Sweet Tea and Buttermilk: Baby Watch 2016

[ViolaSebastian]

If you're not actively trying to prevent a pregnancy, you're actively trying for a pregnancy.

Just sayin'.  

[3_and_counting]

1 hour ago, ViolaSebastian said:

If you're not actively trying to prevent a pregnancy, you're actively trying for a pregnancy.

Just sayin'.  

I'm aware of that, thank you for clarifying that though.

[DaisyD]

I'm just going to leave this here. My sister and her Engineer husband are always looking for engineering toys for both my son and daughter. She sent this to me.

[anjulibai]

LOL Daisy, that's how I feel about the "girl" Legos - "what the hell is this?!" I was even in to Star Trek and Egyptology, and did karate for time.

[DaisyD]

I just realized that that was only half the comic. It actually gets MUCH better. I'm putting it behind a spoiler because it's quite large.

Spoiler

 

[anjulibai]

Loved it!!

[missegeno]

11 hours ago, daisyd681 said:

I just realized that that was only half the comic. It actually gets MUCH better. I'm putting it behind a spoiler because it's quite large.

  Hide contents

 

I can see it on my phone (Tapatalk), but it's too blurry to read. And here (on my computer) it just says the filepath. ??? Is there a link or something where I can see the rest? It looks really funny!

[DaisyD]

4 hours ago, missegeno said:

I can see it on my phone (Tapatalk), but it's too blurry to read. And here (on my computer) it just says the filepath. ??? Is there a link or something where I can see the rest? It looks really funny!

Sorry about that. Here ya go.

http://seasonaldepressioncomic.com/comic/lego-friends-2/

[missegeno]

Sorry about that. Here ya go.

http://seasonaldepressioncomic.com/comic/lego-friends-2/

Ahahaha! Thanks! So true! No need for a separate world, just make room for girls in the world that exists. It's unbelievable how many people have trouble with that concept.

[MyMilkshake]

Having flashbacks to when I was young and our family had to go to the company Christmas party that my dad's employers put on each year. I wasn't a very girly girl- I was into the outdoors and animals and drawing. But every year I'd go up to the company Santa (who was actually my uncle Barry, lol) to get my present and it would be a makeup set or inflatable doll house furniture; something that seemed totally pointless to me. It was always a downer. lol 

[CTRLZero]

18 minutes ago, MyMilkshake said:

But every year I'd go up to the company Santa (who was actually my uncle Barry, lol) to get my present and it would be a makeup set or inflatable doll house furniture; something that seemed totally pointless to me

When my daughter was small, she'd get the typical girly presents from relatives (Barbies, pink dollhouse, jewelry).  To expand her world a little, I'd raid her dollhouse with rampaging dinosaurs, robots, etc., and we'd both have a maniacal good time.  Today she is a very fashionable adult working in the sciences, so a good balance is achievable.  I've never personally understood strict gender lines, especially as manifested through toys.

 

[MyMilkshake]

1 hour ago, CTRLZero said:

When my daughter was small, she'd get the typical girly presents from relatives (Barbies, pink dollhouse, jewelry).  To expand her world a little, I'd raid her dollhouse with rampaging dinosaurs, robots, etc., and we'd both have a maniacal good time.  Today she is a very fashionable adult working in the sciences, so a good balance is achievable.  I've never personally understood strict gender lines, especially as manifested through toys.

 

bwahaha AWESOME !  

My daughter liked Barbies and boy stuff. I remember she had a Barbie with a factory defect hole in the hand and she named her "Hunting Accident Barbie". lol

[Jigsaw3]

On 3/22/2016 at 2:27 PM, RoseWilder said:

Could you please post a link to that blog entry? I don't remember reading anything in his blog post about abuses in the system, it seemed to just be about people being on it at all. But I'm always willing to admit when I was mistaken about something. 

And while we're on the subject of abuses in the system, I consider being on assistance while actively trying to have more children abusing the system. I have no problem with people being on assistance because they fell on hard times. But I do have a problem with people being on assistance who put themselves in those hard circumstances, continue to do things to prolong those hard times and then expect the rest of us to pay for their lifestyle choices. 

 

NO. People can have as many children as they want to have. Attempting to limit how many children a couple can have based their financial circumstances is far too close to eugenics for me to let pass.

I hope that every family who has children has the resources to support those children, be they financial or emotional or otherwise. And I do not support megafamilies because I think that children are often deprived of attention or forced to raise younger siblings. But reproduction is a human right that should not be curtailed (ahem, China.)

[alexandracabot]

3 hours ago, Jigsaw3 said:

NO. People can have as many children as they want to have. Attempting to limit how many children a couple can have based their financial circumstances is far too close to eugenics for me to let pass.

I hope that every family who has children has the resources to support those children, be they financial or emotional or otherwise. And I do not support megafamilies because I think that children are often deprived of attention or forced to raise younger siblings. But reproduction is a human right that should not be curtailed (ahem, China.)

Totally agree. The fact that somebody needs to use our social safety net does not give the government or anyone else the right to start deciding whether or not they can have children.

[RoseWilder]

4 hours ago, Jigsaw3 said:

NO. People can have as many children as they want to have. Attempting to limit how many children a couple can have based their financial circumstances is far too close to eugenics for me to let pass.

I hope that every family who has children has the resources to support those children, be they financial or emotional or otherwise. And I do not support megafamilies because I think that children are often deprived of attention or forced to raise younger siblings. But reproduction is a human right that should not be curtailed (ahem, China.)

No one's trying to curtail anyone's reproduction. When did I say I think it should be a law? I said that it makes me angry, and it does. I think people are abusing the system when they continue to have children when they can't afford the ones they already have. And I have every right to that opinion. 

1 hour ago, alexandracabot said:

Totally agree. The fact that somebody needs to use our social safety net does not give the government or anyone else the right to start deciding whether or not they can have children.

There was no point in my post where I said I thought it should be a law. I want children to be able to still eat, even when their parents refuse to stop having children they can't afford. However, I still think those parents are wrong for what they're doing. 

I am totally in favor of assistance being available for people who have fallen on hard times. But I think it's selfish and irresponsible of people to get on assistance and then continue to have more children. 

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

She's crunchy, cloth diapers, healthy food etc but does she breastfeed?

it just seems so out of her style to give formula yet her multiple close pregnancies indicate she doesn't. 

Anyone have any more info on this? 

 

[mango_fandango]

30 minutes ago, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

She's crunchy, cloth diapers, healthy food etc but does she breastfeed?

it just seems so out of her style to give formula yet her multiple close pregnancies indicate she doesn't. 

Anyone have any more info on this? 

 

Some women aren't affected by lactational amenorrhea (aka when your periods stop during breastfeeding) and have no problem conceiving whilst breastfeeding. She might stop after a while, maybe at six months, to prepare for the next blessing/make sure she isn't feeding multiple babies at once. Or she may formula feed for ease. IDK.

[DaisyD]

I got my period back after like 2 months with both of mine even though I breastfed each for over a year. In theory, I could have gotten pregnant a month and a half after each kid. Personally, I wouldn't let Mr. D anywhere near my "area" that soon after it being ripped to shreds, but not everyone does that. There's also plenty of women who nurse long term and keep having babies so they end up nursing a toddler and a baby. Also, not my cup of tea, but it's possible. 

[picklepizzas]

Her Instagram post today was...bragging? About being a "microwave free mom". Wut. Is this a crunchy homesteader thing? More importantly - why? You have 7 kids under 10 why make life harder without a microwave? I feel pretty sure that microwaves were not condemned in the bible. *eye roll*

[slickcat79]

4 minutes ago, picklepizzas said:

Her Instagram post today was...bragging? About being a "microwave free mom". Wut. Is this a crunchy homesteader thing? More importantly - why? You have 7 kids under 10 why make life harder without a microwave? I feel pretty sure that microwaves were not condemned in the bible. *eye roll*

It's probably a combination of mommy martyrdom and irrational fear of microwaves. She's winning the mommy wars by not relying on modern conveniences as much as possible, and serving her kids "better" food because the nutrients are not broken down by microwaves. Which is not really a thing, but fundies can't science. Zsu is big on that one too, IIRC.

Lots of people use microwaves sparingly because they don't like how things taste when they use them, but would bow to the convenience of it when necessary. Especially with that many kids. 

[Eternalbluepearl]

I don't like the way things cooked by a microwave taste so I don't use ours often. It's not something I think to post to social media about though. 

[Casserole]

Haven't owned a microwave in three years and don't plan on ever having one again.. however if it weren't brought up here, I'd never post about it or expect praise, especially on social media. 

[SolomonFundy]

I love that she's willing to feed her kids starbuck frapps, boxed cake mix and canned frosting (bonus red-40!), and instant potato flakes (no judgement towards anyone who likes the flavor; I do too), but that owning a microwave is just too damned convenient and worldly. But you know what IS a supreme model of humble womanhood? Balancing a piping hot frying pan full of coffee in one hand over a mug at the edge of your kitchen counter so that you can take an instagram pic of the pour. #soblessed

 

[Georgiana]

Say what you will about the One Child Policy, but one of the leading reasons that the middle class in China developed almost overnight is because of it.  Kids are WICKED expensive, and by limiting reproduction, families were more easily able to climb out of poverty.  

Parents who are farmers without electricity need their kids to help on the farm if they have a lot of mouths to feed.  So they pull the kids out of school early.  Then those kids can't compete in the job market because they lack education, so they have to stay farmers or otherwise manual laborers.  Then they have kids, to whom they do the same thing, and the cycle repeats.

But when you only have one child, you can make enough to feed your family with two able bodied workers (especially since mom can now work instead of needing to continually birth and tend to infants).  So then you press your kid to stay in school as long as he/she can.  Then your kid can enter a different work force, make more money, send their kid to even BETTER schools, and suddenly you're climbing instead of repeating the cycle.

Were there other factors?  Yes.  Does the One Child Policy have potential negative economic consequences, especially in the coming years?  Yes.  But was it a very major factor in the increase of living standard in China? Oh yes.  And many families will personally credit the One Child Policy with getting their family to where it is now economically.  Now, there's become a cultural shift so that it really is no longer necessary.  But encouraging poorer families to limit family size is often in the best interest of everyone involved, so long as you're willing to put your money where your mouth is and provide them access to the means to do so.  Force?  No.  Encourage and incentive-ize?  Yes.  

[picklepizzas]

She posted that the twins are 7 months today.  The pregnancy announcement was four weeks ago.  You know how she's always posting pics of the twins and baby crash or whatever his name is and labeling them #irishtriplets? It's totally possible she'll have irish triplets. Again. I don't know how early she usually announces but I know she's had some premies so this is totally possible, right?