Comments on: Baby monitoring

By: FRITZ

FRITZ — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 12:36:00 +0000

i cannot remember if my mother used such a device with me; in one sense, it appeals. in another, it perplexes. but i haven’t any children, and so i can only think of the times that i awake in the silence of night, and michael is so deeply asleep that i lean over just to check–one exhalation will do, and i feel safer.

i suppose we all need baby monitors at one point–to monitor the child within us.

By: chelle

chelle — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 16:06:00 +0000

I still use the baby monitor at night with our daughter….I cannot imagine not using it, although once she is a teenager she may want a little of that PRIVACY … hehe

By: tammara

tammara — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 00:22:00 +0000

Wonderful post.

By: shara

shara — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:33:00 +0000

Getting cross and yelling, tears, turning out lights, oh yes, it all resonates with me. And mine are five and six, every day I wonder if I’m doing a good enough job, every night I sneak in to look at them sleeping and smell their hair and touch their hands and feet and soak up all that sweetness and promise tomorrow, tomorrow I will be the perfect mother and every day I fail utterly. But I mean well.

By: alimum

alimum — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:19:00 +0000

"They would cry in their room and I would cry in my room and hold the monitor and stroke it lovingly and whisper I'm sorry but Mommy really needs to sleep more than three hours a night to the flashing red lights."

Wow, I think we have all found ourselves in this position at one time or another.

Baby monitors are one of those things which I don't use much now (living in one huge loft as we do) but which I imagine I'll be using all the time when my child gets a bit older (because I am not above violating his civil liberties if it means foiling a plot to, say, construct gigantic paper wings and test them out by jumping off the roof.)

By: The Purloined Letter

The Purloined Letter — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:50:00 +0000

Oh, I miss the days when breastfeeding solved every little problem!

I love what Custancia says about how young ones start each day fresh and open. Why can’t we do that? Adults, or at least those of us with wide streaks of melancholia, hold everything while waiting for that moment of grace that will let us go on. What if the morning sun can be that moment?

By: gkgirl

gkgirl — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:02:00 +0000

oh…there is
SO
much of this that i recognize…
not little hints of recognition
as in, “i kind of do that”
but glaringly
as in, “ohmygodthatisSOOOOOme!!!!”

heehee
and a little secret…
i continued using said moniter
up until my daughter was about
nine or ten,
especially if she was with
someone i was…well…
not so certain of…
i just had the moniter
on upstairs
and could hear if arguing
would escalate
and who was being mean to who
and i know that is sad
and an invasion of her privacy
and alllll of that rot
but
that’s why i said it was
a secret
teehee

(by the way, i have
since lent the moniter to my
brother and his wife so…)
heehee

By: krista

krista — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:44:00 +0000

Oh Karrie, that was such a funny thing to say- I am so with you- can I borrow your moniter too Stunts?

I picked up the “what do you really want for your children book” again last night. I’m still recovering. I loved your post, and I needed it today.

By: karrie

karrie — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 10:34:00 +0000

Can I borrow your monitor?

Wild stuffing of rebellious children in to bed is such a perfect description.

By: Custancia

Custancia — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 08:08:00 +0000

Oh what an accurate piece of writing. Before (in my pre-motherhood days) I would have thought you were crazy posting this. Now, I am just amazed that you can capture *my* feelings and actions so accurately, when you are describing yours.

I love the way that small children, no matter how big a fuss the night before, start the day with a clean, fresh, no grudges and no guilt slate.