Moms' Night Out Movie

[GeoBQn]

OMM was endorsing this as a great movie, so I am automatically suspicious. It features performances by Patricia Heaton and Alex Kendrick.

momsnightoutmovie.com

All Allyson and her friends want is a peaceful, grown-up evening of dinner and conversation . . . a long-needed moms' night out. But in order to enjoy high heels, adult conversation and food not served in a paper bag, they need their husbands to watch the kids for three hours—what could go wrong? MOMS' NIGHT OUT is an endearing true-to-life family comedy that celebrates the beautiful mess called parenting.

I see. It's funny because it's not the husband's job to watch the kids, so he is going to do a terrible job.

They have endorsements from a bunch of churches. They also have a tumblr that lays on the G-d talk.

momsnightout.tumblr.com

[Peas n carrots]

It's insulting to men too...why are men so often depicted as inept parents?

[kpmom]

Watched the trailer. It looks like an extended episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, which depicted dads as inept too.

My sister and I have a night out every week, usually on Wednesdays. So far no child has been left at a tattoo parlor, no trips to the hospital, and my husband has managed not to get tied up by a child (or by anyone else, to my knowledge).

Of course, my husband does not believe in God so maybe that's the reason.

[Sydney Fox]

I took my older girl to see a local production of Les Mis last night and left the two younger kids with Mr. Fox. We were gone for four hours. Amazingly, when we arrived home everyone was still alive and the kids were asleep in bed. According to this movie Mr. Fox should have been overwhelmed and at least one of the kids missing. Mr. Fox must be amazing, since parents with penises normally aren't capable of parenting their own kids, right? :roll:

[CelticGoddess]

Hell, the Celtic Dude does better with our autistic son than me sometimes. (except when he's sick, then he just wants momma). I never have worried about our son when I have had to work or went out and left our kids with their dad. Fundies seem to want to believe that fathers are inept so that they can say that this is why moms need to be at home with their kids.

[GolightlyGrrl]

It's insulting to men too...why are men so often depicted as inept parents?

So true. Men are perfectly capable of taking care of their children-changing diapers, feeding them, braiding a little girl's hair, helping out with the homework, giving them baths-it doesn't take XX chromosomes to be a good parent.

Mom's Night Out looks like a bunch of cliched crap. Let's try something new Hollywood.

[djibouti]

This doesn't sound true to my life... whenever my husband watches the kids he does just as good of a job as I would do. Sometimes better. Our youngest daughter goes to bed much easier for him than for me.

I feel like this would go against Fundieism... respect the patriarchy and all that.

I like Patricia Heaton though. She's really funny on the Middle.

[kpmom]

I feel like this would go against Fundieism... respect the patriarchy and all that.

At first glance, yes. I believe what it's really doing is reinforcing rigid gender roles. Big, strong guys cannot do "women's work". And of course the other side of the coin, the little woman cannot do "men's work".

Does anybody, besides fundies, really buy this in 2014?

[crassy]

I really dislike this idea that dads pretty much just babysit their kids when the mum has to go out. There are so many things wrong here like sexism, heteronormative bullshit, etc. My husband and I parent our daughter equally because we are both parents. He works full time, I work (sometimes) full time plus I am a post-grad student. I know that when I walk out the door my daughter will be parented because I trust my husband as a partner and parent. He is not a child who needs to have things done for him. I would even venture to say that my husband is the better parent. I have never had those maternal feelings, I think he got them all.

This whole line of reasoning that men are incapable of caring for children flies in the face of the whole 'man is the head of the household'. If he is so competent at being a headship should that not include being able to feed himself and his kids without the mum having to organise everything?

[KitCatCadillac]

I saw the movie trailer during previews for the Veronica Mars movie. It immediately pinged my fundie-radar. All the jokes rely on traditional gender stereotypes, plus there seemed (to me, at least) to be an air of "this is so wholesome, and family oriented, but we can be funny too!" I've the feeling that Sean Astin has gone over to the fundie side in recent years, but googling provides no evidence, so who knows.

[lilwriter85]

That looks awful.

[GeoBQn]

Is Sarah Drew going fundie, or did she owe someone a favor?

[PennySycamore]

I saw the movie trailer during previews for the Veronica Mars movie. It immediately pinged my fundie-radar. All the jokes rely on traditional gender stereotypes, plus there seemed (to me, at least) to be an air of "this is so wholesome, and family oriented, but we can be funny too!" I've the feeling that Sean Astin has gone over to the fundie side in recent years, but googling provides no evidence, so who knows.

Sean's a liberal Christian. His mom Patty Duke is Catholic, his dad is Jewish and his stepdad, John Astin is Buddhist of the Nichiren school.

[Hane]

My dad used to give us baths and make us breakfast--in the 1950s. I never did understand the Dad As Inept Parent trope.

[2xx1xy1JD]

The trailer was awful. Won't be seeing this any time soon.

At least in a movie like The Hangover, booze is given as an explanation for bad behavior with kids. Also, nobody ever praised The Hangover for being "so true to life!".

In my real life, I tend to spend a lot of time arguing that (1) it's possible for a mom to occasionally go out without it making her a bad mom, and (2) it's possible for young children to be left with their fathers (assuming no substance abuse, abuse, active mental illness, criminal activity or evidence of incompetence) without the world coming to an end.

I wasn't laughing at the trailer. I was banging my head against the wall.

[FloraKitty35]

I saw the trailer for that movie, how moronic.

[Mrs Ms]

The ONLY time that I say that my partner is babysitting our child, is if we have both been invited to something and he stays home with said child instead of us getting a babysitter. I use the same term for myself if I'm the one staying home!

I found her insufferable on Everybody loves Raymond and my opinion of her has only sunk lower since hearing her views on women and "our place" in society. Another movie to go on the do-not-watch-list :)

[ADoyle90815]

I really dislike this idea that dads pretty much just babysit their kids when the mum has to go out. There are so many things wrong here like sexism, heteronormative bullshit, etc. My husband and I parent our daughter equally because we are both parents. He works full time, I work (sometimes) full time plus I am a post-grad student. I know that when I walk out the door my daughter will be parented because I trust my husband as a partner and parent. He is not a child who needs to have things done for him. I would even venture to say that my husband is the better parent. I have never had those maternal feelings, I think he got them all.

This whole line of reasoning that men are incapable of caring for children flies in the face of the whole 'man is the head of the household'. If he is so competent at being a headship should that not include being able to feed himself and his kids without the mum having to organise everything?

That's one of my major pet peeves, when someone says that a dad is "babysitting" his kids, as helping to care for children is what fathers do. My brother does the equal share of parenting my niece, as my SIL works in the evenings after my brother gets done with his full-time job. My brother's the one who makes dinner and makes sure my niece gets to bed at her regular bedtime after having her bath. My SIL even went on a business trip for a few days, and my niece did just fine, no hospital visits, or being left in a tattoo parlor. The only thing my brother learned was that maybe it's best to wait until after my niece is asleep before watching Showtime because he thought my niece was just quietly playing with her Legos, when she said, "What does fucking mean?"

[FJismyheadship]

Lets write a movie where the DAD is the primary caretaker who needs MOM to babysit. Various shenanigans ensue as mom is a bumbling parent who isn't used to caring for kids.

Lets see how they like THAT

[Trynn]

I would actually WATCH that movie.

[Savoring Samsara]

At first glance, yes. I believe what it's really doing is reinforcing rigid gender roles. Big, strong guys cannot do "women's work". And of course the other side of the coin, the little woman cannot do "men's work".

Does anybody, besides fundies, really buy this in 2014?

Not only Christian fundies. At the risk of casting out some flame bait, I see a similar attitude among some particularly hardcore attachment parenting moms, just without the religious justification.

[DGayle]

It's insulting to men too...why are men so often depicted as inept parents?

Because it's the vagina's job to raise the kids. Duh.

[Childless]

What a bunch of trash! My husband is the stay at home parent and he does a wonderful job. Probably better than I would do. My son is way more attached to him than he is to me. If I leave the house, he'll say good-bye, give me a kiss and a hug, and go on his merry way. If my husband leaves, he'll continually ask where daddy is and when he's coming home until he gets back.

My brother is a single father (of two girls no less). So far, nothing bad or ridiculous has happened to any of them. Really, for all the "headship" garbage fundies and even conservative Christians spew, they certainly don't act like they have a lot of faith in men. Raising children isn't rocket science. I'd be worried if a fully functioning adult couldn't figure it out.

[lilwriter85]

Maybe Lori Alexander will like this movie.

[Black Aliss]

We used to live in a very conservative state. If my husband was out running errands with our daughter, this exchange was pretty much guaranteed to take place:

"Oh, ho, I see you got stuck babysitting today!"

"No, this is my daughter."