I just read another article about hip parents today. Such articles always feature people who proclaim that they did not lose their hipness when they became parents! Their baby furniture is inspired by mid-century modern classics! They dress their babies in t-shirts with hip, knowing references!
They doth protest too much.
I drive a minivan and I am not one bit embarrassed about it. In fact, my husband tried to convince me to buy one before we had a baby. It seems, in his bicycle racing circles, minivans are de rigeur for several practical reasons. "Oh, come on. All the other guys have one."
The aforementioned article disses two very functional items that I used a great deal. The changing table is a real backsaver. (I used plastic bins on its shelves in lieu of a dresser so it took no extra floorspace at all.) The diaper warmer is one of those devices that we didn't ever imagine we would use. Some more experienced parents bought us one and we laughed when we opened the package. But, if you have ever put a cold wipe on a winter baby's bottom in the middle of the night, you know the worth of a wipe warmer. With a warm wipe, you can actually change a baby while keeping her half asleep. Try putting a cold wipe to a baby's bottom in the middle of the winter and leave me a comment about how well you slept that night.
Sure, the type of parents in the article "would rather take their vacations in Costa Rica than Orlando." I was horribly disappointed that my husband and daughter were not able to accompany me to Costa Rica this November. A Costa Rican family vacation does appeal to us. But, my kid has been bugging me to see a satellite launch and my husband has professed a curiousity about Epcot center. Hip or not, Orlando is in our future.
keyword: modern motherhood
I read that article too. I wanted to hate them all, but they actually seemed like a pretty happy family.
ReplyDeleteAt the risk of sounding tragically hip, I do admire mid-century modern baby furniture, and I will never buy another minivan (our family's was a horrible car to drive and we all hated it). My secret desire is to drive my kids around in a VW bus if there are too many to fit in the hatchback.
I've never seen a wipe warmer, but it does seem like a changing table or equivalent height surface is useful. I babysat for a couple who used a changing pad on the bathroom counter and that seemed to work well enough.