Something warm and fuzzy post Thanksgiving:
Well, maybe not so warm and fuzzy. I’m still not sure if these are cats, dogs, or bears.
September 29, 2011
Are the Childfree Missing Out?
I’ll admit that I’m not excerpting the most representative excerpt from this childless by choice video, but I can’t help highlighting this universally ingrained response:
Lots of women bond, especially in their 30s and 40s, over the fact that they have had children. So you’ve got a sort of common bond there that you can talk about. And if you meet someone who says, “I don’t want children,” I automatically think, “Why don’t you want children?” … I want to wheel my children out so that they can see how lovely and exciting they are. Somehow I sort of want to pursued them, that they’re missing out on something. (YouTube.com)
You can see the childfree interviewee recoil as she launches into this diatribe with gusto. In fact, the body language throughout this clip is eclipsed only by the accents!
What do you think? Are the childfree missing out?
Related articles
- How to Explain your Childfree Choice (whynokids.com)
- You’ll change your mind (whynokids.com)
- Baby Makers and Biology (whynokids.com)
- Two is Enough: Childless by Choice (whynokids.com)
- DINKs: Childfree By Choice (blogs.wsj.com)
September 27, 2011
I Don’t Hate Kids
I don’t hate kids. And I’m guessing that Steve Shives doesn’t hate kids either. After all, he’s created both a “Why I Hate Kids” video and a “Why I Like Kids” video for your lighthearted consumption. This tongue-in-cheek parade of reasons why he could hate kids is arguably inappropriate but strikes me as a reminder that loving kids or hating kids isn’t at the heart of the childfree/breeder divide. Far from it!
But like this Jam Hands post, exaggeration and laughter are a necessary and healthy part of the conversation. That said, here are a few of my favorites from Steve Shives “Why I Hate Kids” list:
- they are loud
- the really smart ones can take 3 or 4 years to learn how to wipe their own asses
- they take over your life
- they think black and white movies are boring
- they pee in their beds
- they get bored easily
- you have to watch them constantly
- they’re afraid of cooties and harmless insects but not guns
- most of them are too small and weak to get any real work out of
- they lack perspective
- they are expensive
- they stole Halloween
- they don’t get subtlety
- they don’t look good wearing glasses
- they get to piss in your face while you change their diaper, and you’re not even supposed to get mad
- they consume everything and produce nothing
- they speak openly of their bowel movements
It’s okay to laugh. It’s humor. We won’t tell your spouse. Or your kids! 😉
Related articles
- Do You Think Childfree Conversations Leave Out Childfree Men? (thebritgirl.com)
- Julie Bowen: I ‘Love and Hate’ My Kids! (inquisitr.com)
- Childfree – How Do You Cope With the Pressure to Procreate? (thebritgirl.com)
- Childfree: Just Why is Bad Behaviour Justified By Pregnancy and Parenthood? (thebritgirl.com)
- How Easy are Dating and Relationships for the Childfree? (thebritgirl.com)
September 24, 2011
Where Babies Come From
It’s time for a little visual food for thought. Is the stork the bird of war?
September 14, 2011
Doug Stanhope on Overpopulation
If you’re easily offended please do NOT watch comedian Doug Stanhope as he leaps from global warming to overpopulation to sodomy to minivans to abortion.
If you bristle when you hear four letter words uttered by a foolishly dressed man swilling beer, this video is not for you. You will be offended. Avoid the hurt, and skip this post. There are others…
But if you’d like to hear Doug Stanhope on overpopulation, if you suspect that abortion is green then you’re in for a wild ride. Enjoy!
September 12, 2011
Noni Hazlehurst Reads the F**kin’ Sleep Book
I’m returning to familiar territory this morning for no good reason except that I couldn’t resist the temptation to pass along this video of Noni Hazlehurst reading Go the Fuck to Sleep. We’ve featured Adam Mansbach’s Go the F**k to Sleep before. Amy asked, “Is this the beginning of a new trend in ‘kidding around’ lit for parents?” And more recently we chuckled along with Brian while a granny read Go the F**k to Sleep to her less-than-interested grandchild.
Sure, the book’s germane for WNKy DINKs as Mansbach spelled out pretty clearly:
“Despite the tremendous culture of parenting there’s a lot that doesn’t get talked about. Hopefully, the honesty of this book will open up the conversation. These are legitimate ways that we feel, and we should laugh about it, and be honest about these tribulations.” (Today Show)
Opening up the conversation about the breeding/childfree choice is ground zero for Why No Kids? There are plenty of “breeder bashers” and vehement childfree voices calling for change, and though our individual perspectives may sometimes overlap, this blog is an attempt to move beyond entrenched disagreement. This blog is an attempt to provoke, encourage, nurture and support conversation. Dialogue. Debate. The authors do not speak with a unified voice or vision about our childfree choices, nor do we expect that from our readers. But we do hope to catalyze the sort of constructive and healthy consideration that underpins smart choices.
Humor (I’m showing my cards here) is an effective icebreaker. Though Go the F**k to Sleep
“I totally related to it,” she said. “My first child didn’t sleep until he was two, and the first time he did sleep through I thought he’d died.”
The book, and her reading of it, is a bit of fun, she says, “but there’s a serious underlying issue. People need to understand when they’re talking about how nice it would be to have a baby that it’s a huge undertaking.” (The Age)
I hope you laughed. I hope you thought. Don’t stop!
Related articles
- Interview With Noni Hazelhurst (radioadelaidebreakfast.wordpress.com)
- Too blue for YouTube (theage.com.au)
- Adam Mansbach “Go the F**k to Sleep” (eyeonbooks.com)
- Samuel L Jackson asks kids to sleep in very direct manner (time4sleep.co.uk)
- 2 Videos: Childfree Chelsea Handler (whynokids.com)
- No Kids Trending (whynokids.com)
March 30, 2011
Pecking Order Debate
Over a million folks have watched this baby gibberish video.
Or else somebody working in the YouTube stats department has a twisted sense of humor.
In either case, don’t watch this video. Maybe a couple of seconds. That’s enough. If you watch the whole video, I’m guessing you have kids. And think this sort of stuff is funny. And beautiful. And you’re thinking I’m a misanthrope. A curmudgeon. Judge at will…
What’s funny about the video? Oddly red cheeks on one baby. Clown ambitions? Ostensibly the babies are twins, but Two Socks seems to be taller. Bigger. More assertive. More vocal. Funny is fast forwarding to their teenage years when little One Sock hits a growth spurt and leap frogs past Two Socks. Funny is the day that One Sock lifts Two Socks over his head at the end of the dock. In May. And flings his startled brother out into the still frigid Lake Champlain water bellowing, “That’s for the time you put my sock in the freezer and mom recorded the inane dance that followed and I blushed cherry bright and over a million people all around the world cooed over me in my soggy diaper!” That’s funny. Stay tuned. It could happen.
March 8, 2011
Rip, Laugh, Repeat
It’s all in the timing. After sharing the “Why no kids? Wino kids” video as a tongue-in-cheek debut post on the WNK website and the WNK Facebook page I stumbled upon this baby humor gut-buster. Actually, it’s one of three similarly goofy videos of babies laughing at ripped paper. Not that funny you say? No? Did you laugh? Thought so.
Actually, it’s not that funny. Not three videos-worth, and yet I watched all three. From beginning to end. And I laughed during all three videos. Kids are funny, even when it’s inane-how-can-this-still-make-you-laugh humor. Parents love this stuff. Love it.
“Did I show you the video of my kid laughing at ripped paper? Oh, you’ve got to see it again. It’s sooo funny!”
But after a while it isn’t. Not so much. Unless you’re a parent, perhaps.
See, for those of us who’ve sidestepped the baby, the paper ripping and the video virus, our interest diminishes with each new photo, video, anecdote. I’m sorry. I’m being honest. Really, I’m not a curmudgeon. I want to like the video of your child’s funniest home video. I really do. But after a while… I don’t. The funny wears thin. I’d love to discuss the book you just read, the mountain you just climbed, the sculpture you just created out of mud and ideas. I yearn to laugh and smile and joke about your most recent adventure in Central America, your latest boardroom SNAFU, the chocolate souffle you accidentally prepared with salt instead of sugar. I miss shooting the breeze about politics, windsurfing, fly fishing, heirloom tomatoes…
Do you follow me? Kids are funny. Videos of funny kids doing funny things are funny. But sometimes I miss the old you, the one I enjoyed spending time with before everything was baby, baby, baby.
(Hat tip to Brett Valls for curating this quirky content and Jane Friedman for spreading the love!)
March 6, 2011
Why no kids? Wino kids!
Ever since we settled on Why No Kids as the name of our blog, I’ve been hearing “wino kids”… Ironic then that Johannes Nyholm‘s trailer for Las Palmas should cross my radar around the same time!
Why is this little video so perversely amusing? Is it the fact that junior shouldn’t be lubricating? Or the bizarre puppets who balance out the drunken antics of the protagonist?
Why No Kids? 