the thing i never thought i'd do: attacking another mom's mothering skills

I watched the entire debate last night. And nothing really got under my skin until after it was over, and Sarah Palin's family came on stage.

Hold the phone, "Hockey Mom"-- you have a 5-month-old on STAGE under bright lights at 9:30 at night? Let's ignore the fact that Down's Syndrome babies have special health problems and are more vulnerable than most; a crowd of thousands late at night with bright lights is not where ANY five-month-old needs to be.

I looked at that baby, doing his best to snuggle into his mom's shoulder before being handed to his big sister, and it made me mad. Mad that this woman who claims to stand for the rest of the moms of America chooses to put her political posturing on front of the very simple needs of an infant: Safety. Calmness. And at night-- sleep. 

I am going to entirely ignore everything else about Sarah Palin and say one thing: you cannot claim to be a hockey mom. Maybe you were once-- but you aren't now. 

You do not stand for the mothers of America when you go back to work the day after your child is born. You do not stand for the mothers of America when you pull your kids out of school and take them across country to stand on late-night stages with you. You do not stand for the mothers of America when you put on high heels and trot down steep disembarkment ramps schlepping around your infant like a sack of potatoes.

Because the last thing mothers of America need are a 1-day maternity leave, kids traveling with them for work, and the press flashing bulbs in the faces of babies.

(I would say this to any man who claimed to be a family man and then postured with his baby on a stage late at night, so it's not a sexism thing.)

But you are not being a good parent when you choose the ten-second photo op over the logical choice of what would have been best for that little boy: a familiar room, a familiar caregiver, and lights out a whole lot earlier than after 9:30.