A few thoughts a day late on what is undoubtedly a banner moment for Time Magazine (I mean, I subscribe to it still, but honestly, when's the last time anyone around your office was walking around talking about something they read in Time? Just doesn't happen anymore, this Baby Sucking Tit Cover is a huge coup for them).
1. Some typical mother in typical mom jeans was 100% not making this cover, lets get that straight right now. The editors knew what they were doing here. This fit, good looking mom walked through the doors talking about how her 3 year old still sucks on her boob and they probably couldn't set up the camera tripod's fast enough.
2. This picture has absolutely nothing do with the article. Nothing. I read the thing front to back. It mentions breast feeding past what you'd consider a normal age once or twice, no more than a paragraph of words spent on it. Anyone at Time says they didn't use this cover to boost sales as a shock factor is flat out lying.
3. This paragraph pretty much sums up the main point of the article (regarding overly attached mothering): "It's called attachment parenting, and its rise over the past two decades has helped redefine the modern relationship between mother and baby. It's not just staunch devotees like Joanne; the prevalence of this philosophy has shifted mainstream American parenting toward a style that's more about parental devotion and sacrifice than about raising self-sufficient kids."...I mean that sums it up. Parents hovering over children's every move, kids growing up not knowing how to change a tire, wash their clothes, pay bills, or churn butter in the old Amish traditional way.
4. This whole over-parenting discussion got me thinking about this weeks episode of Modern Family where Lily was tethered by a leash to her parents...Let me say this, I'm not for overparenting, that won't be my style, but I'm 100% on board with the leash. Who wants to chase their kids around all day? What's with all the dirty looks folks? You either tether them to you with your hand, let them run wild like the parents who treat Wal-Mart and Target as their day care, or you can give them some freedom without them running wild and annoying the fuck out of strangers just trying to buy some Old Spice Swagger Deodorant and race home in time for American Idol...Put your kids on a leash folks.
5. There's a portion in this article about how the more time spent with mom, the more well adjsuted the kid turns out...While I'm sure it's true that abandoning your child isn't a good move, I'd have to think this is all a sliding scale, for instance...
If you're a boy and old enough to remember sucking your mom's boob, you're not going to be well adjusted. You'll probably spend the majority of your 20's collecting girls stray hairs during your classes as a Woman's Studies major and turning them into miniature dolls that you fantasize about.
6. Another thing - there's another section about "Jungle Babies." Babies in the Amazon and how their mothers carry them in slings, they don't cry as often, and the children are more obedient than us gringos...Someone brilliantly decided that's because their moms are always carrying them every where and attentative to their every need...
I call bullshit...not on all of it, like I said, ignoring your babies needs probably isn't a good thing. But there's external factors going on with these Jungle babies too. For instance, if a mom just left a jungle baby to play on the ground all day, fire ants would attack it. If a jungle baby spent all day crying, it's likely that leopard would hunt it down and eat it. If children in the Amazon disobey their parents when Mom and Dad say something ridiculous like "if you don't do as we say, you'll get eaten by a gigantic snake," that kid will probably get eaten by a gigantic snake. It's the Amazon. These things presumably happen.
