We should all be as happy as kings*

"When you have a toddler, you hang out with other people who have toddlers and you talk about toddler toys and games and tv shows and the consistency of your kid's poop and the power of projectile vomiting," writes Michele of A Small Victory, drawing an unexpected but totally convincing parallel between the insularity of warblogging and potty training:

And, because you've surrounded yourself with others in your situation, you get nods and sighs of agreement and very few differing opinions. In your mind, everyone has a toddler. Everyone will be enthralled by your potty-training stories and everyone wants to you to share your bedtime ritual tips.

And then one night you go to a dinner party and you try to strike up a conversation with several people, none of whom have toddlers in the house. You are bewildered that people seem, well, bored to tears when you regale them with tales of spiked fevers and pediatricians.

You totally miss the fact that there is a third option, which is to keep going to your mother's group and all that entails, but set aside some time for outside interests as well, so you don't forget that a whole big, wide world exists outside of the realm of parenting.

Potty training, single-issue blogging, and you know what else?  Michele's mommy bubble reminds us of the MSM's Pauline Kael bubble, that echo chamber where all "right-thinking" people believe as they do, and they are not biased -- no, they are not -- despite blue staters' views to the contrary.

*"The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings. Robert Louis Stevenson.

Comments

[Jack]

Indeed.