I find Sarahfeena’s posts to be refreshingly clear and direct.
“Maybe we shouldn’t go down this road. I’m what you would call a “mature mom.” I’m 40 years old and I’ve read a lot about feeding kids and what is appropriate at each age. I think in some areas here, we are bound to disagree. I don’t know you, and I think I’ve pissed you off enough for one day”
“Let’s just say that you aren’t the only one who doesn’t like to be condescended to.”
Totally clear and direct. Perhaps you can translate those for me through your superior knowledge and intellect, then? Since I lack the capabilities.
I dunno, RedheadDragynLady. I rarely get involved with the Pit but I have been reading your posts and you are coming off exactly as your username - a Dragon Lady. I think Sarahfeena has been fairly polite for the Pit, and I don’t think that last post is insulting at all.
Plus, while this board is very welcoming to newbies, Sarahfeena does have a reputation around here as a good poster who contributes to the site. You on the other hand are coming across as a harridan who jumps feet first into an argument on a message board you are not familiar with to yell and scream and moan.
Take this as you will but I also find Sarahfeena’s posts to be clear and direct.
Yeah, how 'bout it? I certainly wouldn’t contradict something that someone else’s pediatrician said was fine (and worked well) just because a handful of people said it’s *sometimes * a bad idea for *some * kids. The majority of kids who were raised on this “outdated” advice are none the worse for it.
New is not a synonym for Better
Some negative results do not equal a Bad Idea
Condescending does not mean you’re the last word on a subject
Guilty as charged. I’m certainly the first to admit it. I didn’t find her last post to be insulting, either. She hasn’t been insulting. Self-righteous, yes, but not insulting. When I get fired up about something, I generally do get downright unpleasant. I have tried to keep it impersonal… with limited success. I did read the rules of the forum before I posted, and apparently made the incorrect assumption that this particular forum WAS for yelling and screaming and moaning.
And as I said before; I’ve had no problem with her posts’ clarity up until the two I quoted. Those were cryptic. And irritating to the extreme.
As for her reputation; wouldn’t you think that a complete newbie would not give a fig about anyone’s reputation? And that reputation doesn’t mean someone can’t be a sanctimonious twit?
Platitudes, yay!
And the day I’m the last word on any subject is a very sad day indeed. Where’s the fun in that?
I’m a firm believer that every person should be responsible for their own medical care; taking the advice of a pediatrician is fine, but you should always be willing to do your own research and understand the risks.
Just because most kids are “fine” (I hate that term) doesn’t mean that their parents shouldn’t ever be advised that certain things may have risks. It’s still their decision, but at least then its an educated one.
She wasn’t cryptic, she was polite. Basically, she said she didn’t want to argue with you about the feeding real food issue. You seem to think that this means she’s being an asshole, when in fact she’s letting you out of your asshole behaviour in trying to hijack her thread and pick fights.
**Sarahfeena ** was being gracious, and it was wasted on you.
ETA: To the OP, don’t be mad at WIC or the recipients, be made at the agency that makes the deals with the formula makers. I had to argue with WIC to get powdered formula instead of liquid concentrate. It was a pain in the ass.
It is the right forum for yelling and screaming…but it’s not a particularly auspicious forum to make your entree in. It just feels like you came ONLY to yell and scream and not to contribute to the life of the board. And we rather think the life of the board does have a meaning and a pulse.
But I’m glad to hear you read the rules. People rarely do that!
I don’t care whether you care about her reputation or not, actually. I meant that knowing her reputation, even if she was 100% a sanctimonius twit here (up for debate) I know that’s not all she is.
You I have only seen the Dragon Lady. First impressions and all.
It is! And if you want your experience here at the SDMB to be all about screaming & moaning, then you are in the right place!
OK, I did not mean to be cryptic. Let me try to explain what I was getting at with my post about my age. What I meant was that I strongly disagree with you that 6-month-old babies ought to have salt & sugar in their diets. I have come upon this opinion after reading as much as I can about child nutrition, and I am not exactly what you would call a young or inexperienced person who doesn’t know any better. The reason that I didn’t want to get into a discussion with you about it is because we clearly disagree about this, and I didn’t see the need to get into an argument about it, considering that it isn’t even the topic of the thread.
And as far as your being condescending, I was kind of trying to avoid being overly specific about it, because your most condescending moments in this thread haven’t even been directed at me. But I’ll give you just one example if you really want it:
I have to say, the smiley face didn’t really disguise the tone of that one. And Kalhoun had been more than politely discussing the subject with you.
I think my confusion comes from the fact that I didn’t know what she wanted to argue about, or how me mentioning a simple person opinion (that I made quite clear was strictly that) that babies don’t need to have bland foods make me an asshole. I still don’t.
Sure, I’m an asshole for coming in argumentatively. But not that post. I have no idea what about that post was worth arguing over. I wasn’t saying that she’s a bad mother, wasn’t even disagreeing with what her mother said. In fact, especially compared with the tone of my other posts, was downright coversational.
Then she broke out the “I’m a mature mom” thing, and I had to wonder what she was driving at. Rather than assuming she was calling me immature, I asked what her age had to do with it.
shrugs No skin off my nose. I have no intention of hanging around here (it’s been a slow day, and I thought we had entered into a civil conversation - my mistake), so your lack of approval of this particular newbie concerns me not. And she still has yet to tell me what about that post was condescending.
At least I haven’t pretended to be any more than I am.
Interesting. You know, last night I was kind of regretting that I started this thread, but now I’m glad I did. I’ve learned a lot about how these programs work & where the waste and inefficiencies lie. Thanks for the info!
My daughter just recently got off WIC and it was the same for her. They tell you what store you will go to. You get a voucher that says exactly what you can get: 12 cans of XXX formula, one box Cheerios, 1 16 oz can of peanut butter, one pound of cheese. Then you go get those things.
ETA: My daughter is poor and useless and qualified for WIC for that reason alone. But they really qualified for WIC for the grandbaby because he was and continues to be underweight for his age. Just like his mommy.
And to the person who was envious of the block of government cheese–obviously you’ve never had the government’s version of Velveeta. Ick, ick, ick. 
I know. I have learned a ton of stuff and have had my eyes opened on a bunch of things. I’d like to add my thanks to everyone, too.
Thank you for clarifying; I wish you could have said this in the first place, because I could have corrected you… I don’t disagree. The few times I bought jarred food, it was always the ones that said "water, ingredient. Six month old babies DON’T need added salt and sugar. When I made her baby food, I never added anything, but it always tasted better than the jarred stuff. Fresher. Avocado? Cut, mashed, fed. Sweet potato? Who the heck would add anything to that? Squash? Baked in water, strained, mashed.
I can see where your confusion came from. I shouldn’t have said “always.” Because as an infant (before a year) we added nothing to her food. Only the regular flavor of food. She gets seasoned salt -now- but that was only after she started eating real food, and then only after she hit tthe one year mark. Toddlers are a picky bunch… any trick that’ll get her to eat it is okay by me. As long as she EATS.
It’s still a fight to convince her father of that (he’s always giving her unwatered down juice, and far more often than I’d like), but I’m actually right there with you. I’m sorry if it came across as me trying to say babies need salt and sugar! Goodness no.
Actually the “anecdote is not plural of data” thing is one I use often in debates, and I am sorry if it came across as condescending. It genuinely wasn’t meant to be. The smiley was me trying to temper my unreadable tone. I realize that it was probably nearly impossible to tell the difference given my previous posts, but that one was absolutely not intended to be condescending.
Here’s what I meant by that statement, which states succinctly what I was trying to say: I dislike it when people discount scientific research and data by citing personal anecdotes. Just because I slept just fine as an infant on my tummy (because that was the prevailing wisdom, then) doesn’t mean I should discount the overwhelming body of research stating that doing so now greatly increases the risk of SIDS. Plenty of people do it and are fine.
The point is, that many who do are not. “I did it and was fine” is NEVER a good reason to do anything. Ever. I know plenty of people who ride around in their cars without seat belts and are just fine. Doesn’t mean I’m about to not buckle into mine!
Oh dear God in heaven. My point was that I DIDN’T want to argue with you. And I don’t think you are an asshole, especially not over your opinions about feeding babies. Around here, if a thread seems to be getting hijacked in a direction that people don’t want to go, we generally just don’t go there. That’s what I was trying to do. If the subject is important enough to you that you really want to discuss it, usually people will start a new thread on that topic.
My point was that I am not an inexperienced person who needs to be told how to feed their baby. That’s all. Suggestions are nice, but your “opinion” about how to feed babies was presented as you busting “myths” that the rest of us are foolishly holding onto. THAT is condescending.
Whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean.
I have recieved assistance from WIC in the past. At the time I had a newborn, a 2 year old and a 6 year old. I was not on WIC because I just wanted you to pay for my kids food. I needed Wic because my husband was injured at work. He was out of work for almost a year. The HR department at his job royally fucked up and he never got one workmans comp check until after he was back to work. I was trying to raise a family of 5 on my part time retail jobs paycheck. Thank god I rent from my mother in law or I would have been on the street. If it wasn’t for those WIC checks, I don’t know what my kids would have eaten.
Oh, and as soon as my husband got a paycheck again, I returned all unused checks to WIC and donated the extra food and formula I had at a local food pantry. You may want to be more careful about stereotyping people.
For future debates, I think the point you’re trying to make is “Data is not the plural of anecdote,” or “Anecdote is not the singular of data.” Anecdote isn’t the plural of anything. (OneCentStamp, back me up?)
(Looks around for the cryptic smiley and settles for )
If you haven’t been able to keep up with a thread as relatively straightforward as this one, it’s probably not worth your time to stick around. It can’t be fun being the only one who doesn’t understand what’s going on.
For the record, this thread has been appallingly civil for the Pit. I almost feel as though I ought to start cussing just to make it more authentic.
Well, I threw the f-bomb in there a post or two back. Does that make you feel better? 
Honestly? I did. NOT to troll… I don’t do that. But absolutely to express how livid I was over some of the comments I’d seen here, and to try and correct some misinformation about how the program is run. If you’ll notice, I do try to back down when I’m wrong, and I’m NEVER afraid to apologize. I’m genuinely a redhead… with all the temper that the stereotype entails. It flares fast, but dies just as quickly. And I’ve done forum admin… I always read the rules. NOTHING irritates me more than people who don’t.
I do get dragonish. And I am sorry for that. Poke a dragon hard enough, they’ll eventually bite. In this case, it was less this board that did the poking than many, many other forums where this discussion has come up.
With Cattitude (the “catt-whatever” was me being to lazy to look up her name.), she just rubbed me the wrong way. And I did admit that I could have overreacted.
So consider this my formal apology to her: I don’t think you were meaning to be condescending when you posted that. I interpreted it as such, and shouldn’t have. But I do stand by my statement that you should have read that post a hair more closely.
Fair enough. And I certainly don’t deny my attitude has been… less than pleasant.