Last month, some friends and I threw a dinner to celebrate a baby whose arrival is now imminent—and his or her mother-to-be. I shared some photos of the simple, olive table garland from that night, but my favorite project was actually this craft, a compilation of wishes for the baby gathered from friends and family, and inspired by the Portuguese children’s book, When I Was Born
.
It’s a wonderful book: it tells the story of a baby, a child, discovering the world through all of his or her senses. Where once there was darkness, now there is light! And laughter! And love!
I’m afraid I can’t recall the source, but once I saw that someone had made something like this for her sister and I’d always thought about it. So, I asked my friend’s husband to help me get in touch with some of her close friends and family, and then everyone sent a description of something they couldn’t wait for the baby to experience (like the embrace of his or her two sisters, or sitting in grasses full of fireflies). I transcribed the wishes (sometimes abbreviated) onto birds cut to look like the ones illustrated in the book to make them into a gift to give at the shower.
By the time you read this, we’ll have taken Skyler on her first cross-country flight. In anticipation, I found myself thinking back on this proposal for a kids’ class on airplanes. (Which is a mistake, because the commenters get hostile and it will do no good to think about that.)
It feels like, every few months, news of a new way to make travel more intimidating for parents comes about. Another airline bans parents from business class, another mom has to taste-test her breast milk, and another blogger posts about passing out care packages of whiskey, earplugs, and snickers bars to all of passengers seated within earshot of his or her infant… as if it weren’t enough that you spent the past year researching devices and gizmos that will help you shlep your kids and all of your stuff as you navigate TSA lines and baggage fees.
Back when I posted my top tips for traveling with a baby or toddler, I recall there being some healthy debate in the comments about how much your fellow passengers really care (or are really predisposed to give you the evil eye when you board with a small child). Were you imagining it? Or are you really their worst nightmare as you shimmy down the aisle?
So whenever another news story hits about a “no kids class” on airplanes, I have to assume that—yes—indeed you are.
What do you think about child-free flights or child-free classes?
Part of me says it’s ridiculous: as if being a few rows apart from a troublesome tot will spare you any disturbance. Put on headphones and do your best to ignore the company of others, just as I do when I don’t want to get stuck in conversation with the adult beside me. (Frankly, I like sitting by older children… they never strike up unwanted political conversation, they prefer to immense themselves in their iPad and ignore you, and they rarely take over your armrest or knee space the way grown men tend to do.) Another part of me says, hey—sure—as long as you’re the one paying the extra fee and supporting the airline business! Why not? We pay for everything on flights now.
But it does set an interesting precedent about who we get to choose as our company.
Aron recommended I listen to this piece on NPR about the history of the color pink, and our evolving perception of it as a feminine color. Apparently, pink was recommended in a trade catalogue for boys’ clothing “because it’s a stronger and more passionate color, and because it’s actually derived from red,” and the thinking would have been common up until around World War II.
It seems of particular interest because we both have been finding ourselves so much more open to the color pink since Skyler was born—in a way I would have never expected. But photographer JeongMee Yoon’s portrait of her daughter, surrounded by pink, reads like a cautionary tale.
Do you find yourself drawn to or adverse to traditionally gendered clothes and colors? I never liked pink when I was a little girl, but now I find it’s all in the hue.
The exhibition “Think Pink” is up at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for one more week.
Here are some other provocative items that might be worth a look… Keep Reading >
