were brought up with a complete lack of standards and class!
I'm so proud of you!
Love, Mom

posted by taz 04 July | 00:38

I heartily nth everything jrossi4r said previously. All that matters is that the kids know they're loved and learn what they have to in order to be decent human beings later on.

posted by lilywing13 04 July | 00:59

I'm a Digam-Ma, get it?
No, sigh!
jrossi4r nails it, it feels like you've just won the lotto when another Mom gets you, but unfortunately the opposite is also true.

I have lost 2 friends, or rather we are no longer close, since we all had kids simply becasue they disapprove of the way I bring up mine.
Strange in the 10+ years I knew them before parenthood I would never have thought there would be an issue.

posted by Wilder 04 July | 07:53

I'm a beta-mom, I guess. Being the most non-maternal gal that a friend of mine had ever met, he turned to me when I was pregnant & the size of a whale asking:

-"so... You're due soon. You. How are you preparing for ...this whole mom-thing?"

-"Bah, I'm just gonna wing it.

posted by dabitch 04 July | 15:39

i would like to be the Omega Mom
so no one can come after me.

posted by ethylene 04 July | 17:45

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