All the cool kids at work are giving their two cents about this Time Magazine article about hipster parents. Given the title I chose for my blog (never mind the intent behind the choice, it is what it is), and given that Time slanders the fine people who keep me in yarn and pinot noir, I should probably say what I think.
And what I think is this: people really like to label things. They also really like to ridicule other people's labels for things. Then they get defensive when they're labeled and defensive when their labels for things are called into question. Somehow it was okay for our grandparents to make our parents sit through Lawrence Welk, and it was okay for our parents to dress us in little plaid leisure suits and wretched Gunne Sax church dresses, but it's not okay for me to put my kids in Chuck Taylors and be pleased that they like the White Stripes. That's cause for derision, which makes me cranky, which makes me cranky for caring, which makes me hope that the Time article draws a lot of traffic to Babble and makes us all fabulously famous and wealthy so I can buy more pinot and chill out.
I've got a theory as to why the "hipster parent" is such a problem for both the people so labeled and the people doing the labeling. It's a theory with roots in high school dynamics. But explaining it would cause more problems than it would solve, so you'll just have to ponder your own youth and your own sense of place and see where that gets you.
I will be here, raising kids in the shadow of the city, using technology as a means of documenting their lives, being unafraid to say "fuck".
Why do we have to have labels at all? Every generation of "older" people think they were the only ones to do it right. Our parents thought we were horrible at raising kids. Our grandparents thought they were blithering idiots. I think you are doing a damn fine job on my grands. I think they will be open-minded little people with an entire world at their feet to do with what they want. I KNOW I made mistakes with my kids. I am hoping that you make different ones than me. Isn't that how the world goes round?
Posted by: Grammy | February 10, 2007 at 08:42 PM
Because ever since Adam, humans have had a need to put names on things.
Posted by: patti | February 10, 2007 at 08:44 PM
How can you leave this lurker hanging without explaining your theory? Boo! I wanna know what you really think, trouble and all :0)
Posted by: wife mom maniac | February 10, 2007 at 11:58 PM
God, where can I get a Grammy? (The Staples Center?) That maternal validation must feel really good, Patti. I am not saying that to be all neener neener, I just love Grammy and how she loves you.
Posted by: Mrs. Blue | February 11, 2007 at 11:41 PM
I just started my daughter in Kindermusik. All the other parents were listing classical composers as their child's favorite music to listen to. I was getting some strange looks when I said she liked the sound track to Gray's Anatomy and Spoon. Thankfully someone else said that their kid liked Leonard Skinner. Also I would like to give a shout out to all the hipster dads out there that are actually participating in raising their kids and not just chalking it up to women's work as many generations in the past did.
Posted by: papa-dtnm | February 12, 2007 at 08:26 AM
I would truly like you to go back to writing about the grands. This is where I usually get my stories for your Grandparents. They mostly want to know how their Great Grandchildren are doing. They don't really want to know about me or you. It is all about the babies.
Posted by: Grammy | February 12, 2007 at 10:21 AM
Please, mom. It is clear that while people may have come for the kids, they have stayed in hopes that I'll write something about jelly beans.
Posted by: patti | February 12, 2007 at 10:45 AM
If you write about the kids eating jellybeans you'll satisfy everyone. :) As you once told me, "Follow your bliss" in deciding what you write about.
Posted by: Green | February 12, 2007 at 11:27 AM
And papa, I agree about the dads. Coparenting has come a long, long way and it's a pleasure to behold. Even in families like mine where it's the mother who is the primary caregiver, the dads' involvement is on a totally different level than what I observed as a kid, in my own family of origin and in others. It's a great step forward and these kids are going to benefit from it.
Posted by: patti | February 12, 2007 at 11:37 AM
can you just tell me what a "grup" is?
hehe, hipster.
Posted by: Desertbitch | February 13, 2007 at 10:50 PM
Silly, a grup in a startrek word for Grown up.
Posted by: Grammy | February 15, 2007 at 06:29 PM
Bah, I say. No need to be cranky on behalf of this nonsensical crap. As long as you keep saying what you think—in print, no less—someone's sure to get twisted about it.
Meanwhile, the rest of us will keep on coming back for more. Jelly beans, mmmmmmmm.
Posted by: The Other Stephanie | February 15, 2007 at 06:52 PM