Wednesday, November 16, 2011

I was an 80's mom

 So I was just over at Mommy Shorts reading her guest blog written by Julie C. Gardner from By Any Other Name.  Julie wrote a wonderful piece comparing having a baby today to having a baby waaay back in the 90's when Julie became a mom.  Well, naturally this made me think of how much has changed since I had my two cuties back in the 80's.

Here's what I wrote:

Ah, I was having babies back in the days before baby monitors, and I never had an ultrasound. Those were the olden days, all the way back in the 80's! This was back in the day when disposable diapers were for special occasions, and the big debate was whether it was worse to dump diapers in the landfill or use all that hot water washing cloth diapers. I understand we've come back to that question again. I thought I had settled it when I had my second child and decided the earth could handle Pampers better than I could handle another round of diapers on the clothesline.

I'm now in the period of discovering that being a grandma is just like being a mom but better. A grandma is just as full of love but so much less inclined to question every parenting decision. Grandmas don't lie awake and worry about being good grandmas. Because being a grandma just IS good.

Everyone should be a grandparent because it is the best thing in the world! Let that thought carry you through the times when you're tempted to leave your kids by the side of the freeway. If you ever want grandkids, you have to keep the kids you've got.


  1. That's good to remember! I may need to write that on a sticky! "Must keep kids, don't leave them on the freeway!" (and another sticky will say "Pay back is a bitch. WAHAHAHA!)

  2. momnextdoor, excellent notes to self. For an example of the joy of annoying adult children, be sure to see my post here:

  3. I won't be a grandmother for many, many years and by that time I probably won't remember my name...but this post is completely fabulous. Love the lesson.

  4. Tracy, it just feels like your brain is dying during the toddler years. You'll remember that your name is not Mommy at some point. But at that point you won't remember what you did with the car keys.

