Lady Lydia Outdoes Herself

[GenerationCedarchip]

That's right - she has a new post. This one is all about the eeeevils of daycare. It's just eeeevil for everyone involved. Among other things, we get to hear about:

1. Mothers could stay home if they really, really wanted to and those who don't are selfish. [not that we've heard this before]

2. Being a nanny for someone else's children will make girls want to not have children of their own [so instead we should marry them young and overwhelm them with babies of their own before they realize what they're in for?]

3. If you see nannies in the park not taking care of the their charges, you shouldn't stop at reporting the nanny because employers will just hire another. Instead you should implore the employer mother to just stay home with her kids and be a "real mother." [i imagine a lot of these employers would then know how to take out a "real no-trespass order."]

4. If you read Jane Austen out of context enough, you can view nannying as some kind of human trafficking. [Words fail me :? ]

5. Kids wind up in juvies because their moms weren't home. [And some kids of working moms wind up at Princeton - your point?]

6. Read the comments because - wow. There's just too much going on there for me to even start.

[leena_noor]

wtf...I was a nanny for 3 years and can't wait to have a big family. I can't wait because being a nanny let me have those experiences that most people don't have until they have kids. Plus--what do you call all that fundie older kid slave labor?

[Kishiria]

I'm gaping over the woman who opines that a woman jogging with her baby in a stroller must be bad for the baby. Holy mackerel, women just cannot win in that mindset. I mean, I knew that but this sets the goalposts even further out.

[Soldevi]

Our mothers thought that raising children was their duty and their responsibility and did not want to give the job to anyone else.

Bwahahaha. They should read and really learn how people really raised their children earlier, especially in Victorian era they so much admire. She should read a book like this: http://www.amazon.com/Victorian-House-J ... 0007131895

My grandmas and their mothers were busy farmers. Here we didn't have a luxury to keep mother doing pretty things inside. Nope, they did the same field/outside chores as men. I just read a book from 1893 ("A woman and woman's work in Finland") where writer says how all women - married and single - do longer work days than men. The writer also says that young girls, age 6-7, start to look after their younger sisters/siblings and when they are twelve, they are expected to go herding and working in fields.

I totally hate when they take just a narrow look into past and generalise that. Grrr.

[antifundie]

On the comment about the evils of the jogging stroller!!! OMG. The jogging stroller is evil, but a "pram" is fine. I guess the problem is the way the kiddo is facing? I don't know. I just googled "pram" and they look like strollers for infants.

I also think it's pretty funny that she's citing NOVELS (aka, fiction) as the source for her ideas, and trotting them out as "proof" of what she says.

[Witsec1]

Even if 19th century novels are her only source, how can she possibly get the idea that Victorian ladies did their own child care? What were all those nursemaids and governesses for? And working class women balanced working for money and raising kids, same as now.

[longskirtlotsakids]

I made the mistake of reading a textbook called "A history of childhood" Damn thing gave me nightmares. I just don;t understand where they get this delusion that life was so romantic in an era where people got their jollies by mowing down street kids with their cab horses.

[Maggie Mae]

Could someone please refresh my memory to which blog Lady Lydia decorates with pink glitter?

[GenerationCedarchip]

Could someone please refresh my memory to which blog Lady Lydia decorates with pink glitter?

It's called Home Living. She recently re-did the decor, though so not quite as glittery. Wise Woman Builds Her Home still has all kinds of overblown pink Victorian decor, though.

[ElphabaGalinda]

Wouldn't being a nanny prepare girls to have a big family if they want one? And in those good old days they all idealize, either the children were working, or they were raised by their governess. Their idea of all mothers staying home all the time does not have even a bit of the historical basis they so often claim it does. And a fictional novel as a source? WTF.

[fundiefan]

The only thing that can be said is that Lydia is delusional. Plain and simple. She is incapable of actual thought.

There is no arguing with people like her and a waste of time to try.

[kaetrin]

Maybe the jogging stroller is bad because the mother isn't walking delicately with a parasol?

[antifundie]

@Kaetrin: LOL

Anything other than a stroll would probably damage a lady's delicate reproductive organs.

[Soldevi]

Maybe the jogging stroller is bad because the mother isn't walking delicately with a parasol?

Oh my, I had Emily Howard and baby Flo flash, lol (Little Britain). I couldn't find original video clip, but here is one with ladies and parasols:

(I couldn't resist.)

But I think I will always after this associate Lady Lydia with Emily Howard...

[LaydNimue]

I was once a Nanny, maybe that's why I only have 3 kids.

[slickcat79]

I especially liked this quote that LL received in an email:

Motherhood was once regarded in such high esteem that artists tried to capture the look and the feeling on canvas. Would any artist paint a daycare worker or a teacher with children in such a sentimental way as the paintings of Jessie Wilcox-Smith, Munier, Bougeureau, Bessie Pease Gutman, Frederick Morgan, Frederick Leighton, or Walter Langley? Those artists seemed to get mothers and children in real poses that still occur in real life when a child leans on his mother's knees, sits on her lap, or is cradled by her.

I would answer her question about the artists with a "yes". All you have to do is google and you can find a number of paintings depicting a governess or nanny posed lovingly with their charges. Lots of modern-day pictures of the same. Several of the paintings LL posted could have just as easily been a nanny with the child if they were not specifically titled "mother".

And what is this obsession with considering fiction as representative of real life? Paintings are not necessarily representative of real life any more than novels are. Plus the painters, who did in fact have to work for a living, had a vested interest in making the people they painted look as beautiful and loving as possible if those people were paying them.

[ladypuglover]

We really need a face palm smilie ut this will have to do. :doh:

[slickcat79]

I especially liked this quote that LL received in an email:

Motherhood was once regarded in such high esteem that artists tried to capture the look and the feeling on canvas. Would any artist paint a daycare worker or a teacher with children in such a sentimental way as the paintings of Jessie Wilcox-Smith, Munier, Bougeureau, Bessie Pease Gutman, Frederick Morgan, Frederick Leighton, or Walter Langley? Those artists seemed to get mothers and children in real poses that still occur in real life when a child leans on his mother's knees, sits on her lap, or is cradled by her.

I would answer her question about the artists with a "yes". All you have to do is google and you can find a number of paintings depicting a governess or nanny posed lovingly with their charges. Lots of modern-day pictures of the same. Several of the paintings LL posted could have just as easily been a nanny with the child if they were not specifically titled "mother".

And what is this obsession with considering fiction as proof of how people really lived? Paintings are not necessarily representative of real life any more than novels are. Plus the painters, who did in fact have to work for a living, had a vested interest in making the people they painted look as beautiful and loving as possible if those people were paying them.

[antifundie]

That clip was HILARIOUS, OMG.

[Guest Anonymous]

I'm surprised that person cited Frederick Leighton - isn't quite a lot of his stuff defraudalicious? I know that I love "Flaming June" and it's a remarkably sensuous painting complete with a clear view of a nipple through a gauzy, figure revealing, not at all modest dress!

[alphaeta08]

What an idiot. I was a nanny, and, like a J'slave, I was waaay too young to be doing it, although I didn't know it at the time (I was 13 and watched four kids about 40 hours a week). I had a lot of fun, learned to make amazing mac and cheese, and miracle of miracles, I still want to have kids! Seriously, though, don't normal people know that it used to suck to be a child (and a mother, for that matter) in the past unless you were rich? Did Lydia go to high school? Actually, I may regret asking that... :roll:

[slickcat79]

I'm surprised that person cited Frederick Leighton - isn't quite a lot of his stuff defraudalicious? I know that I love "Flaming June" and it's a remarkably sensuous painting complete with a clear view of a nipple through a gauzy, figure revealing, not at all modest dress!

Seriously. And LL keeps insisting that the people are "not wearing expensive clothing" and are "not in rich surroundings", but many of them are wearing silk and lace. Those things would have been super expensive in Victorian times. They're also sitting in front of pianos, on imported persian rugs and marble tiles; in what universe are these not rich surroundings, especially 200 years ago?

Another winner from the comment section:

I remember my own grandchildren being dragged off to work and left in the hot car all day while they were running fevers while mom or dad worked all day. It hurt to watch them suffer. They needed to be in their own beds sleeping and being tended by their mother.

Really? I mean, really? Because clearly there is no difference between leaving your child with a reputable caregiver and leaving them alone in the car all day. That is dangerous and illegal. If she knew these things were happening to her grandchildren, why not offer to watch them when they're sick? Or threaten to report their parents to the police, since they were in danger of killing their children :roll:

[Olivia]

I love this comment too:

The many images that go along with this post feature very healthy looking mothers. Many women today strive for a thin ideal that makes them look sick, and it is a look that is extremely hard for a woman who has had children to achieve. On the other hand, many carry so much weight they give themselves serious health problems. The women in the pictures look the way we ought to - a happy medium!

Oookay. Off-topic and obsessed with your weight much?

Old Victorian art has all the answers! Buy some from Lady Lydia's shop and your world will be better!

[Olivia]

Holy crap, I just got to this one:

I remember my own grandchildren being dragged off to work and left in the hot car all day while they were running fevers while mom or dad worked all day. It hurt to watch them suffer. They needed to be in their own beds sleeping and being tended by their mother.

Um, you can't tell me you raised your own kids right being home with them when they ended up being negligent, abusive parents...

And, ftr, while I plan to stay home with our kids when we have them, my job's very accommodating of our working parents, flexible schedules and we can work from home if our kids are sick. I swear these people think no woman can have a decent career working with decent people.

[GolightlyGrrl]

Oh my, I had Emily Howard and baby Flo flash, lol (Little Britain). I couldn't find original video clip, but here is one with ladies and parasols:

(I couldn't resist.)

But I think I will always after this associate Lady Lydia with Emily Howard...

That was hilarious! Thanks for showing it.

And I think General Lady Shit should be the name of our Free Jinger store.