https://go2tutors.com/why-parents-love-sittervising/
Okay, I know it’s cute to smush words together to make a new term but the labels and boxes everyone is checking lately have gotten a bit out of hand. This is what happens when public education pushes filling in little bubbles on scantron sheets.
I’m clearly not a fan of aptitude tests or dividing people up by personalities. Sure it sounds great on paper but in the real world it doesn’t matter what you mark yourself as; you still have to deal with change and uncertainty. And if you choose to become a parent, that just becomes life. Every day.
When I was a kid, adults didn’t hover over children and worship them like little princes and princesses. It didn’t matter what neighborhood you were in, the parents were (at least mostly) in charge and they didn’t act like clowns constantly exhausting themselves to entertain their kids.
But apparently this is a thing now. People are so obsessed with child worship that they can’t understand the concept of sitting down and watching their kids play without making a hot new buzzword. Enter: sittervising.
Everyone is acting like this is new. It was “created” by a modern mom herself! Oooo.
If it’s something you want to do, that’s great, but do we really have to act like this was recently invented or as if this form of terminology is intellectually stimulating? I mean, really? How about we talk how we talk and we stop obsessing over parenting styles and what box to shove ourselves and our kids into. I mean that way we’re not dividing ourselves up or pushing new complexes onto our kids that they’ll need years of therapy to recover from.
Just think of how mentally taxing it must be for a kid who’s never been allowed to play by themselves…. I can see them in the therapists’s office now. “Well, I don’t know. I’ve never really had a minute alone. Mom even stands outside the bathroom door waiting for me. Has been for 15 years now.”
Imagination and exploration are often sparked by boredom, free-time, and the freedom to do things without someone structuring everything for you. Most every parent has their heart in the right place, but when we need to create a new word to define sitting down and watching your kids play, we’ve grown just a bit too wound up. I can’t imagine the kind of digestion issues some of these people have. Just imagine them trying to sit and relieve their bowels.
Sorry, I had to say it. “Bowels” is a fun word. Regardless, I hope you can have fun parenting without tripping yourself up over parenting styles and trendy terms designed by online “experts” who are trying to sell a book or get more clicks on a blog post.
Jessica Marie Baumgartner 