It’s more and more an expectation of moms these days that they deserve something for bearing the burden for nine months, getting sick, ruining their body,” said Linda Murray, executive editor of BabyCenter.com. “The guilt really gets piled on.
Excuse me? If you didn’t want to deal with the downside of pregnancy then maybe you shouldn’t have gotten pregnant in the first place. Somehow, I doubt that the husband forced it on her. The joy of bringing life into this world, reduced to an expensive trinket. How sad, and how very shallow.
Although jewelry is the most common push present, virtually anything heartfelt will suffice. Will Murphy of Haverhill, Mass., gave his wife, Grace, a Louis Vuitton diaper bag to mark the August arrival of their son, Liam. David Samson of San Francisco gave his wife, Renée, a metal sculpture in May to celebrate the birth of their daughter, Elisheva. He even installed some new lighting to complement it.
Because nothing represents the joy of parenthood like a new metal sculpture. And I hope baby Murphy vomited all over the Louis Vuitton diaper bag on a regular basis. I think I’m going to vomit just reading this.
In general, women enlighten their men about push presents, not the other way around. Chris Beggini, a 43-year-old mutual fund manager in Radnor, Pa., didn’t know about the practice until his wife, Jennifer, straightened him out. “We talked about how she had nine months of difficulty, and ‘Aren’t I the good soldier?’ blah blah blah,” he recalled.
If I were that whipped I sure as hell wouldn’t advertise it in the New York Times. I’m just saying…
There does seem to be a certain upper income element common in all these examples. Hell, when we were having babies we were too worried about paying for diapers to be shopping for gifts.
via JJ or Nance, not sure who posted it over there.
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While the upper-upper income folks use a hired surrogate, I guess. And THEN who gets the glittery goodies?
And all this time I thought the present for all that “suffering” was the baby. Dang, I guess Don owes me a few gifts.
The most sickening part to me was “ruining their body”. That is the most pessimistic look at pregnancy that I can think of.
Seriosuly, if Ron had ever given me some sort of expensive present instead of (assuming that’s what these guys do) actually *helping* with the baby, he’d get that diaper bag upside the head.
Will these dads pay the baby to offset the misery of learning when it gets into prep school? Cram presents for getting As on his or her report card and a suffer car for graduation? Where’s Alfie Kohn when we need him to mount another crusade against punishing rewards?
Yeah, when Hubby and I were having babies we were too worried about paying the hospital bill for me to even think that I deserved an expensive gift.
Not that I didn’t get lots of nice meaningful things from him. He cooked when I was tired, he washed dishes when my knuckles started splitting because my skin was dry, and he helped take care of the boys when they arrived. And I still think the boys are the best present of all.
As for ruining their bodies. HELLO, you can take care of yourself when you are pg, you don’t have to let yourself go.
Hey, don’t be knocking the “push presents.” I was never so glad to see anything in my entire life as I was that fine, delicious bottle of 1996 David Bruce Pinot Noir. That was a long, dry nine months.
(Like these women even “push” anything. That would damage their solid gold ladybits unacceptably… those high-class broads are elective C-sectioning all the way!)
Exactly my thought, Chris — these are people with way too much money on their hands. And no clue what to do with it.
Nance
And I sure hope the baby gets something for sitting in the dark for 9 months unaware that his parents would be self-centered materialists, then getting narrowly squeezed out of some cavern in to an unforgiving light and placed in to the loving hands
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/12/10/disembodied-hands-to.html
of his parents….