Dear Merritt Follower,
To the stalker Overheardian making some big point about the fact that I’ve already planned much of the summer for my kids,
Yes, I have. Plan, plan, plan, that’s me. And this is America, planning ahead for children isn’t illegal. The part about the wine was a joke but that’s really not any of your business anyway.
And while I’m at it, I wanted to tell you that it’s kind of creepy how you’re always trying to figure out what I’m up to. If you’re that interested, I’m really flattered. But you should know that I know and it makes you look kind of, well, you know…like you’re a big fan. And I know you don’t want anyone to think that.
Yours truly,
Merritt
9 Comments to “Dear Merritt Follower,”
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Sounds like maybe this Overheardian/stalker is, how shall I say . . . I little jealous? A little preoccupied? I mean, you can critique the Parklebrity that is Merritt Patterson for many things — pointing out nasal appendages of other Parklebrities, trying to make sense of volunteer politics, wearing pearls to the gym — but I don’t think that planning summer activities for her children is so bad. Nor is having a glass of wine. So, what is this really about?
Merritt,
A full bottle of wine over 3 months cannot be called anything other then part of your vitamin regimen.
Uh…is this a real stalker or an invisible stalker, kinda like the invisible friend my daughter used to have? The reason I ask is because, unless I’m missing something, I don’t see any comments to the posts, much less any “stalker-ish” ones.
If it’s an Overheardian, then it should be a comment on the blog, otherwise it is a private email to only you - not the definition of an Overheardian. I say, post the stalker email (unless of course it’s the invisible stalker).
An Overheardian is someone who reads the blog. This person reads more faithfully than anyone, watching for opps to pounce in personal ways. Kersten, you have experienced a similar situation, what are your thoughts?
I don’t think stalkers comment. Sometimes stalkers and Overheardians alike send emails directly to me rather than post comments. With the internet and all, there’s just no anonymous stalking anymore. Those pesky IP addresses!
The BusyGuy has to weigh in on this one! Memo to “B”; where’d you find the blog rulesbook, LOL? I had the impression that based on the constantly shifting one-minute-personal, the-next-minute-not, utterly random infobits posted therein, this blog has no real etiquette handbook. I think the fluidity of the medium is the whole point of blogging. Look at the recent MIS pot-smoking posts. What started out as a truly interesting discussion on important issues ended up as a temporary chat room among the school-age posters…which wasn’t a bad thing, merely a different thing than what it had started as. Finally, I bet Merritt get lots of weird email and even though I’d love to read the stalker’s original post, Merritt’s snarky, clever reply is blogworthy as a “stand alone” response, IMHO.
Not illegal, and probably smart. Those camp spaces fill up quickly. Wow, I bet my kids would love the summer Merritt is planning with her kids (however, in case any of mine that can read are … you’ll be doing the usual 1 camp, vacation bible school, mandatory practicing of your “cheering” at your siblings’ sports games, a trip or 2 with your cousins & grandparents, lots of the usual chores, family babysitting and lots of swimming at the good old UP pool). Wondertime magazine just had a good article titled something like In Praise of Lazy Parenting about the topic of planning/programming free time. If I knew how to link to it, I would.
Like everything else, I don’t think there are any “rights” or “wrongs” on summer activities because what works for one family (or even different children in the same family) may not work for another. For many of us, it is the trial and error of parenting, but kudos to MP for doing her homework, arranging fun activities for her kids to do with their friends and keeping 4 of them happy. My approach to summers past has been parentally selfish … keep the chicks around as much as possible because it seems they are growing up so fast and they are neat little people. Plus, it’s nice to have some family downtime away from the carpools. However, as they get older, they want to be on the go constantly. Like I said, they’d probably love the summer MP has planned. However, I do wish MP would post the email or comment anonymously so we could understand what this person’s problem is with MP planning summer activities in an organized manner or other? As I believe BusyGuy has pointed out in an earlier post, MP juggles 4 kids and work. Planning works for her, and prior planning does prevent poor, poor performance (or something like that).
BTW, in the Wondertime article, the “lazy” parents were the ones not scheduling their kids… more like my style - make them learn to love to play with their sibs.
I have to agree with KA about the laziness factor being awesome in the summer. Although my one child will be going away to camp for a 3-week session, the rest of the summer is open except for 1 PCBC afternoon sport camp (5 day duration). While the days can get long occasionally, I had a truly nice time taking kids up to the UP Pool last summer. They’re getting old enough that I can actually read a book or close my eyes for a little snooze and I did really enjoy spending afternoons just hanging out together. The people-watching is great there and I almost always run into a neighbor or other pal. The other fun part about summer is hangin’ in your jammies together until it’s time to go to the pool at lunchtime, LOL. Camps are a good thing, but I do enjoy those loosey-goosey days without a schedule, too.