Hee Hee

I secretly love parenting articles like this one by Jennifer Senior. I don't have kids! Schadenfreude!

New York Magazine: All Joy and No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting: http://tiny.cc/nmvkc

Parenting will not make you happier (according to quite a few studies cited by Senior). There's a ton of laundry. Sometimes your kid won't have pants on.

I feel for parents in this NY Magazine demographic, because the obsession with doing it right can be so insidious. These are the people I've been working with for seven years, and I've seen it. If that's your social circle, those are the people you parent with. At the same time, ideas about parenting are shaped by media images, and the reality of actually having a permanent child hits hard. It's a double whammy of unrealistic expectations and a cycle of crazy that's hard to get out of.

However. If you can afford food for your kid, and he has clothes to wear (minus the occasional pants issue), and most importantly you have time to obsess over all this stuff? Have a beer and get a handle on yourself. It's all going to work out ok.