All Out of Snark: The Problem of Hip Parenting…
Posted
January 16, 2007 at
1:08 pm by
Redsy
As a recent contributor to Nerve.com’s new parenting blog “Stroller Derby” I’ve been charged with reporting on recent events and developments with a hip and clever twist. I’m as keen on swearing as the next gal, and I find jokes about the number of drinks required to survive a snow day quite amusing.
But oh me oh my, even I am growing weary of my own cynicism. It is not Babble’s fault that I’m running out of steam. Twice daily blogging is exhausting, even if it is good for one’s Google ranking.
My initial intent, when I started writing CrankMama less than a year ago, was to give voice to what I felt was an underrepresented segment of the mothering world: the unpretty, non-knitting, domestically challenged working babes who were not always fascinated by the travails of the family bed or the joys of teaching their children Spanish before age two.
But I’m afraid I’ve merely swapped one dogma for another. Being hip and trendy is just as limited and defining as any religion, or quilting bee, or PTA meeting ever was. And maybe moreso because those of us circling around in this group are often laboring under the isolation and cynicism of our choices.
And missing the lovely beauty of our sweet elves as they grab at our legs and beg us away from our computers.
Tags: Humor, Parenting |
6 Responses to “All Out of Snark: The Problem of Hip Parenting…”
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1. thordora said:
January 16, 2007 @ 4:20 pm
Sadly, that’s why I really won’t be reading StrollerDerby. I’m so tired of “hip parents” it hurts.
2. Jessica said:
January 16, 2007 @ 5:46 pm
Well, my arguement has always been that the cyber-world thumbs their noses as mainstream parents, but guess what? You know who is the power demo?…Mainstream USA. Not people that think they’re too sexy and cool for the room. It’s too much work. Who has the time??
I mean, c’mon, I thought parents were adults. Shouldn’t we be worrying about our children and not how kewl we are?
Besides if you really are cool and hip, you shouldn’t have to say it.
3. Mom101 said:
January 17, 2007 @ 8:40 pm
I’m really glad to hear your assessment of this. I think the interesting thing is that the writers for stroller derby and babble in general already are hip. But once they’re writing under a masthead that proclaims hipness, something changes in their tones - it feels disingenuous. Maybe you just have to trust in who you are enough and know that even hip parents care about poop too. They just expect better grammar.
4. mothergoosemouse said:
January 27, 2007 @ 12:14 pm
I find a lot of the “hip parenting” writing to be tiresome, whether it’s short online essays or entire books by editorial-assistants-turned-authors. News flash (not directed at you personally, CrankMama): your kid isn’t the first to eat his own excrement, and you aren’t the first to be criticized for staying home and wasting your education (or the flip side, continuing to work and dooming your child to juvenile delinquency).
It’s hard to be punk rock when you’re changing a diaper or reading Goodnight Moon. Instead of snarking about it, why not just enjoy it?
5. margalit said:
January 28, 2007 @ 11:12 pm
When a corporation takes on a bunch of young mothers and orders them to be “hip” for the sake of making money, it is inevitably going to suck. Which is what happened at Babble. The first day people went over, looked at all the expletatives, and shook their heads in dismay. It wasn’t ‘hip’ it was, as Mom101 said, disingenuous. Fake as fake can be. It is a site that is limiting as all heck because it is just plain silly. It has no real depth to it other than to be snarky. There’s a time and a place for snark, but every post on a site? Ugh.
It just doesn’t work, and it sure sounds old, stale, and completely false.
6. Julie said:
January 30, 2007 @ 11:36 am
Following Mothergoosemouse’s link here. I agree with her point.
I wasn’t too keen on what I saw at Stroller Derby and Babble. Never ended up bookmarking and ultimately quit coming at all. Frankly, some of the comparisons between hip vs. nonhip and edgy versus normal parents get to be a tad offensive. I think mom101’s advice is sound.
I am interested in family bed, toilet training, and Spanish by age 2. That’s my life. Mom is a priority to me and these things are important for my kids, therefore, they are important to me. It’s that simple.