Friday Frivolity - Yoga and the Modern Mother

The tendency of suburban mothers to partake regularly in yoga classes has been noted by marketers, scoffed at by some, defended by others, and by most accounts become a fixture of the suburban motherhood experience, much like taking up tennis, taking on home renovations, or subjecting oneself to hours at a hockey rink/indoor pool/soccer field for the sake of youth sports. So, when the New York Times published an article describing the tantric sex cult origins of yoga, and claiming that unknowing practitioners might become victims of "libidinal surprise," those of us who haven’t done a downward-facing dog in years had to wonder, Wow, maybe all those other mothers trotting about in yoga pants are on to something. Then again, maybe they’re not. Maybe they’re just too tired or too late to put on some actual pants. After all, no one has documented what percentage of people wearing yoga pants actually participate in yoga.

*image from someecards. 

School Pick Up or Sartrian Cocktail Party

The well mannered mother may vaguely remember earnest, angst ridden young men in cafes drinking espresso, smoking Gauloise and discussing Sartre.  The details are unimportant.   She might even remember reading Sartre's existentialist play No Exit.  And she just might, years later, find her mind flitting back to that play one clear cold afternoon as she stands waiting for her children to emerge from school.

For her children's school has what some laughingly call: cocktail party pick up.  Which is to say, there is no car line, or bus.  The parents (mostly mothers) either walk or drive and park to collect their offspring.  Of course in any clear thinking decade prior to our own the children would have been released and transported themselves home.  But that is another topic for another day.  {In the meantime visit Free Range Kids for a bit of parenting perspective.}  

Back to the modern mother at her cocktail party pick up.  It's delightful, friendly faces everywhere, people mingling and chatting about the upcoming symposium on hand holding.  Some cheery souls flitting from group to group - what a wonderful sense of community.  Or is it?  On occasion, of course.  Mostly she finds it very nice to see friends, neighbors. 

But she might have a day when she does not want to talk to anyone.  So she stands a little farther away and watches.  She might notice the other people standing back; is it a choice or do they not yet have a strong social network?  She might watch the body language of others as they move through the crowd smiling, waving, ignoring.  She might find it interesting how a group reacts when a newcomer arrives. 

The modern mother might wonder for a moment, how far she herself has come from her own school days.  Has she really studied, worked, traveled and endured raising small children to end up back in a school yard watching an awkward social structure at work? 

Of course not.  The modern mother has many more important things to think about.  Such as when is the next real cocktail party and how lucky she is to have not ended up with some Gauloise smoking, pseudo-intellectual. 

And hooray.  Her potentially mannerly children have arrived and they are off on the next adventure. 

Bringing Up Bebe Comes to Boston - Tomorrow!

Attention Bostonians:  Pamela Druckerman, author of the new parenting book, Bringing Up Bebe will be at the Brookline Booksmith tomorrow night.   The Boston Globe recently had this to say about the current state of parenting in, Helicopter parents take a rest.   If you can endure all the ads, it is an interesting piece.  Thanks to Lisa over at What 2 Wear When for the heads up. 

Lisa recently wrote about another French book no well mannered mother should be without called Parisian Chic. 

While thinking of things French, we thought we would show you this fun slide show one more time.  Here is "Kiki and Coco in Paris" by photographer Stephanie Rausser.

It never gets old. 

Friday Frivolity- Mealtime Humor

Even for the mother who loves to cook, the daily dinner preparation can be a grind. That's probably why this funny e-card has been bouncing around facebook. Should you find yourself similarly distraught in the near future, perhaps consulting this list of lesser known food holidays might provide some mealtime inspiration. Sadly, crab-stuffed flounder day has passed, but there's still time to celebrate National Clam Chowder Day and National Pistachio Day. 

Have a happy weekend! 

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!