Short Order Cook Syndrome

To the modern mother of multiple children, school day breakfast can be one of the more chaotic times of day. Someone wants pancakes and someone else wants cereal.  All the clean bowls are in the dishwasher which needs to be unloaded and in the mean time, there’s an English muffin burning in the toaster. Then, someone spills a glass of milk and, well, you know the story.

How did this happen? How did the modern mother become a short-order cook? And more importantly, why can't the children just make their own breakfast? Even better, why can't we all just be more like the French and have pain au Chocolat?

Well, this modern mother just stumbled across what must surely be the most painfully obvious solution to short order cook syndrome: the breakfast schedule. Each child nominates a food and it goes on the weekly schedule. Monday, it's pancakes all around. Tuesday, it's cereal day. Wednesday is for English muffins, and so on.  The next step of course would be to have the children prepare the food independently while the modern mother sips her tea and reads the headlines. Right. Maybe they could master that after a trip to Paris. 

February Winner

Congratulations to Kathleen Cervone for signing up to follow us on Google.  We will ship you a copy of Bringing Up Bebe.  Please email us at info@mannersformothers.com with your shipping address.  Thanks for reading.  Happy Monday.

Friday Frivolity

What could make your abode more mannerly than the upcoming Special Edition of Domino Magazine our friends over at Kelly Green Interiors mentioned the other day?  It is due on news stands April 17th. 

To the extent that looking better means feeling better the girls over at What2WearWhen are busy Demystifying Personal Shopping for us all.  Meanwhile Allison at Daily Outfit gets right to the heart of the matter with her piece What Does Your Lingereie Say For You?

Friend Sona sent us this chuckle earlier in the week and frankly we just can't stop laughing every time we look at it.

Of course, the French vs. non-French parenting debate rages on with our favorite rebuttal being Why 70s parents are Better than French Parents a la the Huffington Post.  Should you wish to bypass any debate may we recommend this clever video How to Fake French.

Don't forget to sign up to follow us on Google by the end of the day and be entered to win Bringing Up Bebe.  

Merci, bon week-end!

February Give Away - Parenting like the French

Happy Monday.  Did you see the piece in the WSJ this weekend titled Why French Parents are Superior?  There is a book coming out this week called Bringing Up Bebe, One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting.  We think it looks like a fun read.

Sign up to follow us on Google by Friday, February 10th (just click the Google Friend Connect button on the lower right side of our site - it looks like the picture below)

and you will be entered to win a free copy of the book!  The winner will be posted next Monday.

Friday Frivolity - The Downton Effect

What is it about Downton Abby, the wildly successful BBC Miniseries currently in its second season on Masterpiece Classic?  Laurel Ann of the blog Austen Prose describes the show's allure in this wonderful piece.  This modern mother knows she just can't get enough. 

At its core the series is about the house and what this generation of Cawleys will do to preserve it.  And honestly, given the beauty of the place, can one blame them?  Set in Edwardian England prior to and during WWI the story has it all.  Upstairs, downstairs, intrigue, romance, soldiers, communists, dreamers, heiresses, nurses and, possibly best of all, Maggie Smith as the determined Dowager Countess of Grantham.

Acknowledging the show's win for best Miniseries at the Golden Globes and the 4.2 million US viewers (more than Mad Men!) who tuned in live for the PBS premier of Season II in January - what's going on here?  Ben East takes a stab at explaining this phenomenon here.  He is right of course, it is a wonderful story, with a ending yet unknown.  Julian Fellowes, the creator of the show as well as the fab movie Gosford Park is at the height of his art form.  But why now?  And why in America?  It can't be just the 1% watching, now can it?

We have a theory, of course.  After years of "reality" TV, Americans are ready for a bit of decorum.  The viewing public (this probably does not include you, dear reader - being a bit more highbrow than the average viewer)  has discovered that a story can be compelling when the characters are elegantly dresses, and totally lacking in tatoos.  There is something very heartening (we believe) in watching characters struggle to contain emotion in the face of adversity rather than throwing a tantrum.

So whatever draws you to Downton Abby we hope you have as much fun with it as we're having.

Happy Weekend.

Pictures from Google Images

The Maternal Arms Race

 Even the most well mannered and confident mother can get a bit wobbly at times.  No matter how put-together, the modern mother can occasionally have doubts.  Her children are well behaved,  good students and they participate in after school activities.  Yet there she stands, one sunny afternoon, blindsided by a group of mothers engaged in some sort of maternal arms race determined to out-do each other with the myriad of extracurricular, athletic, artistic and pseudo-academic pursuits in which their under-10 children are participating.  Couched as laments such as, "I don't know how I'm going to get my children to all their activities this weekend,"  or "I just wish the school could teach math at Avery's level, then I wouldn't have to be dragging her to Russian Math twice a week..."  these comments are intended to expose the brilliance of one's children and the many sacrifices of their fabulous and selfless mother.   By the time we encountered a friend after a recent episode, she was shell-shocked and, even worse, doubting her own excellent parenting philosophy.  Ridiculous.  We know.  She knows.  You know too, dear reader.  Yet, everyone has been there.  One wonders did those other mothers come away from the encounter feeling better about themselves?  Was such bravado comforting to anyone in that collective? 

We happened across a blog recently called breed 'em and weep.  It is written by a single mother in Western Massachusetts who is struggling.   She is struggling to find the meaning in her separation,  struggling to raise her children, struggling to keep her house and pay her bills.  This piece the road more taken, puts a lot of things in perspective.

Friday Frivolity - Leaving Home

Oh the trials and travails of separation.  As this clever you tube video  illustrates, it does get easier.   Happy Weekend! 

Thanks to our friend Sarah for sharing this!