Parentitlement

We live in a culture of entitlement, there is no doubt about it. Recently the one that irritates me the most is the entitlement of parents.

Why is it that some people have kids and when they find out how much it sucks they suddenly feel like the world owes them everything?  Is this surprising coming from a parent?  It shouldn't be.  This parentitlement pisses me off because it's stupid.  It pisses me off because it's selfish.  But more than anything it pisses me off because, as a parent, I am associated with these assholes.

It's embarrassing.

In case you are lucky enough to not know what I'm talking about I have decided to highlight for you some of the most face-punch deserving bullshit you are likely to run into with the modern parent.

Childism.  This term is used to describe prejudice against children.  Linguistically, this does't really make sense to me.  If you are anything-ist it usually means you are in favour of that thing.  Feminists are in favour of women.  Racists are in favour of their own race and sexists are in favour of their own sex.  Shouldn't this be adultism?  Am I the only one who thinks this is stupid?

There is a lot going on with this term that I don't like.  I don't like that it puts "childism" on the same level as homophobia and racism.  I don't like that it claims that any time a parent puts their own needs ahead of their child's needs it is some kind of abuse.  But I do believe that the intent behind the term is a good one and is born from a desire to protect the vulnerable from slavery and abuse.

And so I think it takes a special kind of asshole to fling "childist" at people who have the audacity to plan an Adults Only event or who want to eat in an expensive restaurant without the wails of a child providing the ambiance.  Because let's be real here: these assholes are not complaining about prejudice against their kids....they are complaining because life is different for them now that they have kids. 

Special Holidays.  You might be thinking I've got it in for Mother's Day now.  Wrong.  I love Mother's Day best out of all the holidays.  It fulfills my holiday longings in every way.  So it really boggled my mind to discover that some idiot dreamed up "Please Take My Children to Work Day"  Otherwise known as "Stay at Home Mother's Day".  Because she is too stupid to celebrate Mother's Day properly she had to go and create a special day for a very special kind of Mother.  And her response to all those working moms she pissed off?  They should go and make their own holiday. 

But there are all kinds of special moms.  How about special holidays for moms who need it even more than us run of the mill working or stay at home moms?  We should have a Single Mother's Day and a Mother of Multiples Day and a Mother of Special Needs Children Day.  In fact why not have just one very inclusive day that says to all mother everywhere that we think they are special and deserving of a special holiday?  Oh, we already do.  It's called Mother's Day.

Stroller Wars.  I have a confession to make.  I'm a mom and I hate strollers.  Whenever I see a mom on the bus with a designer baby-tank I feel a muted kind of rage (but then I do have anger issues).  I feel that it is important for me to come out and say this because the bitches who are attempting to defend their idiotic choice in infant transportation always assume that it is only "selfish childless people" who complain against them.  It isn't.  I do most of my traveling by bus, I have indeed needed to make use of a stroller when doing so and still I say that your giant ass stroller is unnecessary and stupid.  There are only a few cases where I will not judge:  if you have twins, triplets, or a special needs child.  But that's pretty much it.

The truth of the matter is we have choices.  Instead of the baby-van I chose a little umbrella model and a good infant carrier.  Yeah, it sucked for awhile but I did it out of consideration for other travelers as well as myself. With my itsy bitsy fold down stroller I never was told there wasn't enough room on the bus.  It wasn't easy or convenient but it was temporary.   That kind of makes it easier to deal with.  That and knowing that you aren't making life more difficult for those whose conditions are not temporary.

So it is not just the "selfish" childless people but other parents as well.  You want to talk about who's selfish?  People like this woman who refused to accommodate a wheelchair user when asked.  Or people like these moms who felt that it wasn't enough to inconvenience the people riding the bus but had to involve the police and public transit employees as well as causing a big traffic jam for an hour.  It's becoming quite political, too.  On one side of the debate you have elderly/disabled people telling us about what it's like for them to be passed over in favour of able-bodied stroller-moms  and on the other side you have a bunch of grown women going, "Waaaaaa!"

Way to set an example for the next generation, ladies.