Posted on 07/26/2006 7:17:10 AM PDT by carlo3b
Sorry, but my children bore me to death!
by HELEN KIRWAN-TAYLOLR, Daily Mail 08:00am 26th July 2006It's the start of the summer holidays, when millions of mothers despair at how to entertain their children for the next six weeks. What none of them dare say is that they would rather their children were still at school or, frankly, anywhere else. Helen Kirwan-Taylor, a 42-year-old writer, lives in Notting Hill, West London, with her businessman husband Charles and their sons Constantin, 12, and Ivan, ten. Here, she argues provocatively that modern women must not be enslaved by their children.
The lies started when my eldest son was less than ten months old.
Invitations to attend a child's birthday party or, worse, a singalong session were met with the same refrain: 'I would love to but I just can't spare the time.'
The nanny was dispatched in my place, and almost always returned complaining that my son had been singled out for pitiful stares by the other mothers.
(snip) Kids are supposed to be fulfilling, life-changing, life-enhancing fun: why was my attitude towards them so different?While all my girlfriends were dropping important careers and occupying their afternoons with cake baking, I was begging the nanny to stay on, at least until she had read my two a bedtime story. What kind of mother hates reading bedtime stories? A bad mother, that's who, and a mother who is bored rigid by her children.
(snip) Am I a lazy, superficial person because I don't enjoy packing up their sports kit, or making their lunch, or sitting through coffee mornings with other mothers discussing how Mr Science (I can't remember most of the teachers' names) said such and such to Little Johnny and should we all complain to the headmaster.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Another story about a Lib who thinks "It all about Meeee!"
YES!
Just a self-centered bitch who should never, ever have given birth to children. Period.
What a waste of skin.
**************
In a word, yes.
I wish I could spend the whole summer with them.
My daughter hides from me everytime I arrive from work, and I chase her a few times around the couch before catching her.
Hopefully Liberals will breed themselves out, then civilization will again flourish and be free.
Hey Helen, I'm sure your children think you are a bore too, b!tch.
How sad for the children of the author. Why did she have children at all?
no stomach for this crap. people like this are lucky I'm not king and can't banish them to a life of celibacy in Siberia.
My happiest memories are moments when I watched my kids play.. I am so sorry for these empty vessels.. Maturity, for them will be Hell..
She'll die alone.
I think these kids are probably better off being raised by the nanny.
There are women who's posts I have read on other threads who say they prefer the school year so they can have their free time, or complain about holidays and summer holiday. They say they want to do things for themselves and not involve their children.
I echo each of your sentiments. Though I find my work enjoyable and fulfilling, it the end it's just time spent between being with my family - the real reward.
Is this lady in for a surprise or what when they choose her nursing home and don't want to listen to her boring recount of the shuffleboard tournament.
Not to sound like a hallmark card, but the love from a small child heals your soul.
I should have verified, I meant other boards. Not other threads.
Yep, my kids are a lot of things, boring sure ain't one of them.
Well, at least he's good at helping out with the bird on Thanksgiving!
Her poor children... Those pitiable stares your child receieved were well deserved.... you narcissistic b!tch.
I am not about to say that every minute thing a parent has to do for their children is exactly overtly interesting or mentally stimulating.. or hell even something we would choose to do... but you know what??? When you have a kid it stops being ABOUT YOU!
What man would let such a wench be a mother to his offspring? Unable to even read a bedtime story to your own child... you find investing yourself into your hatred a better use of your time than your own offspring... what a horrible childhood your offspring are bound to have.
Totally agree with your second sentiment. Agree with the first, but probably for different reasons.
I don't condemn those that recognize that they aren't parenting material and refrain from having children. This woman KNEW she wouldn't like being a mother, yet had them anyway. Who knows why? But the selfishess occured when she had children she didn't want.
Do you love it?
Do you hate it?
There it is,
The way you made it!
Hi sweetie, yeah, what you said!
I didn't read this....
But school should be a year round affair. Let the little tikes learn during summer when schools are empty, let the teachers earn their extravagnt pensions.
Frankly, if I was going to kid's parties expecting to be entertained or if I was reading kid's literature expecting to find some superficial enjoyment out of it, I would be bored out of my mind, too.
Don't get me wrong, I wholeheartedly agree with the condemnation of this selfish person.
Her goal is focused on herself. A mother sees beyond the activity and looks toward the goal of the activity, raising healthy, wholesome, happy adults who were provided with the myriad of experiences and opportunities along the way for growth and enrichment.
Not only is this woman to be condemned, she is to be pitied.
But it was all worth every second, because now I love to be with my grandkids, and I love letting them bake cookies with me, reading stories, going to the ice cream parlor, making a "restaurant" in the kitchen.
I don't aim to defend this person in the least, but I'll tell you that there is a moment in which, for me, I perceived a choice.
My little two month old daughter was in our bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror, and she reached out her hand. Until that time, I had gone through 7 years of infertility regimen, and felt I had accomplished something in just seeing it through to my wife's dream - kids.
Kids weren't my dream in the least.
My daughter reached out her hand to the mirror, and it was like something hit me like a shovel in the back of the head, and I remember hearing in my head, distinctly, a voice saying:
"You have no idea what this experience through this child has to offer you. Pass this up means you know better than I what happiness is, or might be."
At that moment I got on my hands and knees with her on the floor and helped her stand so she could reach out and touch the mirror standing.
All of this to say that closing yourself off to your children takes effort, not a lack thereof.
Children are worth it, but the value proposition of children has essentially been washed down the drain by, in my opinion, popular media and lack of a faith life.
Yes. And much worse. I had a good career when my child was born. I loved my job, but even the best one has loads of boredom built into it. Paperwork, budgets, dealing with associates who are more obtuse than said children... Ten and 12 year olds may be a pain, but they're certainly not boring. If they have the proper direction, that is. Children have a refreshing view on life and helping steer them is more important and more rewarding than anything I remember from my career. The worse part for me though is now my child is grown and I gave up my career. I really AM in a boring job which is the reason I have time to freep.
I'm with you!!
What a shallow person. If her kids are boring, it must be because they take after her.
I've been grantd a mini Mommy holiday today. Hubby and daughter are spending the day together, away from the house. I can't tell you how many times I have caught myself looking out the window to check on her..........and they've only been gone 2 hours!!!!
I always just hated that Staples commercial at the end of the summer that has the parents skating behind a shopping cart buying supplies so that their children can finally return to school. Even though I worked, I loved having her home. And I hated for school to begin. When the little imp realized how much I hated that commercial, she would start skating through the house and talking about returning to school when it came on. Just to tease. How is that boring?
Unfortunately there a lot of parents that don't like children. Why they have them is beyond me.
We homeschooled our (now adult) daughter. I can honestly say, that except (maybee) for the time of the day when I have my before dinner beer, I prefer the company of children over that of adults.
We were in activities such as Girl Scouts (wife was a troop leader) and YMCA Indian Princesses. Spending the weekend camping with a bunch of kids. What compares with that?
I genuinely feel sorry for those that have children and don't spend as much time as possible with them. They miss so much. And there is so much to learn.
If I was younger (they do require stamina) and we could afford for my wife to not work, I'd love to have a couple of little ones around again. She went back to work when the kid left home & we're playing catch up saving for retirement.
Am I a lazy, superficial person because I don't enjoy packing up their sports kit, or making their lunch
* Yes lady you are lazy.
What goes around comes around. Wait until she is ready for a nursing home and see how the kids respond to her. By the way, at least this woman recognizes that she is a mutant with regards to her feelings about kids. She is also kinda hot.
Ironically, Because of Winn Dixie was one of the 10 best books I read last year. I also include "Oh, the Things You will Do" as one of the best pieces of modern poetry ever written. Gets me weepy every time!
Yep, and a worthless mother to boot. Unfortunate that such a narcissistic slob was blessed with children, when so many others are not.
FREERIDER Ping!
I bet she's the type of is a hellion if she doesn't get a Mother's Day card but misses all the events in her kids life.
You know I wasn't talking about you. ;-) You wouldn't believe how many times I will go out with my husband, hear a baby cry, then want to go home and see my baby. This usually after only a couple of hours.
Because if she didn't have children, she would hear how selfish she was for not having children, how childless couples aren't real adults, how having children will instantly change her heart, etc. Instead, she had done her adult "duty", and her two sons will grow up scarred for life.
Some people are not cut out to be parents, period. When they are pressured to become parents, this is what happens.
Because you're selfish and only care about you maybe???
I was thinking more along the lines of the Little Golden Books or the serialized Pony Club books and Nancy Drew type stuff. There are some kid lit books that I do enjoy; Stuart Little, Marguerite Henry and others.
My point was that if a person expects themselves to be entertained as an adult by activities which are meant for kids, they are focusing on the wrong things. As a parent we give up much of we would choose to do if we didn't have our children around, for the sake of being with the children and moulding their characters. It is not the activities we focus on, but the end result of the activities of the years.
"Kids are supposed to be fulfilling, life-changing, life-enhancing fun..."
Where on earth did she get that idea? Parenting requires work, sacrifice, dedication, patients, and unselfishness. I wonder how her mom felt about raising her.
I simply can't imagine a parent not taking an interest in most of their kids' activities and interests. How can this kind of parent expect their kids to listen to them or take any interest in their ideas or values? This mom will one day certainly end up in a lonely old folks' home.
They're grown and now leading their own independent lives. I cannot tell you how often I think back on all the days we spent together.
How much I miss them. How there's a big hole in my life that was filled with their laughter, their delight in learning something new, their spats......my daughter insisting her brother started it all when he hit her back.
Those memories are sustaining to this day.
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