Monthly Archives: July 2010

It seems like only yesterday that I was lamenting about not being able to afford pre-school. Due to the outrageously expensive options available in New York City, I was resigned to the fact that I was going to skip pre-school altogether.

But then I found an affordable option. Ari goes one day a week and I attend with him. When we first entered the school I began to get nervous. Most of the other kids were following directions, meanwhile when I told Ari he had to sit in a chair he screamed and ran in the other direction.

But the head of the school reassured me:
“Don’t worry,” she said “let him play and when he sees you participating, he’ll come around and join us.” So I did. I let him go off and play with a train set. Eventually he became interested in what the group was doing and wandered over of his own volition.

Here are some of the things Ari did today:

• Played with choo-choo trains
• Participated in a group art project where the kids created a rain storm out of collage paper, cotton balls, blue and sidewalk chalk.
• Played musical chairs where no one was out
• And finally had loads of free-play time with which he located every vehicle in the place (including cars trains and boats) and hoarded them for himself.

It was a great time. We came home and he fell asleep immediately. In fact he is still napping at this very moment and it’s been three hours.

I can’t wait to see what we do next week!

A copy of New York Magazine was lying in the lobby of my building. The cover displayed a provocative title: “Why Parents Hate Parenting.” I thought to myself: what a terribly negative article. I want nothing to do with it.

But then I saw the magazine again in a waiting room, and my curiosity got the best of me. I read it, and I stand by my initial opinion. It is a negatively charged article riddled with studies that conclude that being a parent does not increase your level of life happiness, but rather has the potential to make you more unhappy. Like I needed to read that!

One of the most uplifting quotes (can you feel my sarcasm) is this one: “Mothers are less happy than fathers, single parents are less happy still.”

The article told me things I already know like: ” Today’s married mothers also have less leisure time (5.4 fewer hours per week); 71 percent say they crave more time for themselves…”
I don’t need New York Magazine to tell me that I never get a break, my job as mother is 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And you know what, New York Magazine? If you care so much about making me happy, come to my house and give me some time off. Let me go to the movies or get a pedicure!

If you see this article and you’re a parent, read it if you must, but know that it probably won’t tell you anything you don’t already know, and it might make you crankier than you already are in this 103 degree weather in New York City.