Sunday 27 December 2009

Slugs And Snails And Puppy Dog Tails...

Sometimes I look at a 'CiF' article and wonder if it's for real, or the loony Left's version of botfishing on Twitter.

So it is with Susan Bradley's article on trying (and failing) to raise a boy the radical feminist way:
Ten years ago, I plunged into parenthood in a state of pie-eyed optimism. Thinking that my newborn son was a blank slate, I foolishly thought that I would be able to influence his personality and determine his character.
How?

The usual way, of course:
I thought that by restricting the types of programmes he watched on television, offering him mostly gender-neutral toys that had been designed to be educational and not allowing him to play with toy weapons of any sort, I would be able to instil in him my values of pacifism and gender equality.
Yeah, you can pretty much guess how that worked out, can't you?

She didn't bother to tell anyone else in her family and among her friends about this plan, as she thought she could get rid of any 'inappropriate' gifts unless the recipient was likely to notice. So, inevitably...
Soon, the toy box held as many trucks, trains and tools (Ed: no, me neither...) as it did blocks and educational toys. What was dismaying to me was that he strongly preferred the "boy" toys over the gender-neutral and educational ones from the word go. Offer him his Baby Whoozit or his green plastic race car and he would go for the race car every single time.
Boy, playtime must have been nonstop fun in the Bradley household....

But far worse was to come:
By the time he started attending day care at 14 months, I'd given up on gender neutrality in his toys, but I still clung to the belief that I would be able to raise a nonviolent child by banning toy weapons and even cartoon violence in videos. Picking him up one afternoon, about a month after he started at day care, I was informed that he and his buddy, Zach, had been in trouble that day for inappropriate play.
So, several things here. This mad cow was determined to raise a caring, sharing, gender-equal, non-violent child, but couldn't actually be bothered with the raising of him, preferring to dump him in day care instead?

And this is the sort of thing that counts as 'inappropriate play' in the day care gulag centre she did choose:
It seems they'd been using their thumbs and forefingers as pretend guns, pointing at the girls and yelling, "Bang! Bang!" I was gobsmacked.
Me too, Susan. Though I suspect for a totally different reason...
He'd never watched anything more violent than Teletubbies. How on earth did he have any concept of what a gun was or how to emulate one? It couldn't have been Zach's influence – Zach's parents were even more right-on lefty than me.
Baffling, isn't it, Susan?

Of course, she gave up, as most of the Left do when the going gets tough:
Over the past 10 years, I have come to the conclusion that my influence over my son is much more limited than I ever imagined it would be. I cannot mould my son into the type of person I want him to be, I can only guide and advise and hope that the decisions he makes will be good ones.
It took you actually having a child to realise that, you utter booby?

I've never had one, never wanted one, but I figured that out for myself with no problem...
He is a wonderful person – curious about the world around him, kind, generous, loving. He is exactly the sort of child I had hoped for 10 years ago, when I first held him in my arms. I just wish that I could take more credit for that.
I'm curious, Susan. Did you really want a child?

Or a project..?

18 comments:

Quiet_Man said...

I wonder if there was a father figure in the boys life too? Doesn't sound like it though, still it's nice to see that nature rather than nurture can still put a major spoke into the feminist way of life.

Angry Exile said...

I'm curious, Susan. Did you really want a child?

Or a project..?


And the 2009 award for the bitchiest comment on the entire internet goes to... :-)

Mind you, fucking spot on!
[bows]
We're not worthy.
We're not worthy.
We're not worthy.

X said...

She could have saved herself the effort if she'd just read "The Modern Parents" in the Viz periodicals.

Gibby Haynes said...

So he grew up normal in spite of having a handwringing Guardian-reading lefty as a mother trying to derail him at every turn with her out-there set of beliefs. Good for him.

Plato said...

One of your best Ms Predator.

Child vs Project. Very revealing.

And who knows any kid who prefers 'educational' toys [usually made of wood] to a Transformer?

I was a Fuzzy Felt and plastic farm animal girl myself and look how that turned out ; )

Edwin Greenwood said...

"He'd never watched anything more violent than Teletubbies."

Clearly the root cause of all her difficulties. There is something deeply unsettling, bordering on sinister, about that show. And I have to wonder what those four get up to with that hyperactive vacuum cleaner behind closed doors too.

Dick Puddlecote said...

It's quite staggering how lefties think they can enforce their personal whims on others by coercion, against the wealth of human experience which dictates the futility of such an approach.

That someone should actually try the same thing with their own kids is perverse and disturbing.

In short, what a sanctimonious and self-righteous bitch.

TDK said...

she gave up, as most of the Left do when the going gets tough:

Most of the left do not give up they increase the funding and continue with the failed approach. Why abandon theory?

Over the past 10 years, I have come to the conclusion that my influence over my son is much more limited than I ever imagined it would be. I cannot mould my son into the type of person I want him to be, I can only guide and advise and hope that the decisions he makes will be good ones.

This sounds like a good candidate for "mugged by reality". I have to say that I warm to the woman. Most lefties will seek (and find) a locus of control that excuses the failure. However this lefty has acknowledged that reality triumphs over theory. That's to her credit.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that AP. Haven't laughed so much in ages. The cif comments are genuinely priceless. Still larfing ark ark ark etc etc etc

Mercurius Aulicus said...

You might also care to see this article as well:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/04/feminist-books-five-year-olds

It all started with my son, Will, stamping his feet and saying he didn't want any girls invited to his sixth birthday party. Girls, he declared, are boring. At the same time I noticed my daughter, Vera, who is three, carrying a handbag and lip gloss. Will was demanding his first football kit, Vera was swooning over princess paraphernalia, and I suddenly realised that it was time for a gender stereotyping intervention.


And so begins another battle in the War of Ideology against Human Nature.

Simon Fawthrop said...

If she asked any parent with 2 or more children of the same sex she would know that they are completely different despite being brought up the same way.

What is it with lefties that they won't look at the world around them and learn some lessons? There's no wonder they fuck up society and the economy every time they get some control.

FireForce said...

After the dunblain pistolban, speaking to a teacher who says some of her children had never had access to violent films anti gun house-holds etc, said thr first thing they ddid with lego was make a gun.
I love it, every one should have at least 20, as I do and want more!

blueknight said...

I wonder if there was a father figure in the boys life too?

The guy that filled the turkey baster?....

What is it with lefties that they won't look at the world around them and learn some lessons? There's no wonder they fuck up society and the economy every time they get some control.

That's what we ALL need to remember at the next election..

Leg-iron said...

Fausty has an article on the socialist attitude to children in Sweden.

It boils down to 'All your children are belong to us'

JuliaM said...

"I wonder if there was a father figure in the boys life too? Doesn't sound like it ..."

It may be that she doesn't see fit to mention him. She seems a uniquely self-absorbed woman...

"And the 2009 award for the bitchiest comment on the entire internet goes to... :-)"

Cheers! :D

"She could have saved herself the effort if she'd just read "The Modern Parents" in the Viz periodicals."

Oh, indeed! That was spot-on too, wasn't it?

"So he grew up normal in spite of having a handwringing Guardian-reading lefty as a mother trying to derail him at every turn with her out-there set of beliefs."

Heh! Looks like most of the commenters were rooting for that ending too.. ;)

JuliaM said...

"I was a Fuzzy Felt and plastic farm animal girl myself and look how that turned out ; )"

Me too! Brittan's farm and zoo animals were the best. Collectible too, now. Wish I'd hung onto them...

"There is something deeply unsettling, bordering on sinister, about that show."

'In The Night Garden' gives me the creeps too.

"It's quite staggering how lefties think they can enforce their personal whims on others by coercion..."

They never learn those lessons, it seems...

"This sounds like a good candidate for "mugged by reality". I have to say that I warm to the woman. "

Indeed. I hope she's reading the comments...

JuliaM said...

"The cif comments are genuinely priceless. "

Yes, the comments often restore my faith in humanity, which sometimes takes a beating from the article itself!

"And so begins another battle in the War of Ideology against Human Nature."

I'm betting on nature to find a way, just like Jeff Goldblum...

"What is it with lefties that they won't look at the world around them and learn some lessons? "

Because they always assume the failures did something wrong, but they won't slip up...

"...thr first thing they ddid with lego was make a gun."

Ha! Good for them.

"It boils down to 'All your children are belong to us'"

Good grief! No wonder Polly is always holding it up as an example...

Angry Exile said...

Actually I do have a philosophical objection to children playing with toy guns. If I had kids toy guns would not be allowed in the house - I'd want them to learn how to handle the real thing safely as soon as they're old to pick one up. Needless to say Nanny would have the most almighty fucking shitfit if I did that before She thinks the kids were old enough (arbitrarily decided by pulling an age limit out of Her arse, natch).