One of KT’s dear friends sent along the below two links. She indicated that she felt in tune with both pieces being a happily married woman in her 30s, focused on her career, and unsure of her path to parenthood.

Will she have a baby? Won’t she? Who knows.

Sure, she knows she has the ideal situation for bringing a child into this world: a loving husband, a great marriage, a beautiful house, and a strong financial foundation with which to support said unborn, unfertilized child.

But just because she has those things doesn’t mean she will – or should – necessarily go on to become a mother. Right?

Right.

Can I get a strong shout out for support, people?

Before I even considered getting pregnant and was a similar happily married woman in her 30s, with a career, and a house, and no pitter patter of small feet in the halls, no one ever offended me or pushed me to have kids. I never came across these people that get in your face and push the joys of parenthood. Instinctively I despise these people but I’ve yet to really find them. You better believe there’s a part of me that would like to inquire – are they the God-loving, Church-going people that voted Bush into office a second time? Because I definitely don’t know those people.

Either way, since having a child, I still haven’t come across these people and I assure you, if I did, I would interrupt them and call them out on such horrid behavior. Again – just because parents of children have discovered that there is nothing more fulfilling, doesn’t mean that EVERYONE will feel that way. And most importantly, it sure as hell doesn’t mean everyone SHOULD BE a parent.

There is little that saddens me more than hearing of a sweet young baby that’s been brought into this world and isn’t in a loving, nurturing environment. Not everyone is equipped to handle the job. And even if they are, they like their life as it is and there isn’t anything wrong with that.

That being said, I also take issue with women in their 30s who claim to want to have kids later, and yet spend their time judging women their same age for “giving it all up” for their kids, or for “not finding time for themselves” and this is my personal favorite – the horror and disgust on their face when the woman that used to work late and on the weekends – now dashes out the door at 5pm (ahem, or before) to get home to her baby.

Yes – there are women out there who are incredibly judgemental of other working mom’s – even though they make clear that at some point – they INTEND to be a working mom.

SO kittens – I guess what I’m saying is that this dance we do of judgement goes both ways, sometimes, and quite sadly.

And really, at the end of the day, we’re just doing it to each other. Where are the men? You think they are off judging each other for having or not having kids? Or for how and when they work or spend their free time?

Hell no. You think those thoughts have ever crossed their little minds?

And so, I leave you with two links. The first, I really liked a lot. The second, she really started to lose me on page two and sounds to me like a small hard-headed child who’s just trying to prove a point.

http://lifestyle.msn.com/familyandparenting/raisingkids/articleab.aspx?cp-documentid=454101>1=10215

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19762056/site/newsweek/page/2/

Good morning kittens -

I am sorry to not have posted yesterday – I like to help you start off your week with a little dose of KT. I know how you’ve missed me from the weekend. Anyhoo, various undesirable events prevented me from having the time to post yesterday. One real thorn in my side is work – apparently it seems that I’m supposed to actually be WORKING and quite diligently - all day this summer.

Didn’t senior management get the memo that it’s, ahem, SUMMER…and we should be having long lesiurely lunches and short Fridays?

So let’s get to it, kittens, the topic on top of KT’s mind: preschool. The dreaded word. Not dreaded because said toddler will be out of the house for a set number of hours each week – mais non! That is called LIBERATION (see, back in the scary Baby Boot Camp entry, didn’t I tell you that you weren’t signing up for a life prison sentence with birthing this child? I never lie to you.)

Preschool is dreaded because it’s a pain in the ass to settle on which one to send your child too, as you operate under the naive assumption that at the end of the day, you’ll actually have a CHOICE.

There are so many things to consider. When should your child enroll? Are they too young at 2? Is it too long to wait until 3? What about their birthday – do they miss the September cutoff and therefore can’t start until they are 3 even though they’ll be in the 2s room?

If you’re anything like me, you’re busily thinking about how your child is surely a child prodigy and would be BORED being almost 3 in the 2s room. Right?

I mean – one morning, said child will wake up tap dancing like Shirley Temple around the room and composing like Mozart, so she can’t POSSIBLY wait until she’s almost 3 to begin and be stuck with a bunch of simple minded 2 year-olds.

RIGHT?

But wait – or maybe she won’t be ready at 2 and would benefit her more in the long run to start when she’s 3?

You get the idea.

So along the way, the one thing that helps make the decision a tad bit easier is what KT likes to call the “sneaking in the back door” approach.

What is that,  you wonder?

Ahhh….young naive kittens (unless you’ve been there, done that, then you know where I’m headed).

Gather round.

See, those of us living in over populated large metropolitan cities know all too well that landing a coveted spot in preschool means sharpening your claws and elbows, putting on your Sunday finest, and getting ready to wait in long horrible 12 hour lines outside in February to not even secure a guaranteed spot for the fall, or pushing your way through various open houses each fall, parading your child around like some champion pony, showing how she would be the ultimate asset to that program and should, without a doubt, beat out even the alumni or sibling spots for the coveted ONE spot for the 4,534,124 kids that want that same spot.

It’s ugly out there.

And so, enter KT’s “sneaking in the backdoor” approach. Which frankly, I stumbled upon on accident, though you better believe I’ve convinced my husband that it was all part of this brilliant master plan that I’ve cooked up to make our lives easier. And therefore, I should be awarded with jewels and gifts from around the globe.

OK – so the backdoor approach. That would be calling around to preschools in the summer, when no snot nosed twerps are around, when only a skeleton staff even comes into the office on intermittent days, and innocently inquiring about openings. What you might find is that for whatever reason, there happens to be a spot and well, no one else is competing with you for it because they’re off sunning themselves at the beach or the pool not thinking about preschool.

And with that open spot, you can swoop in like the pretty white dove that you are, secure said spot for your child, and therefore miss out on all the painful open houses and long lines on a cold February day.

C’est vrai.

See, at the end of the day, there’s always somewhere for your tyke to go to preschool and there IS a way to avoid a lot of the hassle, but some of it rests on chance.

Once I finish my sleuting and snooping around to unearth any secret horrors about said preschool, I will quickly sign on the dotted line and enroll our child prodigy to begin after she turns 2.

When she wakes up dancing like Shirley Temple, you’ll be the first to know.