What I'm Reading (Listening to!) Now

So, I've been in the mood for a little Chick-Lit. I probably need a fix six or seven times a year. Ever since Bridget Jones' Diary, I've been hooked but have been careful not to indulge too often.
I've picked up Momzillas (audiobook) by Jill Kargman from the library awhile ago, and it's been sitting on my TBR pile. I really didn't think I was going to get to it, but I started listening to it Friday. I hate to admit it, but I'm really enjoying it. It underscores a major detriment to me for having kids: Mommy Wars.

Raising kids isn't just about giving birth and bringing them up to the best of your ability anymore. It's all about who has the smartest, best-dressed, most talented, most beautiful child. And the book tries to make it out like this is a Manhattan phenomenon. Trust me, it's not. I see it a lot in my middle-class Midwestern city and in the rural area where I was raised. Parents are desperate to give their kids every advantage that they did not have. Little League bully-parents and competing soccer moms are just the beginning. Getting your kids into the right pre-pre-school so that they have a shot of getting into the right prep school and ultimate the right Ivy League school makes parenthood more and more of a competition.

I noticed how my boss and his wife are players (or pawns) in this game. Both are busy professionals. He is the managing partner of our mid-sized accounting firm. She is a partner in her large law firm. Yet they are so completely wrapped up and involved in their kids' lives it's mind-boggling. They have their kids in the best private girls' school. They are in countless activities which keeps the parents and the nanny running around constantly shuttling the kids from one event to the next. Ice-skating starts at 6:30 a.m., so the kids have be up and dressed and out the door by 6:00. School begins after that. Each exam the kids take seem to be analyzed by the parents and discussed with the teachers. Each disagreement or conflict the kids are having with their friends or rivals is micromanaged. Then the after-school activities are carefully planned so that the children are sure to have every advantage and will ultimately be accepted into the Ivy League school of their choice.

And then what? My bet is that the kids (both girls) will go to the Ivy League schools (racking up boatloads of debt for their parents who make a good buck but seem to keep it spent), work for a few years, and then get married (to the RIGHT men, of course) and then have children. And then they will struggle with the decision of being a SAHM or a working mom. And even if they do decide to work (after that huge investment in their educations), they will exhaust themselves with all that comes with it. The cycle will continue. To breastfeed or not breastfeed? To co-sleep or not co-sleep. To send their babies to daycare or get a nanny? To have them attend pre-pre-pre-school (which will certainly be available by that time).

What's the point to all of this? I guess it's something that I'll never understand. So I'm glad to be out of that kind of competition. Because really, where does it get you? Just one more reason (out of thousands) that it will never be for me.