Tax Deduction or Local Fame: What’s More Important?
Posted on 04 05, 2007 under Master Debaters by Noodad | Comments
Typically we take a more serious turn when it comes to our Master Debaters feature every friday. But for today's entry I thought we would revisit a topic only the real diehard Noodad fans will be familiar with. This is a topic that Foodad and I ran as a poll on Noodad.com back in the day (Read March 2006).
In the old days, when a pregnant woman was past her due date , the only option was to wait it out until the baby decided to come out. But with modern medicine, there is a greater flexibility with inducing labor and a more calculated science in when the baby comes into this world.
Typically, the "time of birth" is as arbitrarily insignificant as a "time of death". You are so damn exhausted by the labor that you just care about the baby's health. But there is one time of year where a difference in seconds can make a huge difference. Which brings me to this week's question - a question of money versus fame:
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If you’re new to parenting, chances are good that you’ve heard cautionary tales about the Terrible Twos from experienced parents. If you’re gearing up for some sort of demonic puberty that erupts once your kid hits the 24-month marker, as college football analyst Lee Corso likes to say while pointing into the camera with a Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil: Not so fast! The rumors about your little angel morphing into a devil at the age of two might just not happen. Don’t get too excited, though. It WILL probably happen eventually. Just like in all other area of development, some kids reach this milestone sooner than others. And, as with all kids, the degrees of the affliction vary. Some kids’ worst behavior might equate to refusing to brush their teeth at bedtime, while others may take to smashing toys on the heads of any kid who dares enter his or her personal space. 
There's a post over on 
It’s one of the sweetest times for parents: the day when you say goodbye to diapers. No more blowouts or super soakers. No more wallet-busting mega packs on your Target sales slips. You do have to pay a price to reach this milestone, though—potty training.
Most kids don’t really need cell phones, but most of them could use a Blackberry or Palm Pilot to keep their weekly schedules. Parents track their kids’ whereabouts on color-coded calendars and spend a great deal of time shuttling them from one activity to another. That Dunkin’ Donuts commercial with the mom driving her kids all over creation in the minivan (Ka-ra-taaayyy!) is remarkably accurate. 
It’s the heart of winter here in New England and don’t look now, but here comes another one. Not a nasty snowstorm, but a week-long school vacation for the kids. There are two ways parents view this week.
Your newborn’s eyes are closed and her jaw moves with a subtle rhythm as she draws milk from your wife’s breast. You smile down at your peaceful little one, completely amazed at her innate ability to feed…. Unfortunately, the guy at the next table trying to decide on one of the 210 tasty possibilities of T.G.I. Friday’s 3 Course Combinator isn’t as impressed. He tries to resist his innate male response to look at any available naked breast , and manages to pull his eyes away from the Boob Tractor Beam long enough to shoot you a look that smacks of “WTF?”. You give him a well-the-kid’s-gotta-eat shrug and place a burp cloth over your wife’s shoulder to block his view. 
You’re at “Happy Feet” with your kid, mesmerized by the tap-dancing Mumbles and his soulful, singing brethren, when you hear a cell phone interrupt Gloria’s solo. You look around for the inconsiderate grown-up, wondering why an adult would choose Hannah Montana’s “If We Were a Movie” as a ring tone, when you see a girl about seven years old whip out a pink clamshell phone. She answers, and yaps away for a minute before closing the phone with a loud SNAP!
When most of us were kids, we celebrated our birthdays in a minimalist fashion. Parents mostly hosted the parties at home, the birthday kid invited a handful of friends over to play some Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Donkey, everyone ate homemade cake and Hood ice cream off paper plates with plastic sporks, and guests left with a Loot Bag containing a few pieces of candy and maybe a yo-yo. If you’ve been out of the kids’ birthday party circuit for a while, prepare for the steady flow of invites once your kid reaches school age. Today, many parents opt for an outside-the-home party at places like Chuck E. Cheese’s, Gymboree or other play gym venue, or indoor sports complexes. If the party is at the home, it might feature a bounce house, a magician, or a professional storyteller. And all these things add up. If you’re frustrated with this generation’s birthday party arms race, you’re not alone.
