Back in October we were hanging out at Rick and Jessica’s house and Eli looking for something to amuse himself with, crawled in to Molly’s crate.
In response, Geof posted that he wondered when the hate mail would come.
It came today, Geof, and it only took ten months.
When I read the email in my inbox this morning I had a moment of terror. “Child Services” are words that no thinking, feeling parent ever wants to hear. But then I realized that I had just experienced a “Drive By Mom-ing.” This is where some well meaning soul thinks it’s ok to give out parenting advice on the internet. Now, I know, I know, we’re putting this stuff out there so I guess in some ways, we’re asking for it.
But people, come on! It only takes about two minutes reading our blog to realize that we do silly stuff with our kids all the time. Eli invents it, we’re just there to take the photos for posterity. In fact, when I was looking at the photos again just now, Eli said, “There’s me in the crate! Show me the pictures again!” As if it were some favorite game he’d just remembered.
Seriously, there’s a lot of bad people out there who do a lot of bad stuff to kids. The women who posted said she had just seen something on tv where people were keeping kids in dog crates. I don’t doubt it. Injustice of this sort makes me crazy.
I wish instead of Drive By Mom-ing us, the poster had spent some of her time helping out with a legitimate organization that gives aid to children. Here’s a list of 620 organizations that work with children and probably need your dollars to help. Some 180 of them have a four star rating, which means that the charity “Exceeds industry standards and outperforms most charities in its Cause.” If you have a spare few minutes today, find one that suits you and get involved.
I’ll be spending some time today basking in the glow of my hate mail. Geof’s been teasing me about wanting to be Heather when I grew up. Does this mean I’ve made it? I don’t think so quite yet. For that to happen, I’d have to end this post with something about going to retrieve my baby from her crate.
4 Comments
ARGH, you put your child in a crate, and then write this! You people, with your Collage degrees, and fancy high tech computer thingies. And now children in a crate!
Wait, thats not right, Oh I am on the “Live Granades” blog, not the Live HANDgrandes. Whhops, I meant that hate mail for somebody else. Sorry.
Ps. Totally cute pictures, I KNOW my son will do strange things, that if other people saw would NOT understand. Of course I do feel that training dogs and raising a child are similar.
Congratulations on your hate mail, I hope my blogs gets some real hate mail soon.
KE
… or poop. Never forget the poop.
[The other day, the Dooce post about the wall of photos? Do you know how I was dying laughing, thinking about your wall in the living room?]
That involved remarkably little crying, and no laser level whatsoever.
It just involved me planning it out on graph paper, transferring everything to the wall with plumb bob, carpenter square, and pencil, and then drilling pilot holes.
As preschoolers my kids both loved playing in the giant (doberman-sized) dog crate their grandparents had in the den. Makes a very cozy house with a soft blanket on the floor, and it’s easy to spy on what the adults are doing.
Congrats on the hate mail, you must be doing something right.
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[...] Kids and Cages Go Together Like Apples and Razor Blades Posted by Stephen on June 4, 2009 – 12:57 pm Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Powered by WP Greet BoxSeveral years ago, Eli climbed into a dog cage, so of course we took a picture. Ten months later we got hate mail about it. [...]