The Guardian has been reading Mumsnet again!

[wordsmith]

today's topical G2 article . Do you think AmericanAngle is secretly this woman?

This article makes me feel sad!

Reading things like this before I had a baby made me feel like it was going to be awful! I'm sure that some people do feel that children are a horrible mistake, but there ARE plenty of us who think they are the BEST thing ever!

That's a female?! Anyone catch 'Why Men Wear Frocks'? . . .

does it matter that some women dont want children though?

"But that gag law ensures that if their parents do go through periods of disliking their own children, they will not say so, not to anyone."

Yeah, right - come and take a look at mumsnet!

God, well, any female child named Lionel is going to have issues, aren't they?

Her name is Lionel?

Oh God, just because her mother was a loon, does that really mean that we all really hate it too and we're only not saying so becaues we're part of the worlwide mummy conspiracy?

FFF no it doesn't matter if women don't want children. This kind of article suggests that ALL MOTHERS don't want them, though.

This 'it's all a conspiracy' thing actually pisses me off far more than the idea that there might be a conspiracy. It's bloody ridiculous.

Why is it not possible to love it and hate it at the same time? I go through the gamut of emotions every bloody day, don't know about anyone else!

Well, I asume that with no children, she can't be an authority in what she preaches> Just a detached point of view from the childless person who sees how terrible children could be without noticing the nice side of having one.

agree sobernow - all those emotions in five minutes! You look at your kids sometimes and think 'oh my god - what have I done - I'm knackered, my hairs dirty, theres sick on my lounge carpet, they won't eat what I cook for them, I never have sex, I never go out, I daren't drink 'cos I daren't risk a hangover - oh look - hes such a cute little dumpling sitting up like a big boy and where's his first little toothy peg?' I think we all have moments of regret but as for being without them? I don't think that this Lionel(/) can comment - I don't think s/hes qualified - until you've been on this rollercoaster you don't know anything

agree sobernow - all those emotions in five minutes! You look at your kids sometimes and think 'oh my god - what have I done - I'm knackered, my hairs dirty, theres sick on my lounge carpet, they won't eat what I cook for them, I never have sex, I never go out, I daren't drink 'cos I daren't risk a hangover - oh look - hes such a cute little dumpling sitting up like a big boy and where's his first little toothy peg?' I think we all have moments of regret but as for being without them? I don't think that this Lionel(/) can comment - I don't think s/hes qualified - until you've been on this rollercoaster you don't know anything

sorry i didnt read the article, i got bored by the second paragraph

Hilarious! She knows all about children in the way only people without children know all about children. And she looks such a nice, sympathetic sort in her photo , doesn't she? What a loss to the world of mothering.
And yes, I do think being sadistically named Lionel (snurk!) may well have contributed to her sunny outlook.

What is with the black leather gloves? Is she secretly The Claw?

For God's sake, just give your children the cream caramels!
There are plenty of books written about motherhood and not all rosy even if the kids don't grow up to kill their friends in high school shootings.

"While we may have taken the lid off sex, it is still out of bounds to say that you do not like your own kids, that the sacrifices they have demanded are unbearable, or that, perish the thought, you wish you had never had them."
Well, she's wrong on several counts. Firstly, it's not out of bounds to say that you don't like your own kids - we all feel like that sometimes and freely admit it here! It's no big deal. But I don't honestly think there are many mothers who wish they had never had their children.

I think she's got the wrong idea about parents. Surely most parents, by the time their kids are in their teens, admit to not liking some things about them?! And still go on loving them truly, madly, and fantastically!! No-one thinks their kids are perfect - do they?

I wish these women would just own their feelings instead of suggesting that we all really feel like this but just wont admit it.
Yes, there are strong social norms which suggesy how we "should" feel as parents but hey, some of just love our children. Get over it.

And the sacrifices aren't unbearable, that's why we bear them. Otherwise we wouldn't.

ROFL sobernow, Michael Learned immediately popped into my mind too.
I don't think Lionel is AA, even if she has a quirky take on parenting. I just love it when yet another writer thinks they've uncovered a parenting conspiracy!

Perhaps - shes' really the 'brother' and he was called Lionel - just dressed like a women???