Wednesday, October 27, 2010
More than I cared to know.
It's been a while since I posted some general nonsense, so I thought I'd toss this out here. This all happened a few months back but I stumbled on some emails concerning the whole affair, and thought I'd share.

A bit earlier this year, I posted a box of assorted homeschool books on the local Freecycle group. Books like these always seem to be in demand and these were all things we either no longer needed or had been given to us by others and could not use. Once the word went out, I got a bunch of replies, and offered them to someone who arranged to pick them up in a few days. I sent one of the later responders an email stating that the books had been promised to someone else, but if that fell through for some reason, that they were next in line. They replied with a message that simply said "Thanks!" Now if that was all they said, this would not be a very interesting story. The interesting part was the way the message was signed. It said:

Dianna
Cloth diapering, extended breastfeeding, sewing, homeschooling and AP mama to a 12 year old, 6 year old, 5 year old and 2 year old. New baby boy july 2009

(The name and some details have been changed to protect the odd)

This was a bit more than I needed to know. And the "AP mama" part was escaping me. I had no idea what that meant. So at my wife's suggestion I turned to our favorite source of current cultural knowledge and forwarded the email Cassie and Mark for a translation. As always, Cassie knew the answer and provided me with the following guidance:

"Oh yeah, and AP is that "attachment parenting" thing where mothers wear their kids in slings all the time and do cosleeping and take communal showers and all that jazz. So your child always feels "secuuuuure" and "safe" and sheltered from the storm with mom and dad spooning them to sleep. "

Yikes. I'd never heard that term before. Neither had Sue, but she figured (correctly) that Cass would know. I guess we are way out of the hardcore homeschool loop these days. Who would have guessed that there is such a benign label for such bizarre behavior? And it is truly amazing that this woman feels the need to announce to a total stranger not only how many kids she has, but their ages, what she collects their waste in, how she schools them, her hobby, and the fact that she nurses them way past when she probably should. Never mind all of the "AP" nonsense. And all because I offered to give her a box of books. Imagine what I might have learned on a 30 minute ride on the train or something? The mind reels. I've gotten mildly, though mostly silently, intolerant of high-fashion homeschoolers.

And just so you know, I gave the books to someone else who responded simply saying that they are homeschoolers in Pelham, can make good use of the books and can come by on Monday. No hint as to what sort of diapers she uses. I can only hope she is not one of those evil bottle feeders, but I guess I'll have to go on faith for that part.

I think I may start signing all of my emails with something like this:

-Al
disposable diapering (retired), NBF*, welding, machining, homeschooling, gun shootin', beaver trappin', nose pickin', spam eatin', father of six. New granddaughter approx. 12+ months ago.


*NBF = "Never Breast Fed"
thus voiced The A, Mistah @ 9:28 PM
+




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