A lot of things annoyed me yesterday. Here is my list.

Curses, can't edit.

4. Listing male names first. DS2 and a girl in his class did a joint entry to a class project, writing a report on a visit by a raptor centre. They won and got their article published in the Parish News. They worked on it together, but she typed it (his typing speed is atrocious) yet the names are listed as his then hers. Both her first and last initial are before his in the alphabet so it isn't that it was done in alphabetical order (which would make perfect sense to me) and he says that when they handed it in, they each had to write their names on it and as the girl typed it, she got to it first so her name was at the top. That means someone has deliberately changed it to list his first!

Of course I am proud as punch that they won and have laminated the article (what? He may be a reporter one day, this could be his first piece of work in print. You'll not be mocking when it is worth a fortune and he has a Pulitzer ) so I don't really want to make a big deal of it to him and piss on his parade, but it has spoiled it a bit for me.

Oh a rant thread, excellent!

Things top of my List this week;

1. Being asked however I would cope with 2 pre-teen boys and a newborn and a DP to look after. I won't. We will cope, as a unit, equally because we are a family.

2. Being told by DP's best mate that when DS3 is born, him and DP can 'babysit' the kids (best mate has a 4 month old) so me and his DP can go out. I could just about let it go if he meant my DP watching my 2 DS's, as they aren't his kids. Sure it is annoying that he sees DP as doing me some great favour that he doesn't need to, but I could almost forgive it. But to say that him and DP taking care of their own children for the nigh is babysitting? My piss boiled so fast I thought I might take off with the steam I must have been emitting! Fortunately (for the best mate) DP jumped in quick and pointed out you can't babysit your own kids, or the kids you live with because you are an equal parent.

3. Having DP automatically excluded from the conversation about who would drop the carpool kids off at Scout camp tomorrow, because he is a man and it is the Mum's job to do the running around after the kids. OK I was quite pleased that I didn't have to think up an excuse to get him out of it, but that was because it is miles away and he doesn't live near here so doesn't know the roads and his car is a stupid showy offy executive thing, so not designed for ferrying 4 kids + camping equipment in, but the reason that he was excluded from the list of potential takers really pissed me off.

On the subject of pink being 'for girls', that is a pretty recent thing and IIRC from my (long distant) history lessons, red used to be a boy's colour because it was considered lucky and males were more valuable eyeroll so had red clothing to protect them. Without modern marvels like Colour Catcher, the red used to run and fade so many clothes would end up as washed out red, aka pink, so pink was almost exclusively used for boys. I'm not sure when the current shift to it being a girls colour started. It would be quite ironic if it was switched so that girls were considered equals or just as important as boys.

Thought I'd shamelessly steal from this blog which neatly summarises all the things that have annoyed me lately.

So Bristol has more going for it than just the architecture.

Celadon my dh preferred my rants about politics and recycling to discussing feminism. Yesterday I was told that feminists have devalued mens labour so that no man can earn enough to keep a family. I believe he thinks keeping a family is no different to keeping a dog. It requires food and shelter and not too much conversation.

What is it with the pink thing? Is it all the Psychedelic Furs' fault? When the film Pretty In Pink came out, the colour was seen as vaguely subversive.....
I quite LIKE pink (although prefer various shades of purple - as DD's wardrobe will attest) but it's become so bloody all-pervading "girly-girl". Pah.

Hey, let's ALL move to Bristol - we can make it into a Fabulous Feminist republic!

and isn't it interesting that while MN is full of really important threads like "what do you think about this dress?" and "I don't like my MIL", it's still only the feminist ones that get the good old "Tsk, don't you have anything more important to worry about?"

The lighten up thing makes me laugh (so I suppose in a way it works) at the same time as it pisses me off. It's just such a silly thing to say, I end up laughing at the person who's saying it. What's so brilliant is that people say it about anything - girls being sexually harrassed at school? Lighten up! Women being paid less than men for the same job? C'mon, take a joke! Honour killings in Pakistan? Jeez Louise, can't you just shutup and enjoy the sunshine?

You're not a saint? But feminists are supposed to be saints, see, you're just as bad as men.... etc.

today - the feminist threads in other sections of MN that all turn into "don't you have more important things to worry about, there are people starving in the world!!" or "oh lighten up, can't you take a joke?"

Not sure if it's more annoying or sad, both probably.

Sardine "She is a very thoughtful child though, with a memory like an elephant. When people say things to her she listens carefully and mulls it over and a week or two later will come out with her interpretation of it."

I think you can use this to implant feminist attitudes your advantage!

Yes - it makes me quite queasy to see various of my well-qualified, professional friends make a really special effort to constantly reassure their partner that he is the big man. For instance if we are talking about politics or work or anything, and partner wanders over and starts talking about something completely unrelated (usually interrupting) they will give him a couple of minutes of attention until he is happy to go off again, like some kind of toddler, rather than treating him as an adult who can either join in a conversation or be left to fend for himself.

PLus all teh invites and xmas cards we get from nursery friends are disney princess branded. It's the parents doing it - it started at 2 and that is definitely before children get strong views of their own about this stuff. This is a nursery in a v middle class north london type place - the mums are all doctors and accountants and things. The sort of people you might think would be less inclined to go overboard with this stuff. I don't get it. It makes you realise just how different the ideas that I consider to be quite normal, actually are

I was quite amazed TBH. I was expecting princesses, but not for every single girl bar mine to be in a full-on bought Disney branded costume (you know the ones I mean).

I don't want DD to be the odd one out obviously, it honestly hadn't occurred to me that every single little girl at nursery owned one of these dresses. I genuinely thought that what she had on - pretty summer dress + wand would be "princessy" enough. Apparently not. And if that's the case then it gives so much less "wriggle room" - room to do it but with a twist IYSWIM.

Sardine I wonder if, my DD, like yours, might feel different if she's not the only one not decked out in Full Disney. Might have a chat in advance just to check - thanks for the warning.

Was going to dress her in normal wear with small crown - modern day princess, an idea I think may have got from the original thread.

Please do!

oooh we had a pirates and princesses party. I posted a thread on here at the time. In the end DD thought that a pirate princess was a good idea and so she went in a summer type dress with a pirate hat and tunic. She looked great.

Every single other girl there was dressed in a proper bought Disney princess costume. Every single one, no word of a lie. After we left DD asked me why she was the only girl who wasn't a princess

Two other things from that - two little girls in floor length gowns were trying to run around and couldn't so it properly as they kept tripping over. And the organiser at one point said "pirate boys on this side and girl princesses on that side" so we could be left in no doubt what everyone was supposed to be.

Poor old DD I felt awful actually. I wasn't expecting that she would be the odd one out like that

tougholdbird I think you will find your aggressive male colleagues are described as assertive and promoted quickly. One of my collegaues was like that - he regularly made people cry - management (male) thought he was fab

Can I join in? It's amazing how many things you notice when you start looking so today my list is...

the invite to DD's Y2 street party says 'come dressed as a prince or princess'. It would be nice if for once it could reverse the order, as in 'come dressed as a princess or prince'

getting called 'aggressive' in my appraisal, when I can't help but wonder if the same behaviours in a male colleague would earn a pat on back for being a mover and shaker. That made me feel v sad.