I shall miss you, I shall kiss you, but I think it's time to go...well, actually only for two weeks but do you think PLEASE Mumsnet could be a bit less damn sanctimonious a place on my return?

[motherinferior]

And PLEASE don't tell me (a) you don't know what I'm on about (b) I'm taking it all too seriously (c)nobody can make me feel bad, it's all my fault.

Look, I came to MN and stayed here and loved it here precisely because it was full of funny, articulate, fallible parents who supported each other and genially accepted that perfection was both unattainable and probably undesirable. Yes, of course there were heated subjects: epidurals, Caesarians, Certain Childcare Practitioners Who Shall Not Be Named, controlled crying, work outside the home, breastfeeding...yep, you name it. But you could also post cheerily on a thread lamenting your own hopelessness, and in fact compete to see who was more hopeless - along with the invaluable support for different birth choices and feeding choices and educational choices and so on.

I feel - and I know I'm not alone, because several people have posted to that effect - that there's now a strong flavour of Perfection Being The Best Option. I simply can't. I am judgemental, of course I am, but I'm not prepared to say that anyone who feeds their child a fruit shoot or leaves them an extra half hour at after school club or puts a bit of pasta in a jar (that'll be me, then) is failing the test.

MN continues to be an enormous source of support for many of us. I'd hate to leave permanently. But I can't, and I won't, measure up to those standards of perfection. And if those are the rules I just don't want to play.

Message withdrawn

Hey Dinosaur...I'd vote for you

cor. I never knew hairy handed truckers got so snarky.

I love MN. Sometimes I even think that some of you might be real.

Well I for one have actually liked the turn Mumsnet has taken recently - it's meant I have been doing far more studying than Mumsnetting.

I do think there will always be hidden gems among the dross - it's just getting more and more difficult, and less worth the effort, to find them. But everything changes, and far be it from me to dictate to others what the content of a website should be - I am however allowed to express an opinion on that content, and IMO the posters who have left, or just don't bother to post so much anymore, have made this a less nice place to be.

It's the striving for perfection, isn't it? As if this were some sort of higher state that we all need to be aiming for. There's little understanding sometimes that perfection is dull. I'd much rather read a humorous thread about ruefully cocking things up than one about how X strives for the perfect diet for her children. (Where X = no particular poster, btw) Which is not the same thing as cutting down the tall poppies...good food is fabulous...I just mean, everyhting in context. I remember one thread where someone had changed her children's diet and changed their behaviour. It was fascinating and heartwarming. Contrast that with "Why would you want to give your child X??" Well I probably wouldn't, but where's the warmth in a thread like that?

meowmix

oh lord - no that wasn't a dig at MI at all, she's given me fab advice over the years and a fair few chuckles. Or indeed any other one individual.

was a tragically deluded stab to poke fun at the way we all take Mumsnet so desparately seriously at times. I won't let it happen again and will now go to the naughty step.

MI won't leave, Dinosaur - nah. She will come back with a nice tan and a raffia donkey in her suitcase and she will feel better, both for her holiday and for this thread.
I think many MN debates are saved from overheating/bad feeling by posters remembering to do a bit of judicious twinkling

come off the bleeding naughty step meowmix

you haven't done anything

this kind of 'taking everything seriously' business should be stopped

you can call me a hairy handed trucker any day of the week. However I must admit that I have no idea what they are or what it means - I just join in to pretend that I know what the cool people know

phew [meowmix looks nervously around for giant raffia donkey]

SHe has gone away with five cuddly unicorns and a tea set, apparently.
No room for raffia donkeys...

you know she'll make that age-old mistake of bringing back retsina...(yuk)

I thought the thread title in Realtionships

Monkeytrousers and Bananaknickers was going to be about pairing mns off together

I still have a half empty bottle of limoncello from our honeymoon 11 years ago and its the one drink we have never ever been tempted by at the end of a drunken night. Holiday liquors should stay on holiday.

mm, one thing to do with limoncello

meowmix I consider it my duty as a human being to find uses for lonely alcohol

a quick google revealed the following alternative uses for limoncello

Mix with sparkling wine or mineral water and add a twist of lemon peel to serve as an aperitif
Toss with fresh berries or fruit
Over vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt

you should be ashamed of yourself

Have I missed something? What happened? Was there a jumbo row?
I honestly don't think Mumsnet has changed much recently. Infact I think that since the "she who mustn't be named" stuff, people have generally been more careful with their postings.
I always hate mass slaggings off - don't see how they are ever constructive, but there has always been a bit of that since the MN audience broadened.

well I only have 3 more days in the country so will have to clear out the drinks cabinet (can't take booze to Qatar with me). I'm going to have a hangover. Or three.

baked potato pmsl

trust nigella to have some leftover limoncello hanging around

and to have thought up a recipe for it

what about a use of a half bottle of Marie brizard Cafe