Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/78488
This year's literary sensation is "Bringing Up Bébé," in which an American mother living in France admires the good behavior of French children and casts aspersions on U.S. youth. "I was offended that the author assumed there's not one kid in America who can sit still at the dinner table," Butcher points out. "It's impor- tant in our family that we demonstrate good table manners and not complain about the food. I think that's another life skill. In 2010, New York magazine published an article entitled, "All Joy and No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting, " a pessimistic view of child rearing. "I really objected to that," says Pyle. "I think they took everyone on their worst day and quoted them in that story. The truth is somewhere in the middle." Another common media myth is the phe- nomenon of mothers who constantly judge each another about their parenting choices. "Sometimes these portrayals make us all out to be hyper-crazy people who undercut each other, but we say it isn't true," says Pyle. "I think the reality is that parents are generally pretty supportive of each other. " Ultimately, the women say, their goal in tackling the media's constant parenting buzz is to reassure their own readers that we're all doing just fine, thank you. "We don't want mothers feeling bad if their kid isn't suppos- edly up to snuff, just because the child wasn't a prodigy by age five, " Pyle says. "All in all, our blog is simply about main- taining perspective," Butcher concludes. 129 fall 2012 | WellesleyWeston Magazine