Parents Over-doting on their Children
This past weekend my husband's best friend, his wife, and 9 month old baby came to stay with us.
On Sunday, my DH's best friend suggested that we go to the zoo. I asked if we could possibly do an alternate activity because DH and I had recently gone to the zoo and had spent hours there. In addition, the zoo was $15 per person, and I could think of many more things I'd rather waste $30 on.
DH's friend told me condescendingly, "The point of the outing isn't what we do, it's spending time with each other. We'd like to take our baby to a kid-friendly place."
I'm not an idiot, I know that they want to spend time with us, and I understand that it's not necessarily the place, it's also the company that matters. What he doesn't realize is that I'm not so keen on their company to begin with. Plus, the second days of succos were starting the next day, and because they were in town, I wouldn't be able to do any of my cooking and cleaning until monday.
Of course, they got their way, and we went to the zoo. It was extremely crowded because of a halloween carnival, and about a million dressed up children were crowding the place.
Do you think we actually spent any quality time with this couple????? Almost ZERO. They spent the entire outing taking pictures of their baby in the same awkward poses. Could they leave the baby in the stroller so we could actually converse as adults and look at the animals? NO! They had to lug the baby around and point out all the animals to him, which he didn't give a damn about. Furthermore, the husband had just bought a new cell that gets TV channels, so guess what he was doing the entire time? Checking out the scores of the game, and checking up on his stupid fantasy football league.
I can understand that parents don't want to ignore their child. Fine, do what you have to do with him, but don't go overboard. Don't heckle me for months about how you hardly ever see me, and then when you finally get the opportunity, you spend the entire outing yapping to/and or about your child.
Parents need to understand that not all of their friends are as enamoured with their children as they themselves are. We don't mind hearing a few precious little anecdotes, but we crave adult conversation. We understand that you're new parents, and that your life now centers around this bundle of joy, but just as I know that my friends don't want to hear about my new husband constantly, we don't want to be regaled with tales of your child's every burp and fart.
Thanks.
On Sunday, my DH's best friend suggested that we go to the zoo. I asked if we could possibly do an alternate activity because DH and I had recently gone to the zoo and had spent hours there. In addition, the zoo was $15 per person, and I could think of many more things I'd rather waste $30 on.
DH's friend told me condescendingly, "The point of the outing isn't what we do, it's spending time with each other. We'd like to take our baby to a kid-friendly place."
I'm not an idiot, I know that they want to spend time with us, and I understand that it's not necessarily the place, it's also the company that matters. What he doesn't realize is that I'm not so keen on their company to begin with. Plus, the second days of succos were starting the next day, and because they were in town, I wouldn't be able to do any of my cooking and cleaning until monday.
Of course, they got their way, and we went to the zoo. It was extremely crowded because of a halloween carnival, and about a million dressed up children were crowding the place.
Do you think we actually spent any quality time with this couple????? Almost ZERO. They spent the entire outing taking pictures of their baby in the same awkward poses. Could they leave the baby in the stroller so we could actually converse as adults and look at the animals? NO! They had to lug the baby around and point out all the animals to him, which he didn't give a damn about. Furthermore, the husband had just bought a new cell that gets TV channels, so guess what he was doing the entire time? Checking out the scores of the game, and checking up on his stupid fantasy football league.
I can understand that parents don't want to ignore their child. Fine, do what you have to do with him, but don't go overboard. Don't heckle me for months about how you hardly ever see me, and then when you finally get the opportunity, you spend the entire outing yapping to/and or about your child.
Parents need to understand that not all of their friends are as enamoured with their children as they themselves are. We don't mind hearing a few precious little anecdotes, but we crave adult conversation. We understand that you're new parents, and that your life now centers around this bundle of joy, but just as I know that my friends don't want to hear about my new husband constantly, we don't want to be regaled with tales of your child's every burp and fart.
Thanks.
posted by Mir @ 4:28 PM
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