Monday 21 January 2008

Parenting

He’s tall and skinny, she’s short and dumpy. They both wear green, waxed cotton coats – the type that stink, leave oily marks on all who touch them, and that are best left to those who farm or shoot. They stride up the platform, pushing a high-tech pram with the smug demeanour of new parents. I find myself wondering at what point in our evolution we came to believe that fulfilling our biological function of reproducing was something that set us apart from and above our fellow human beings. On a busy railway platform, filled with commuters, this couple’s sense of their own consequence sticks out almost as pungently as their unpleasant outerwear. Baby sleeps on obliviously.

7 comments:

Gucci Muse said...

How true, how true, Puss.

Being single, I have often wondered myself of why every sow capable of breeding, and freely exercises that capability, feels that "talent" has propelled her to the front of the line. And I am not talking about welfare, either.

And, what kind of coats are those? How repugnant.

David said...

I pity the child. Hopefully it will grow up a rebel, all snotty hair, loud music and rejection of such prig values.

Katherine said...

I've noticed quite a bit of that type of smugness too, pram & new Barbour stink included. Mostly in West Berlin & NY.

In my forgiving moments I tell myself it must have to do with their being able to afford a baby in such an expensive city.

August

toby said...

Poor baby. Maybe it will be intelligent enough to rebel but it'll probably grow into a monster like its parents.

Pawlie Kokonuts said...

The WORST are the parents who push their jogging strollers through crowds like the prow of a ship pushing through ice. I purposely get in their way and impede them. Maybe I say this because I'm a parent (not THAT kind, I hope), but these people would likely be just as incorrigible and loathsome without kids. Runners or cyclists, I'll bet.

J said...

I'm guessing the child won't be so oblivious in a few years. A sense of entitlement and overinflated self worth tends to be passed from generation to generation. I second David's hope for snotty hair and loud music in that family's future.

Miss Awesome said...

And what a lucky baby it is (to be sleeping through it). I know a woman who is so sure that everything her baby does is the MOST WONDERFUL thing in the world and seems completely unaware of the idea that others don't feel the same. It's kind of cute if you ask me :)-