Taylor and I were visiting Todd Longshore Park, waiting for her friend Alex, when we stumbled upon a playgroup of toddlers. Happily, we hurried down the hill to play and meet new friends. Little did we know that our encounter would quickly turn ugly and uncomfortable. Taylor played, while I chatted it up with a friendly mom who was quick to introduce herself. The conversation went as follows:
Me: So this is a playgroup?
AP Mom: Yes, we're the AP Parenting Group of Santa Clarita. Would you like to hear more about AP Parenting?
Me: (Starting to feel slightly like she's going all "missionary" on me). Uh, sure.
AP Mom: Well, we believe strongly in certain aspects of parenting like breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and home schooling.... (At this point, I'm totally turned off by the word "home schooling." I will celebrate the day when all my children are in school, and I can have a few hours of freedom.)
Me: (Looking around for my friend Tanya, who I'm totally mad at for being late now that I've been ambushed by this crazy Mom.) Well, that sounds interesting. We co-slept with Taylor off and on when she was an infant. (I totally didn't mention that we didn't feel like human beings again until she moved OUT of our room)
AP Mom: O, well we still co-sleep. We plan on keeping it that way until my daughter tells us she wants her own bed. Did you breastfeed your daughter?
Me: (Kind of a personal question, don't cha think, chick?) Uh, no. I tried but I had a uterine infection and was a little too sick to pull it off successfully. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks after Taylor was born. (Phew. That's a good enough excuse, right?)
AP Mom: What a shame. It's so important.
Me: (Red faced, and ticked off at this point.) Well looks like Taylor survived being formula fed.
I happily look over at Taylor, who is the same age as crazy-lady's daughter, and she's loudly describing her features.
Taylor: Eyes. Nose. Ear. (Tay points at the little girl's shirt with a picture of the sun on it.) A Sun.
Me: What shape is the sun?
Taylor: A circle.
The AP kid stares blankly. My friend Tanya, finally arrives.
Me: Well, it was nice meeting you. (NOT!)
In all fairness, I looked up more about AP Parenting when I got home. It looks like they have some wonderful principles, that I will try to apply to my style of parenting. Overall, they are people who just want to raise healthy and happy kids, just like I do. I think I just got a dose of the extreme end of the philosophy. We walked away from the park, and from all the moms who were sitting on the bench breastfeeding their 4-year-olds. We headed for home where I fed Taylor juice, and where she took a nap in her own crib.
The AP parenting website http://www.attachmentparenting.org/principles/principles.php
6 comments:
People like that drive me bonkers!
LOL "go all missionary on me" TOO FUNNY! I feel the SAME way about home schooling! It's bad enough that with a late birthday and NOT being in CA, Maggie is going to have THREE years of preschool before I can put her in kindergarten right before she turns SIX! (She already whines when things are boring...her teacher better look out! LOL)
That women would drive me crazy. I don't care what other people do in their lives, do whatever you want. If you are happy with the choice you made, that is all that matters. No one's opinion should matter.
I so love crazy people!! It makes me fell so much better about myself when I can run into a person or two who are clearly unhinged in one form or an other. Plus, look what a great post you got out of it. I should be so lucky. Then I will finally have something to write about.
YIKES! Parenting is such a hard thing as it is, and personal in how one decides to raise their own, no need to act crazy! I think you handled it well!
Wow only in California...I can't stand it when people are so obnoxious about their choices... You were a lot more polite then I would have been... co sleeping is just an excuse for women who don't want to resume their wifely duties...*laugh*
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