High strung out on TV

Why are mothers so freaking high strung about every little thing? For example - when Noah and I were at the pool on Wednesday afternoon I overheard two women conversing about pediatricians. One of the woman was telling the other that her pediatrician had the audacity to recommend that she give her child vitamin D drops. She ranted on about children getting vitamin D from the sun, and how she takes her child outside almost every day so her child had NO need for the drops. She said she doesn’t believe in giving her kids lots of unnecessary medicines and she couldn’t understand why her pediatrician would recommend such a thing. I just promenaded Noah around the pool and eavesdropped while thinking “Jesus. Doesn’t this woman have anything better to worry about?” I mean seriously – it was as if her doctor recommended she start shooting her child up with heroin. In defense of the pediatrician, a lot of inner city children end up with vitamin D deficiencies and to prevent that they probably recommend that all their kids get vitamins because they see it as a harmless preventative measure. Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not advocating vitamin drops (I don’t use them), what struck me is that this woman was so incensed about the suggestion. Why is it that when you’re a mother every little thing becomes like a political debate or a conversation on religion? I understand firsthand that as parents we consider every detail and have to make a decision about it in order to decide what to do for our child. Co-sleeping or crib? Nursing or formula? Sling or stroller? Pacifier? Daycare? Ferberize? And because we’ve made a decision about every little thing we feel we have to stand our ground about our decision being the right one and therefore everything else is wrong. I understand why it happens – but I have to say it is SO stupid. And I tell myself that every time I start to do it. Or I feel like it’s being done to me – though sometimes I’m sure it’s me just being paranoid about being judged for my choices. Case in point – the other night when we were at Patrice’s place Sean offered everyone a drink, a beer perhaps. Lonna quickly thanked him and said that she can’t drink because she’s still breastfeeding. I however had a beer while I was there – and the whole time I was drinking it I kept wanting to explain to Lonna that my doctor had explained to me that it was okay to have a drink or two while breastfeeding- that I had never noticed Noah have any reaction to the small amount that I drank and that I wasn’t a bad and neglectful mother. But that is just dumb – because Lonna made her decision about drinking and I made mine. And I know we both based our choices on facts that we attained from different sources, gave it careful consideration and were comfortable with our choices. So WHY did it bother me? Because even though I try to be all live and let live about things – I’m constantly fighting back the urge to judge others and the worry about how others are judging me. And it’s tiring. So I have to say, Lonna, I hope you didn’t think badly of me for having a beer. And if you did? Oh, well. I’ll get over it. Maybe all I need is to score some grade A vitamin D drops and indulge heavily.

On to far more important matters – television. Summer television sucks for the most part. Every summer I get sucked into watching some crap show that I’m not even really enjoying. And most of the time it is that annoying “Big Brother.” I have to say that I am SO happy that the hot Iraqi Kaysar was voted back into the house instead of that Napoleon-complexed fireman Eric. I was SURE it was written in stone somewhere that firemen had to win every damn thing – especially when up against a Muslim. But was pleasantly surprised that the “America’s Choice” voters had more sense than that.

Also in the realm of reality TV I have to mention that I’m enjoying “Rockstar INXS.” I was a HUGE INXS fan and own seven of their albums.” I was genuinely sad when Michael Hutchence died. I dug him – even if he did die of auto-erotic asphyxiation. But besides just liking a bunch of INXS songs, I am also enjoying the show for a few other reasons. It’s nice to hear the contestants sing rock songs that I like rather than the syrupy pop schlock they sing on American Idol. I like that the show started out with a slate of good singers and we didn’t see any tryouts. There has been no degrading and humiliating the contestants because they were all pretty talented to begin with. I like that the band acts as judges and the harshest thing they can say upon dismissal is “I’m sorry, you’re just not right for our band, INXS.” I’m rooting for Jordis and Corey Glover – I mean Ty. And I have to add that I think Jordis Unga and Mig Ayesa might just be the most fun names to say in the history of mankind.

On the more respectable front I’m also watching “LOST” in reruns because I never watched it during the season. I finally understand what all the hype is about and I look forward to it every Wednesday night. I’ll certainly miss “Six Feet Under” after it’s gone – and not just because I think Peter Krause looks like my husband. I think this season has been the best since the first one and I’ll miss the entertainingly dysfunctional Fishers when they leave us.

I was going to write about how much I love children’s books next, but this post is already too damn long so I’ll leave it for another time. The next week is going to be insanely busy – we have plans every day between now and next Friday. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to blog and fill you in on what the heck is keeping us so occupied. Have a good weekend!