Embracing the cliche'

As I listened to Drew discuss the bony plates on the back of his new favorite dinosaur on the phone with my BFF, I realized that we are indeed a cliche'  - the family of five in big suburban house with a mom who wears gym clothes and drives around in her SUV, two girls who like ballet and princesses, and a boy who is infatuated with fire trucks and dinosaurs.

For the girl now mom who once sported pig tails, cut-off jeans, and heeled jellies in college, I suppose it's a little disappointing to watch your life become typical - ordinary even.

Admittedly, it's not anything I've tried too hard to avoid.

My eye for style and design is focused on my own clothes and shoes, saved for the rare occasion I get to dress up, but barely evidenced in how my house is decorated or how my kids are dressed.

And while I do my best to avoid the Bratz dolls and Barbies, and shoot-em-up, fight-em-dead boy toys, we still end up with mainstream toys (not all, mind you) that I'd just as soon burn and use to heat my home.

I suppose you could say that the toys, the clothes, even the make of my car, don't really matter that much to me. I mean, if I really cared about being a cliche', I'd try harder to stick my kids in cooler clothes, infest their toy boxes with educational games, and insist on a hybrid.

I guess when it comes down to it, those things just aren't a priority.

But what I do prioritize is their self-awareness, creativity, and imagination. I bask in our time together, whether it's an educational activity or couch pillow fights.

And what they lack in cool attire, they have in frank discussions about difficult topics, that I hope will clothe them well, in a different way, of course, when they're older.

I know there are parents, many of whom I admire, who have created a completely unordinary life for themselves and their kids. I secretly envy them in all their awesomeness.

It seems that all I can handle right now might be a little cliche. At least from the outside anyway.

But behind closed doors, well, I'm pretty sure there are only a few other kids that can find a few condoms laying around in plain sight and make some pretty damn awesome water balloons at the ripe young age of 5.

 

 Cliche' my ass.

Comments

[Kelly]

Those water balloons are ribbed!

[Bella]

All I can say to this is that I feel just a tad bit cooler because I know you. Why? Because my little boy came up to me a few weeks ago asking me to open his lollipop. I was pissed because his nanny gives him too many damn lollipops. Until I looked at it and realized that it came from your care package and was one of your purple condom lollipops. So, yeah, how hip did I feel when I realized that WE were a cliche because we were mimicking your condom-playing children's life?

[B]

I'm so glad you wrote this. Often I read hipster momblogs and I envy the composting, organic gardening, baby wearing mamas and all their awesomeness.

We have four kids, our oldest is five, and I drive a blue minivan. I only nursed our 4th for 6 months. Each of my kids is happy, creative and active. I am honest with them in everything, unless you count Santa and the Easter Bunny as "lying". And I could give a rats ass that my life looks like a Mr. Clean commercial because no one died today.

[Suebob]

I think part of maturity is embracing the fact that we are all very much alike inside. Everyone wants to be loved; everyone wants to be accepted; everyone wants to be heard. Everything else is just window dressing.

[Jenny W]

"if I really cared about being a cliche', I'd try harder to stick my kids in cooler clothes, infest their toy boxes with educational games, and insist on a hybrid."--That would make you just a different cliche. Embracing what makes you and your family happy, healthy, good citizens is all that matters. Glad I found your blog, I like your writing!

[Karl]

It's a good thing they didn't find the BulletTron 3000.

[Angela]

*Sigh* I'm completely ordinary these days. And it's such a struggle. I keep thinking that one day I'll get it together. One day things will be exactly as I envision them. (Ah, the PMS doldrums rearing their ugly heads.) But they won't. Now I need to learn how to be OK with that.

[amanda]

I was never edgy and I do not fit the mold of super parent (who does?). The girls are intermittently dressed well, but somed ays they go to school with unbrushed hair. The thing I do give them, the "take that" sentence at the end of my parenting description would be the unhindered by ego approach. I will wear a tutu on my head, speak with a cockney accent and remark how lovely the unicorns are outside the window. The things may be absent, but damn if the adventure ain't larger than life.

[Issa]

I struggled with this one for a long time with the girls. I wanted them to be individuals and not have to follow the crowd. i was going to give them all toys and avoid princesses. But it's hard to do.

Then Harrison was born. I swear to you, he picked up a car and crashed it into another car at nine months old.

Now? I just want them to be happy.

[Jeannie]

Nice! That is too funny. I am sure that I am in for something like this one of these days.

[Kate@And Then I Was a Mom]

Okay, so maybe you call it cliche. But your kids? I bet they just call it happy.

Having condoms on hand? An added bonus. Like a surprise trip to the ice-cream stand. Yep, just like that.

[Jessica Rachel Carlisle]

ah ha ha! i love it! i too, am a cliche i suppose. however it doesn't bother me a bit either. :-D you are rockin' in teaching those kiddos creativity! :)

[Dionnathon]

I'm just wondering whether the condoms were lubes or not.

[G]

I think the point is just that we TRY. Try our best to be aware of what we say and how we live and the impact it has on the people and land around us. NOT making any effort to live with that kind of awareness is what makes "ordinary" (uh, which you are FAR from, by the way) a shameful, ignorant waste of a life.

[julie @ Mommy Said What?]

You are far from cliché.

[Mommit is Tired]

Laughing my butt off!

[jaimes]

I've thought about this too recently when a friend of mine (who is childless) asked if my kids were "hipster" kids. My first instinct was to say no. I mean how hipster are Spongebob and Dora, their idols?

But my husband and I are both creative types. He's an Art Director. I write. We both play music. And this way of life definitely influences our kids. In this way, I guess we aren't ordinary. But, like most parents, we drive an SUV, do playdates, and try to get our son to eat something other than Mac-n-Cheese.

Maybe we arent' cliche, but ordinary in the ways that matter most.

I really liked this post. Thanks!

[Heather]

what's wrong with ordinary and cliche, eh? Love the water bombs! very creative.

[Kami]

Yup. I'm right there with you. I like to think I was edgy back in the day, with my baby t's, carthartt jeans and old school puma sneaks. Back when I lived for indie rock. But that's nowhere in my current life. Except once in a blue, when I catch one of my kids humming the tune of a Ramones song, or when one of 'em sports a pair of Chuck T's. I find happy in those moments.

love the "balloon" photo!

[marty]

This is my favorite of yours in a long time. Wonderful.

[Keyona]

Whatever stimulates the brain. LOL!

[Manic Mommy]

I sit here in my Mom Uniform: Jeans, Uggs, and Hoodie. I didn't grow up 'normal' so I'm happy to give it to my kids.

[Julie @ The Mom Slant]

When we moved to Colorado I resigned myself to the cliche. But I'm finding that our family life is still quite colorful and extraordinary in comparison to most fellow suburbanites. (Though condom water balloons would make it that much more colorful.)

[Motherhood Uncensored]

Oh Sandrine. I would not willingly support condom water balloon making.

Yes, she did it all on her very own. Pretty impressive, eh?

[inannasstar]

Ahahahahaha! My son found my vibrator once.........."mom, why do you have a plaster penis?" oy vay.

[Amelia Sprout]

I grew up a very unordinary kid, and I always thought my life would be less ordinary, but here I am. I sort of like it. Especially the part where I know how not normal we really are behind it all.

[Sandrine]

Wow - that's one cool 5 year old! Did she tied the knots herself (or did her cool mom help her)?