Yahoo! has a list of some of the most clueless things people have said to pregant women. For example, “You must be having a girl—they say that girl babies steal their mother’s beauty”.
I’m pretty sure there’s a list out there of things people have said to mothers of young children as well. You know, those helpful hints doled out by strangers in a practice that has come to be known as “drive-by parenting”? Kerry can add a few items to such a list like, like being called a “damned welfare mother” by a passing old man. Or being admonished for feeding James a bottle in public because, as the woman put it, “it’s not the answer to everything”.
For the record – we are not on welfare. I have a job and Kerry is on extended Maternity Leave. We’re just brokity-ass broke all the time.
As a dad, though, I can’t say that I’ve had these experiences. More than likely it’s because women are still considered the primary caregivers so it’s rarer for men to be out in public with the kids on a weekday. When men are in the public with the kids, particularly when Mum isn’t around, we’re treated as heroes just for showing up.
We could be giving our kids Alec Baldwin’s speech from Glengarry Glen Ross and we’d still get a pass.
