isn't Charlotte Raven bonkers?

[CarolinaMoose]

There's an article in today's Guardian by her about how she didn't realise before getting pg that children have their own identities and aren't just cutsey mini-mes, and what a blow this discovery was to her over-developed ego. Weird.

i couldn't make head or tail of what she was going on about tbh.

I don't know whether it's more depressing that the Family section is so terrible or that I read it all every week.

The woman is a pretentious arse.

I read the article and concluded afterwards that life really is far too short to have bothered to do so.

Yes!

Between her and the mad mother of teenagers (and no more Slack Dad now ) it gives Families a bad name

(But I will go on reading it because sometimes there is a gem in there.)

and she gets paid for writing? actual money?? no kidding?

The family section in the Guardian used to be good when it first started but it has gone downhill. A shame really because when it was the parenting section on a Wednesday it was usually quite interesting, I read it every week and I and that was before I had a kid. I find that 'year in the life of...' utterly dull and a lot of the lead articles are writers writing about themselves... boring and sounding hopelessly self absorbed in the process. Havn't read that Charlotte Raven thing yet but that sounds like a good example.
A missed opportunity, expected more from my fav. newspaper.

I tried, but couldn't finnish the article. Not Rachel Cusk....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

read alf of this and can only say what aload of wnak

On reading the thread title my immediate answer is yes, obviously. Will read the article now.

Ah, believing the universe revolved around her, that's where she was going wrong, obv. Hilarious!

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Just had a go at reading it, couldn't hack it and probably read less than half, what was her point, I not sure she knew herself exsept being a mother wasn't what she thought it was going to be....and? The rest of the section was a little more readable this week but there just wasn't anything topical or any news!?!? Think the whole thing is in mortal danger of dissappearing up its own middle class arse if it is not very careful.

Family is a totally random mix of stuff these days, although I quite like the way it's about all sorts of family relationships rather than specifically parenting of small children.

I can't read the year in the life bit either or Anne Karpf, but am really getting into the crazy mum of teens .

I did find it odd that CR was presenting this liberal/conservative split as if it had any relevance to anyone apart from some old hippies living in Islington. Lol at her mum not cooking so Charlotte wouldn't grow up thinking that's what women did .

Agree re Observer Women btw - all lipstick and pink gadgets as if there's nothing else that could be passing through our fluffy little minds.

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I liked the article about the grandparents but the thing about taking Hector to Le Gavroche, please tell me how that is informative or interesting? Hector doesn't like foie gras... oh please Guardian, just listen to yourselves.

I thought she came accross as a spoilt selfish woman who needed to grow up. Phrases like "its so unfair". Oh no poor you. And lumping us all in the same category as her:

"the modern woman is fighting to retain her (false) belief that the universe revolves around her."

Um not all of us. Sorry - some of us were a bit better prepared for having a child and not a pre programmable robot. Not saying that having a child was not a shock to the system and I don't think you can ever be fully prepared, but this woman seemed to be on a different planet. Strange. Had she ever come accross children before?

I didn't really get what she was going on about, but thought it was just me being not intellectual enough to get it .

I actually like the Family section, but I find the teenager thing really depressing - is this what I have in store? Are all teenagers really so incredibly rude to their mother, are hers really that bad all the time?

oh thank god .. I read that article yesterday and couldn't relate to any of it

I was desperately hoping it actually was the tosh I perceived it to be

what a bunch of crap

Ha! I thought this was so horribly written and bonkers too!

I personally am deeply prejudiced against Family section because it never commissions anything by moi, dammit.

emsiewill, I'm also horrified by the teen column, but always have to read it. Poor woman sounds so beaten down. The one yesterday about the memories of her little ones coming home from school almost brought a tear to my eye. But I can't help thinking, 'how can she let them speak to her like that?'

I read this thread before the article, and thought, "gosh, it can't be as bad as they're saying" ... it was worse. It started out ok, but then I couldn't tell ... were we meant to be sympathetic to her horribly self-centred world view? Was she taking the piss? I fear not.

She made it sound like being raised to think interrupting everyone was ok was a good thing. Sheesh.

I used to like the family section more. I did like the grandparent article. And didn't they do a good one on a stillbirth a while back? (The New Yorker did a good one, too ...)

I personally am deeply prejudiced against Family section because it never commissions anything by excellent journos like MI, dammit.

And she sounds as though she herself was a ghastly child - doesn't she say in the article that her mother allowed her to interrupt ? Treat 'em like labradors, I say.

A also liked the grandparents articles, and I like Annalisa Barbieri's shopping page.

the thing that p*sses me off aboutthese articles it the whole "it happened to me therefore it is a zeitgeist thing that affects every other living being".