P,
I must admit to undying admiration for your newest policy positions. I only wonder whether you will soon apply this vocabulary to your own children. It is becoming harder to deny that my cherubs don’t notice the ever-widening disparity between the mothering down the street and that which they receive at this address. I am somewhat concerned that saying no to others may only encourage you to treat your children’s demands as an even higher priority–clearly jeopardizing my ever hardening parenting positions of, "Not now, not ever," as well as its closely related corollary, "Because I said so."
Now, you may think it is clearly unfair for me to expect you to follow my philosophical leanings just because we share the same block, but you really must think of all of our children as one larger family. For me, really, it’s as if we lived in a commune (without spouse swapping to be sure) or a communist society with totalitarian leanings in which the fate of one must closely follow the others. If not, revolt is certain–and frankly, with the sheer numbers I have in my home, your own security will surely be threatened.
So, while I embrace your baby steps, I only plead for additional movement in the direction of my own "tough love" philosophy where dogs, husbands and children are concerned. Would love to chat more, but I need to pull hubby out of our new minivan. He seems to have fallen for the voice of the woman who controls the navigational system. At least the new vehicle has a quite large rear end, so I don’t worry that he will make a long-term commitment.
Faithfully,
C.
