Rites of Passage for the Modern Mom

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Came across this blog on Saturday morning. The kids were still sleeping at 7:30, but I wasn't. So of course, I am a modern mommy and headed to the computer. To be fair I did enjoy a cup of coffee (slowly and sweetly). To be honest, even if I did something like "pleasure read" I'd be doing it on my kindle anyways.

I think she is right on about these major rites as modern moms. I have gone through all of these (except maybe the public shaming...although I don't think I am immune) and actually probably experienced most of them multiple times.

The internet can be a very, very scary place when your kid isn't acting "normal." When they are newborns it is especially frightening. What could be just a normal case of the sniffles could literally become pneumonia (in your head after you've read a few internet posts). Just recently Lucy had a rash. The doctor confirmed it was normal and harmless, but that didn't stop me from scouring the internet and viewing pictures of other kids' rashes for hours. Could she have scarlet fever? Maybe, probably...let me look at 10 disgusting pictures and figure it out. Update: Lucy's rash is gone...it was solved by buying "special" ($$$) lotion. Apparently she survived scarlet fever (this time around).

Another thing that has bothered/haunted/stressed me is the trend of particular baby milestone pictures. Even though I was one of the first of my "circle" to have a baby I always felt (and continue to feel) like I don't know the trends with social media pictures. My husband and I aren't into professional photo shoots and I literally just didn't know you were supposed to track your baby's growth by putting 1 month, 2 month, 3 month stickers next to them and a big teddy bear. Literally, where did people learn this? Where do you get those chalkboards and the good hand-writing? I am totally ill-equipped.

I know many older moms (grandmas?) say often that they "never had any of these toys, carriers, strollers, etc. when they had their kids). That's true...we have so many gadgets that make mothering so much easier. Yet, do we really have it easier with all of these other things at our disposal?

 I wonder...

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