# I'm too weird to be a mother. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 18, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737 "2003-12-18T13:07:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/21 "2003-12-18T18:28:14Z")
I feel sorry for your neighbor’s daughter. I would suggest playing outside your home with your kids as often as possible, in full view of the neighbors. Don’t take it personally. This woman is deranged. What did you say to her when she brought up her “reasons?” ---
**Author:** ![DeskMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DeskMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeskMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/22 "2003-12-18T18:33:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homebrew \* > \*\*I’ve got a small problem with using _The Nutcracker_ as punishment. You’re instilling the idea that ballet is to be seen as bad and as punishment. Sure it’s aimed at girls; and by making it a punishment for boys you’re reinforcing the idea that boys can’t like girl things. \*\* I think this is a great punishment! It’s something harmless, but they really, reeeeeaalllly hate it. Heck, if they hated NERF football, I’d make them play for half an hour. It’s like they’re puishing themselves. My brother took his friend’s 13-year old and the 13 yo’s friend to Universal Studios once. They misbehaved and he made the stand in a long line for and go on the E.T. ride. They were so embarrassed, I thought it was brilliant. Much more subtle than screaming at a kid in public and making a scene. **dragongirl** , I too hope to be such a weird mom some day. I loved when my mom got silly. She’s 70 and she’s still wacky. ---
**Author:** ![outside\_artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@outside\_artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outside_artist)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/23 "2003-12-18T18:35:21Z")
This sounds like this woman is very jealous of you. Is there any reason why this might be the case? ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/24 "2003-12-18T18:41:40Z")
Aren’t the responses above reason enough? Then again, all of my friends are wierd. I prefer it that way! CJ ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/25 "2003-12-18T18:45:50Z")
Its okay. I’m too weird to be a father 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/26 "2003-12-18T18:57:28Z")
No, SHE’S weird, what kind of mom makes the kids play ONLY outside??? (Sometimes, one DOES need to say "ALRIGHT, everyone out, it’s too nice to play inside). Singing? I sing, AND boy, if you’re weird for singing to the radio, then I guess I’m certifiable for singing old songs my mom sang to me when I was a kid!! (such as “I’m bringin home my baby bumble bee” “When that Great Ship Went Down” etc 😃 don’t ask). ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/27 "2003-12-18T19:01:46Z")
By the way, I checked out your link to the previous thread about her. Leaving a 1-year-old and a 3-year old alone?! Shame on her. And she questions YOUR parenting?! You’re better off without her in your/your daughter’s social circle, but I know it must be hard to explain that to your girl. ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/28 "2003-12-18T19:32:38Z")
When you said you were weird, I was expecting a description of actual weird behavior. This seems perfectly, utterly, incredibly normal to me. Dear God, I hope all your neighbors are not like this. She’s got a stick or a cross or something up her ass that has nothing to do with you, I’d imagine. On the other hand, forcing people to watch Barbie and the Nutcracker is a violation of the Geneva Convention. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/29 "2003-12-18T20:22:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don’t ask \* > \*\*One true parenting story. > > It’s garbage night and we have a few little bags of garbage that won’t fit in our bin. I tell the kids we will have to secretly put the bags in neighbours’ bins. We don dark clothing, paint our faces and sneak out to ambush the garbage bins. It all involves crawling through bushes, jumping fences, hiding from cars with secret whistles and birdcalls and soldierly arm gestures. \*\* Call my psychic, but even before I checked out your location, I knew you must live somewhere that most people don’t own handguns :). Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/30 "2003-12-18T23:30:19Z")
Classic projection. She’s worried and deeply insecure about herself, but it’s safer to pretend that someone else is the fruitcake and make them the target of the fear and anger. Sucks to be around her, but it isn’t your fault. ---
**Author:** ![lauramarlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a5b964/32.png) [@lauramarlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lauramarlane)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/31 "2003-12-18T23:39:32Z")
Let’s see…my sons like to sing Springtime for Hitler while they do the dishes together. We all quote Monty Python on a farily regular basis. When my 11 year old was 4 and you asked him what he wanted to eat he’d say, “fava beans and a nice chianti.” So, join the club, sweetie, I think you’ve found the national chapter of Weird Moms right here at the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/32 "2003-12-19T01:07:43Z")
I have a completely legitimate question here: **HOW** did this person become a parent? Because if she hates SINGING, I shudder to think how she feels about SEX. If ever someone desperately needed some wild nekkid monkey lovin’, this woman does. And speaking of … where is Mister Bitch while all of this is going on? ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/33 "2003-12-19T02:19:39Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by lauramarlane_ > I think you’ve found the national chapter of Weird Moms right here at the SDMB. Oooohhhh, can I join? Do I need an example in order to garner a membership card? OK: my almost-4-year-old daughter’s favorite game is “the giant squids are coming to visit you!” and it’s played like this: I put both arms straight out in front of me, waving arms and wiggling fingers at the same time, and proclaiming “the giant squids are coming to visit you!” When the “squids” get close, she says, “oh, they are nice! They are coming to love me!” and lets them tickle her all over, as she laughs madly. The neighbor’s a nut job (not the good kind that would be right at home here on the Dope). ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/34 "2003-12-19T02:35:20Z")
Another vote for she sucks, you’re cool. ---
**Author:** ![furlibusea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@furlibusea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furlibusea)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/35 "2003-12-19T13:13:44Z")
I think there are some people that think having kids means you have to become a grownup, but the best parents are the ones that realise it gives them a chance to be a kid again. I think I come from a long line of wierd moms. I am pretty odd but it may take age and wisdom to live up those that came before me. There was a baptist camp near my grandmothers cottage, and they had set up a singing circle on her property and would go sing and whoop and holler pretty late into the night. ( Like after dark in Southern Alberta in July late) So one evening my grandmother organised all the grandkids to go seranade the baptists from the dark outside their circle with such family favorites as \* “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain When She Comes”\*and _“Blood on the Saddle”_. When the pastor came out to yell at us, there we were telling him our grandmother told us to, but she was long gone. ( Come to think of it she was long gone when we got caught on the potato raid she organised in the local farmer field too) I hope that I can live up to the expectations of my ancestresses by carrying on the tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/36 "2003-12-19T13:48:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ceejaytee \* > \*\*One of the cool things about being a parent is that you it gives you a pass to be weird. Kids love that. My 2-year old’s current favorite thing is to watch my husband pretend that he’s been attacked by a (clean) diaper and can’t get it off his head. It involves pulling on the diaper, crashing into walls, jumping up and down. Yesterday, I “tried” to get it off his head and we both went careening into opposite walls. My son thought it was hilarious. He’s the only one who is strong enough to get the diaper off daddy’s head. Weird is the best thing ever. \*\* Bwahahaha! You’re right, kids love this stuff. I used to do a whole French waiter routine while feeding my son breakfast when he was little. I would give him a little notebook and let him pick off the menu, and tell him what the _specialite du jour_ was, in a lame French accent. Then he would pick out which vintage of formula would go well with his cereal (“Ahh, ze Chateau du Soy 1989 - excellent choice, _m’sieur_!”), and he would smell the bottle cap to be sure the formula wasn’t corked. Part of the fun of having children is having an excuse to do oddball stuff and blame it on them. Maybe it _is_ weird - he had fun, I had fun, he always enjoyed his breakfast - everyone happy, no one got hurt. Of course, once my wife woke up early and saw me with the towel over my arm discussing the menu with him, but she already knew I have serious reality issues, so… Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/37 "2003-12-19T13:57:18Z")
Hey, is there room in here for weird _dads_ too? One day in the grocery store when UvulaDaughter was a toddler, I climbed into the store’s glass-doored ice locker and waited. Mrs. Uvula rounded the corner with the shopping cart, UvulaDaughter seated in the infant seat. I stared out from the ice locker at them, my hands and face pressed against the glass, and cried, “Freezing…solid…help…me…” The kid laughed so hard I thought she was going to fall out of the seat. UvulaDaughter’s in high school now. She _still_ remembers Dad in the ice locker - in fact, she considers it her earliest memory. Weirdness has stood me in good stead over the years. I have a great relationship with my daughter and her friends (who regard me as _the cool Dad_) and - rare for a teenager - she’s not embarrassed to be seen in public with me. 🙂 It’s not because we don’t have rules or discipline. It’s just because I remember what it was like to be a kid, and I don’t let maturity get in the way of enjoying my family. So, **dragongirl** , I feel for you. It’s obvious from your other threads that the bitch next door is the problem, not you. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/38 "2003-12-19T14:08:37Z")
**don’t ask** , by any chance did _Mission: Impossible_ have anything to do with your covert trash operations? ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/39 "2003-12-19T14:49:49Z")
That’s okay. My husband is too weird to be a Dave, let alone a Dad. (ahem. He’s **Weirddave**.) ---
**Author:** ![furlibusea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@furlibusea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furlibusea)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737/40 "2003-12-19T15:49:16Z")
**dragongirl** keep an eye on your neighbor’s kids a bit. You maybe weird, which the rest of us think is a good thing, but from the things you have posted, there is something kind of off about this woman. It is probably just as well she won’t let the kids play in her house you are better off having your kids within someone’s eyesight whenever she is with them. I am not sure exactly what I am trying to say, its just there is something wrong with that complete insistancy on normalacy, particularly when her perception of it is so scewed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-too-weird-to-be-a-mother/219737.md?page=3)