Picket Fence Post

Things have been a bit chaotic over the past few days, what with some family drama (don’t ask), the never-ending slog of kids’ activities slowly sucking the life out of me, and trying to shoehorn actual work into the mix, never mind attending to volunteer efforts both The Spouse and I for some reason foolishly offered to do. Plus there was this fifth grade bread baking project we were supposed to complete over the weekend. The Girl actually completed the project on her own — with no help from her parents – but The Eldest Boy did not because, honestly, there was too much crap going on.

In the meantime, to make up for the lack of bloggy stuff, here are a few newsy items I’ve missed in the past few days:

– I had the pleasure of co-hosting the Manic Mommies podcast with Erin Kane last week. We talked about mid-season TV (Big Love, Lost, a bit of ranting about the current state of Grey’s Anatomy) and about our crazy kids’ activities (this was before family drama hit the Picket Fence Post household). You can download the podcast for free on iTunes, including where I called Erin by her co-host’s name, Kristin. Smooth move.

– It was with a heavy heart that I read the recent news stories about a teenage girl living in Massachusetts who committed suicide reportedly in the wake of cyberbullying. Adding to that was the fact that a local school district had an anti-bullying forum led by a Vermont father whose own 13-year-old son (two years younger than my twins) killed himself several years ago after he’d been bullied, and I’ve been wondering when the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is going to legally define bullying behavior with an anti-bullying law and when schools are going to start taking harassment seriously and not as a form of “conflict.” If sexual harassment in the workplace and acts which create a hostile workplace can be outlawed, certainly bullying/intimidating/humiliating harassment and acts which create a hostile learning environment should be as well.

– In a similar vein, the web site Parent Dish had a provocative post about parents who bully and name-call other parents online. Blogger Amy Hatch asked, “How can we teach our children be kind to one another when we can’t model that behavior in our own lives?”

– Completely changing subjects here . . . If you were among those who were once fond of watching Hope and Michael Steadman, Nancy and Elliot Weston, Ellyn Warren, Gary, Melissa and the crew from thirtysomething, you’ll be pleased to learn that season two of the 1980s/90s drama is now out on DVD. My Pop Culture column this week is about why, even though decades have passed since these episodes first aired, “. . . I can find no current TV dramas which capture the gloriously messy and stressful, day-to-day slog of child-rearing, work and marriage as deftly and incisively as this 21-year-old series did.” (As you can tell, “slog” was my preferred word of the week. . .)

Image credit: Dyna Moe/Nobody’s Sweetheart.

The other day while writing about what a good time I had at the mom-centric comedy show “One Funny Mother,” I suggested that parents raising young kiddos – moms specifically – are in dire need of humor. And after last night’s Grey’s Anatomy manipulative weep-a-thon of a season finale that left me feeling dirty and used by the time 11 o’clock rolled around (this was on top of a trio of Boston sports losses with the Celtics, Bruins & Red Sox), I know that I certainly could use some funny.

That’s when I decided; we need the Friday Funnies. Once a week I’ll post something amusing on this blog, whether it’s parentally-related or not. It can be an anecdote, a video (one found online or made by me or a blog reader), a photo, anything that makes you crack a smile. Because when you’re told, “You’re the best mom” and “You’re the worst, meanest mom in the world” by the same individual within a 10 minute span, you could use a hearty chuckle AT LEAST once a week.

To commence the weekly Friday Funnies installment, I’ve selected two items for your viewing pleasure. They’re brief videos from the snarky parenting web site Babble’s “50 Funniest Kid Videos Ever” list.

Favorite number one is actually an ad for an insurance company, but the kids are adorable and ramble on innocently:

Favorite number two is a toddler Phillies fan “leading” a crowd in a cheer:

If you have any suggestions for an item for the Friday Funnies, please e-mail them to me at: meredithobrien@hotmail.com.

Friday Funnies . . . because parents need to laugh. At least once a week.

Okay, so we’re all aware that the economic news is downright depressing these days. Some times, I just don’t want to know how much the Dow dropped in a given day or how many more thousands of jobs just evaporated.

And with all this worrying and people holding onto their wallets more tightly, it’s only natural that folks would start to hunker down in their houses and not go out as much. Broadcasting & Cable just reported that TV viewing is up, with the average viewer watching 151 hours/month compared to 140 hours/month in 2008 and 145 hours/month in 2007.

This got me wondering for my Pop Culture column at Mommy Track’d this week: What are moms with young kids watching on TV these days? I talked to nine Bay State moms, with kids ages 2-10, to find out.

TV shows mentioned most by the moms: Grey’s Anatomy, Friday Night Lights, The Office, 30 Rock, Desperate Housewives, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Private Practiceand Brothers & Sisters.

What are YOU watching?

Image credit: ABC.

Item #1: No ‘Bliss’ for Real Moms

Galt Niederhoffer wants all of you mommies to knock it off with your mommy propaganda, saying stuff like “motherhood is bliss” because, as she says on The Huffington Post, it’s not. In her post entitled, “The Bliss Myth: Cut the Crap Mommies,” Niederhoffer wrote:

“Why not acknowledge that frustration, boredom, guilt and ambivalence are universal, unavoidable facets of motherhood? Sharing will make us better and happier mothers, affording women the comfort of community and the benefit of shared information — the very tools we need to transcend motherhood’s challenges.”

Well, if Niederhoffer had been reading the Picket Fence Post, she would’ve never gotten the misguided notion that parenthood is bliss. Maybe I should e-mail her a few links to places where she can get a reality check on what real, non-blissed-out parenting is like here on Planet Earth.

Item #2: Family Meals Good for Parents Too

Speaking of real parenting . . . Slate’s Emily Bazelton tells us that while we’ve all heard about how absolutely fantastic and grounding it is for children to sit down with their parents for family meals each night — family-meal-eating kids are less likely to get into trouble, are more likely to feel closer to their family, get higher grades, become rocket scientists, etc. – it’s also good for parents too. Bazelton wrote:

“The research by lead author Jenet Jacob of Brigham Young University found that among 1,580 parents who worked at IBM, those who said their jobs interfered less with being home for dinner tended to feel greater personal success, and success in relationships with their spouses and their children. The working parents — both mothers and fathers — had all of these buoyant feelings if they made it home for dinner more regularly, even if they still worked long hours. They also felt more kindly toward their workplace.”

I know I’d certainly feel better if The Spouse were home more often for family meals, then I wouldn’t be the only one to develop a migraine when the kids say they utterly loathe what I’ve made for dinner (there’s always at least one protester per meal), then watch them sulk and, in at least the case of one child, literally throw up all over the kitchen table in order to avoid eating the baked chicken. Good times.

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Three for Thursdays (or Four for Fridays if I don’t post on Thursday) will be a regular feature here on the Picket Fence Post. This feature will include newsy/fun/intriguing items that I stumbled upon in the past week. If you happen to see something — an interesting news story, a funny video, an outrage, etc. — that you think would be perfect for Three for Thursdays, please be sure to send it my way.

Item #1: Grey’s Finale

Will Meredith and Derek finally end the on-again/off-again romantic dance and commit already? Certainly the challenges of being a couple can provide drama and comedy, if it didn’t, then Mad About You would’ve been canceled after its pilot episode. Will Miranda figure out a way to repair her relationship with her estranged husband and reunite her family? Will Christina emerge from her “Like a Virgin”-singing funk? We’ll find out tonight in the Grey’s Anatomy finale. But, as with most bonus-sized finales — tonight’s show is two hours long — they tend to disappoint. Hopefully that won’t be the case tonight. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that nothing totally absurd will happen. Like Gizzie, part II.

Item #2: First-Born Rule-Followers and Their Strict ‘Rents

I KNEW IT! As the oldest child in my own family, I’ve always felt as though it’s harder to be the older kid than the younger one, even when you factor the hand-me-downs into the picture. Now a study in the latest issue of the Economic Journal confirms it.

“The study showed that older siblings were much less likely to drop out of school or, in the case of girls, get pregnant, than the youngest in the family, perhaps because of a lifetime of being held to higher standards,” reported MSNBC. “That stricter parenting style [used with the older child] often shapes the first-born kid into a play-by-the-rules perfectionist.”

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Catch Grey’s Anatomy last week, the episode in which Dr. Miranda Bailey’s toddler got booted out of Seattle Grace’s daycare center for punching a fellow toddler in a dispute involving a graham cracker?

This episode was just one in a long line of episodes which focused on the immense difficulty the Bailey character is having balancing her desire to do some serious medical butt-kicking as Seattle Grace’s chief resident, with the desire of her estranged at-home spouse to spend some time with him and their child. The successful career professional pitted against the resentful at-home spouse who feels neglected.

I discuss this Grey’s Anatomy/working parent story line in my latest Mommy Track’d piece and ask the questions: Do you sympathize with the characters in their struggle? Do you wish there were more workplace flexibility? or is this just the way things are when your kids are little?

Image credit: ABC.

ABC Thursday: Could this be the making of a new, must-see TV night? Thursdays, 9-11 p.m. with Grey’s Anatomy at 9, followed by Lost at 10?

The first, post-writers’ strike episodes of both programs aired last night (I could watch without feeling guilty for missing a Red Sox game as, sadly, the Olde Towne Team had already lost earlier in the day) and I was more giddy than I should have been about seeing the new shows. I kept my expectations in check, though, as nothing good comes from having high expectations about one’s favorite TV shows.

Grey’s was satisfactory and, thank God, no longer featured the wretched, unwise and now-ended Gizzie (the coupling of George and Izzie). While I loved seeing Miranda Bailey’s toddler son in his backwards baseball cap (too cute!), I was impressed by the fact that Meredith Grey was given a spine. At least for one episode.

As for Lost, I continue to be simultaneously confounded and intrigued by each new episode and have no earthly idea how this whole thing’s going to end. For every new question that’s answered, the show yields 10 more. I’m just hopeful that the loose ends all tie up logically when the show concludes or else I’ll be mighty peeved.

The only thing that would’ve made my TV viewing night better — other than a Sox victory — would’ve been if The Office and 30 Rock aired in the 8 o’clock hour rather than in the 9 o’clock hour, opposite Grey’s so I could watch all of those programs in one night. (Good thing for my trusty DVR which recorded the comedies for me . . . one of the best gifts ever.) But even if The Office and 30 Rock aired earlier, I wouldn’t be able to watch them live anyway because my three kiddos are still wide awake at 8 p.m. I definitely don’t want my grade schoolers watching 30 Rock and then asking me what the word “MILF” means.

Speaking of 30 Rock . . . its star, Tina Fey, is headlining a new movie, Baby Mama, being released today. I’m planning on seeing it tonight with a gal pal to see if it’s as hilarious and politically incorrect as its trailer.

So, now it’s your turn: What TV shows are you watching? Which ones are you following, now that the TV writers are once again writing?

Image credit: ABC.