Settle in, Peeps. There’s a long explanation coming your way. Before I can explain what I mean by “Problems White Parents Have,” I have to make sure you understand “Stuff White People Like.” SWPL was/is a satirical blog (and a couple of books) that makes fun of upper-middle-class bleeding-heart hipster types. Some examples of “Stuff White People Like”:
- Picking their own fruit (Funny, we were at an orchard today!)
- Ray-Ban Wayfarers (I love them but Daddy-o says they look silly on me…and I’m not 17.)
- Hating People Who Wear Ed Hardy (Pretty much. Maybe not “hate,” but definitely “judge.”)
- Unpaid Internships (Been there, done that. Twice.)
- Religions their parents don’t belong to. (Buddhism? Unitarianism? Can’t decide.)
You get the picture. Here’s my disclaimer: There’s been a lot of criticism of SWPL, as being racist and stereotypical and not thorough enough. It obviously contains gross generalizations about a group of people (always very dangerous) and is at least as much about economic “status” as race. But it was a bit of a cultural touch point a couple of years ago, and it’s pretty funny… especially when you can laugh at yourself.
So here’s how it’s come into my life again: I keep catching myself getting whipped up about “problems,” only to realize they’re more like “Problems White Parents Have” than actual problems. Examples:
- The night when Boopsie would only eat (fair trade) bananas, (organic, low-sugar) yogurt and (100% whole wheat) bread for dinner. I caught myself freaking out about her diet. Errr….
- My self-created birthday cake drama
- Giving up dairy so I could continue to breastfeed.
- Sleep Training
It’s actually liberating. Instead of getting whipped up into some earth-mama frenzy when Boopsie eats breaded chicken at day care or when I have to (get to?) take her to a pediatric dermatologist for her diaper rash, I can put it all in perspective. There are not real problems… these are “problems white parents have.”
Thoughts?
mmmotherhood 