Seewalds 28: Marketing Kids as Deflection

[mizandry]

0:13 - 0:20 ...  

[Chewing Gum]

Haha I love it. She let the “no” in instead of editing it. 

[Iamtheway]

Ahhh! Henry is so cute, and excited. ”Yay! More people for my escape crew!”

Spurgeon looks exactly like Miniway when i make him do birthday videos for his aunts and uncles when he’s not interested. 

Jessa sounds moderatly excited. Maybe she is angry they stole her announcment glory or she’s scared the TTH is going to run out of babysitters. Or she, like us, is like ”A Duggar is with child? Yawn, tell me something new.”

[HarleyQuinn]

The only other brother with a child of his own is her molester so maybe she is excited for Joseph? Spurge looked like he was about to fall asleep during that video. 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

18 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

I never had children, but had I been pregnant or had a baby, if someone would have asked, "Boy or girl?", my answer would have either been, "I'm hoping it's going to be a baby"  or "Yes".

I remember when I was pregnant with #1 and we were wanting to find out what it was, the Dr said "don't you want to be surprised?" I said, unless it comes out green with gills I won't be surprised, its a boy or a girl. and I have a nursery to plan.  This was 20 years ago so the whole  gender fluid thing was not on my mind.

[AprilQuilt]

42 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

Spurge looked like he was about to fall asleep during that video. 

If they'd just arrived at the TTH, the kids had probably been napping in the car. They both had that vacant just-woke-up look.

IMO, 'are you excited?' is the most useless question to asked a 2-year-old about something that is entirely abstract. Maybe 'are you excited?' as you walk through the gates of the water park or something, but 'are you excited?' about a baby they haven't met yet, and that isn't going to arrive until another quarter of their life has passed is only ever going to get a 'no' answer.

[Carm_88]

Aww they're both so cute! I'm glad that Jessa didn't edit it out when Spurgeon said he wasn't excited. Henry is definitely like "Another cousin? Don't you people have anything else to do?" 

[Sky with diamonds]

Very cute video. I love how it's real, no editing. 

19 minutes ago, Carm_88 said:

Aww they're both so cute! I'm glad that Jessa didn't edit it out when Spurgeon said he wasn't excited. Henry is definitely like "Another cousin? Don't you people have anything else to do?" 

I'd say run, Spurgeon run, but it's so good to see a happy, honest kid! That's rare in Duggar world. 

Thumbs up for Spurgeon! 

[TuringMachine]

Aw Henry's smile is so cute.

It so weird going from Jill's social media to Jessa's. The difference is staggering. 

[nst]

We get it Jessa you have to toe the line every chance you get now that your perfect sister has dropped of the show.  

 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

I think Jessa isn't so much toeing the line as she is suck up to the hand that feeds her.  She's smart she knows if she wants to keep her life of leisure going she needs to keep people interested. She's able to do that with 2 adorable little boys.

[AprilQuilt]

I think whichever way you slice it, Jessa's basically doing her job. I work in an industry that has a big public-facing side, and even though it's not really in the job description, social media is now a huge part of wht I do. Sharing news stories about other organisations in our industry, retweeting successes, creating content and blah. This is just the Duggar version of that. Gotta keep the machine turning.

[AtlanticTug]

To these kids, having a new cousin is about as exciting as my son getting to go to the pet store every 6 weeks for a bag of food for the dog and seeing the kittens up for adoption. I mean that's pretty much how often this "news" will start to pop up the more Duggar weddings we have.

 

[Shiny]

19 hours ago, Meggo said:

I wasn't offended. Just confused. And really - confused as to why it was a topic at the next table over. Why does it matter? I get that it's a conversation starter for some people but... why does it matter? Why does it matter my kid had a pink paci? He certainly didn't care.

 

We struggled with infertility for years - and MeggoBabe is adopted - but I heard all kinds of "helpful" advice on how to get pregnant. Everyone had opinions on what I should be doing - or wanted to comment on why we were "waiting" so long. I mostly just did a "grin and bear it" approach because it's none of anyone's beeswax,,,

Did you try essential oils?  We were told essential oils would help with our secondary infertility. Eye roll. 

[HarryPotterFan]

22 hours ago, VelociRapture said:

Personally, I don’t care on the rare occasions when someone calls my daughter by the wrong pronouns. Usually it’s someone asking what “his” name is, so I just casually mention her name is Velocibaby. It’s just no big deal for us. My baby doesn’t care what you call her as long as you’re nice to her. 

I really hope you actually say, "Her name is Velocibaby," and not her actual name. Just for the reactions.

[Daisy0322]

After I talked about how I normally have my son dressed nicely I started reflecting on it. I think it actually comes from a nervous place because I know people think im young to have a baby and I look even younger plus my whole extended family has a bit of a "white trash" so to speak reputation and we don't have a lot of money either.  I just want people to see us and know I take good care of him. Which logically I know there's no correlation but that is my paranoia lol. Anyone else have a similar experience? 

[GuineaPigCourtship]

1 hour ago, HarryPotterFan said:

I really hope you actually say, "Her name is Velocibaby," and not her actual name. Just for the reactions.

This is what I was thinking, too.  And it's super gender neutral!

[Melbelle]

I'm expecting my first (and only) this spring and I plan on dressing him in all preppy clothes until he tells me or indicates to me that he wants to wear Captain America or pink shirts or whatever it is he ends up favoring!  I love plaid, cable knit, seersucker, smocking, etc. and for as long as I can I'm dressing him like a little old man.  The moment he indicates he prefers something different, I'm on board with what he wants because I want to foster his independence and personality.  I'm also on board with practicality, I've already bought a few of the nightgown sleepers for him (including the ones that were linked from Kohls/Carters earlier in the thread) because I think they are cute and will be super easy!  

@Daisy0322 I feel very similarly to you about my reasons for why I want to dress my LO in such preppy styles.  We live closely to Mr. Melbelle's family and many of them have a very granola/hippie/crunchy type of style and because we live in Colorado we get constant questions about the legalization of pot wherever we travel.  I like presenting a traditional and polished style in order to thwart some of those stereotypes.  Also, I'm from the south and I want my LO to have some exposure to the styles and norms of my family as well since he won't see them as often.  If we lived close to my family, we'd probably be dressing in the same preppy styles in order to thwart the "white trash" stereotypes that apply to some of my family members.  

*I'm new to posting at FJ, so please know I don't like that these stereotypes are so prevalent in society and I don't feel like they are true for most of our family (although technically they're spot on for a few people!) but I definitely work to avoid presenting myself or my family as being a part of those stereotypes.  

[VelociRapture]

1 hour ago, HarryPotterFan said:

I really hope you actually say, "Her name is Velocibaby," and not her actual name. Just for the reactions.

I need to start doing this for my personal enjoyment. The weird looks would be priceless.  

@Daisy0322Aw! I don’t have that problem, but I am sorry you do. Personally, I think you should dress your baby however you feel is best for you and your family. If that means dressing him nice then you do you.  

(And I’m sure people would know how loved he is regardless of his clothes, but if the nicer clothes make you feel happy or good then don’t feel bad about it. )

[AtlanticTug]

I think that dressing your toddler also depends on where they are all day. Jessa's kids are at home or at TTH. I would never send my son to daycare dressed up in anything but sweatpants and a t-shirt (long or short sleeved or hoodie). In fact that is basically the mandated uniform. Our daycare newsletter has implored parents over and over again to dress their kids sensibly because the #1 complaint they get is that little Suzie came home with her clothes ruined after finger painting. Hello?? Then don't send her in a $75 pouffy dress when you know the whole point is to spend a day in play-based age-appropriate learning.

[MsSaylor]

I try to present my kids decently but we dont make much money due to surprise kid #3 necessitating that I only work part time and stay home with the kids instead of paying for daycare. Also I have wild little girls with static hair, growing out their bangs, ice cream eating little hooligans and a 7 yo with special needs who has to wear lots of comfy soft stuff and elastic so he is able to toilet and dress by himself, hes also a messy eater and his fave toys are sticks and dirt. When he was a baby it was perfect, clean adorable outfits and Jordans or Vans all day long. Now its stained $5 target mix and  match cotton leggings and t shirts most of the time. And target shoes. I pretty much am either in work out clothes or my jeans/walking dead T and doc martens with a sweater or flannel uniform. We clean up nice A couple times a year.  Caring what people think went out the window awhile ago for me. My kids may look like ragamuffins sonetimes but they are the sweetest and smartest around! And its just low on my list anymore. Though I still try keep them clean, weather appropriate and cute is a bonus. Different moms have different priorities and thats totally OK, how one presents their children can be a cultural thing as well. At the end of the day most of us are more worried about doing whats best for our own kids than judging other moms and kids. 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

10 minutes ago, AtlanticTug said:

Our daycare newsletter has implored parents over and over again to dress their kids sensibly because the #1 complaint they get is that little Suzie came home with her clothes ruined after finger painting. Hello?? Then don't send her in a $75 pouffy dress when you know the whole point is to spend a day in play-based age-appropriate learning.

We had a small problem the short time I worked in a daycare, with a 3 year old who was new there. She wore a ruffly dress every day. At the end of the first week, the teachers implored her mother send her in something more practical. Mom told us to let her daughter do everything messy in the dresses, because the mom bought cheap fabric (a few dollars) and sewed the dresses in one night. That was not the norm, however!

[SapphireSlytherin]

GryffindorDisappointment's daycare would immediately put all the kids into the "clothing bin" clothes when they arrived, folding & storing their REAL clothes to be put back on them right before Mommy arrived to pick them up.

I had NO IDEA this shit was going on until I got there early one day and my daughter was in some stained-up sweats and a mismatched t-shirt. I was livid. I dressed her appropriately for daycare (that day she had been dressed in sweatpants and a turtleneck), and told them that what she arrived in, she was to STAY in.

 

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

1 hour ago, VelociRapture said:

I need to start doing this for my personal enjoyment. The weird looks would be priceless.  

@Daisy0322Aw! I don’t have that problem, but I am sorry you do. Personally, I think you should dress your baby however you feel is best for you and your family. If that means dressing him nice then you do you.  

(And I’m sure people would know how loved he is regardless of his clothes, but if the nicer clothes make you feel happy or good then don’t feel bad about it. )

Until you run into an FJ'er and they scream  VELOCIRAPTURE! everyone around you looks at you two like your nuts. Which really wouldn't bother me personally I'm used to it.  I'm the weird relative that everyone "tolerates" at family gatherings.

[Bad Wolf]

53 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

GryffindorDisappointment's daycare would immediately put all the kids into the "clothing bin" clothes when they arrived, folding & storing their REAL clothes to be put back on them right before Mommy arrived to pick them up.

I had NO IDEA this shit was going on until I got there early one day and my daughter was in some stained-up sweats and a mismatched t-shirt. I was livid. I dressed her appropriately for daycare (that day she had been dressed in sweatpants and a turtleneck), and told them that what she arrived in, she was to STAY in.

 

They haven't heard of painting smocks for kids?