End Of An Era? (a.k.a. A Personal Rant)

I am a magazine junkie, I admit it.  Is it really any surprise?  I love to read, love to learn new things; let’s face it, magazines were invented for suckers like me. :)

The thing is, I think I am “outgrowing” some of my mags.  I flip through them and think, “Huh, didn’t get anything out of that one.”  Or I just don’t seem to relate to some of the topics in the articles.  One in particular?  Parents.  I have read Parents magazine since before I even became a mommy.  I’ve always enjoyed the informational articles, the tips and advice from fellow parents, even the ads for the cool new kid stuff.

I got my latest issue in the mail yesterday.  I flipped through and noted a few good articles, like which common backyard plants are poisonous (and exactly what they do) and how we should monitor our children’s video game time closely.  Then I got to a Q & A section and saw this question:

Is it safe to fill our baby pool with water from the garden hose?

Okay, are you kidding me?  What are you going to fill it with, Dasani?  How about Vitamin Water.  And even more surprising to me was the answer…yes, but with precautions.  Precautions?  Oh, you mean like watching your baby at all times, making sure you keep them in the shade, etc.  Uh, no.  According to the “expert” you have to purchase a “safe for drinking” hose, or run the water a while in your old hose to flush out the lead “because kids often drink some pool water.”  And please never ever let them drink directly from the hose.  My response? 

1.  If you are watching your kids they won’t drink the water.

2.  Your child would have to drink the whole pool to get any of the small amount of lead that finds it’s way into a pool full of water!

3.  Show me a report, a study, any firm (reliable) evidence that drinking water from a hose leads to lead in your body.  Please.  Because I will need to contact everyone from my generation to have them tested as we drank nothing but hose water when we were outside.  Well, except for Kool Aid.

4.  When in doubt, see #1.

An article in this same issue is titled “Why Helicopter Moms Need To Stop Hovering.”  How can they when these magazines keep scaring them unnecessarily about EVERYTHING!

So sorry, Parents magazine, but I have outgrown you.  I don’t like the way you are “educating” the current generation of moms, through scare tactics based on iffy expert info.  Or the way you come up with demeaning and stupid names for certain types of moms (“helicopter” moms?  Really?)  Shame on you!