Posh Mom, Alternadad, and the Reign of the Cool Parent

I was looking for an online parenting chat forum, and I had trouble finding one where I could fit in. There are so many different parenting trends, it's kind of hard to fid something I like. A review of the major sites:

Posh Mom is the mind set of being supermom in jimmy choos. These are the women who hand out cute business cards for play dates. Hey, if they have the money to spend on manicures and lattes, more power to them. Certainly not the group for me, though.

Next on the list (and this one looks promising), Grupsters. Well, there are a lot of names for this mind-set. The main philosophy is that life as we know it, does not end with the advent of "the tinyness", and that by unilaterally swearing off the doodlebops and the wiggles, we can retain the essence of who we are. This is more of a spectrum mindset. There are people like Alternadad, who is editor of the website "Offsprung: For parents who don't suck" (now there's a motto to live by!) who believe that they should not pander to the "kid" lifestyle and continue to live their life as they want. It's a bit extreme for me, although I do love the chat forums on Offsprung. Very funny. The article in the New Yorker by Adam Sternbergh explains this phenomenon.
Interesting ideas, and I'll be thinking about this for a while and maybe I'll get back to it in a later post.

Then there's Urban Baby which seems like a cross between the two. I don't know which community will fit my ideas and lifestyle yet. I'll lurk for a while on the latter two and see if there is anything interesting. If anyone belongs to any online groups, I'd love to hear about them.

A Letter from Kenya

As I have African missionaries for in-laws, I have been following the violence in Kenya following their Presidential elections closely. My inlaws are in the US for another month, and for that I am thankful, but they do need to return to that confusion soon. My father-in-law emailed one of thir employees in Nairobi, Charles, (a native Kenyan) to ask how things were. The email affected me, so I thought I should post it here. I decided to leave the names in, since they are common names, and anyone who doesn't know them personally, wouldn't be able to find them. With no more ado:

Thank you so much for praying with us, there is trouble all over the country apart from Central part of Kenya. Hell broke loose after the presidential announcement on Sunday 30th December 2007. My family and i spent that night in the cold. There was immense looting and burning especially where we stay. I thank God for shielding us. We have heard the international community raising their voices on the same. On the ground, it's so bad compared to what is heard announced over the media. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa is in the country to talk to the winner and loser. Our prayers are that they feel for Kenyans and understand one another. At the moment it is turning tribal where the presidents tribe ( Kikuyu) is targeted all over the country. It is the largest tribe and are widely spread. Transport is limited, most gas stations have run out petrol with little stock of diesel. Today it was God's favor that i filled the car and 40 liters in jerrycan. The 9 seater is in workshop. We do not know how tomorrow is going to be because the opposition party have called for an open air meeting in Nairobi but the government is opposed to it. About 300 people have lost their lives. Yesterday, rowdy youths in the Rift Valley surrounded a P C A church where people had run for shelter, torched it killing about 35 people mostly women and children. The opposition feels the election was rigged. We pray but leave the rest to God. Isaac and Josephine are still upcountry for lack of transport. Evans has not turned up and his phone is not reached. The rest are okay and well. I will update as we go along. At the moment their is tension in the city. God bless you and keep on praying with us.

Though the letter may just seem a recapping of the news headlines that we've seen this past week, the underlying tension nearly took my breath away. I am fortunate that in America we have not yet felt the panic and confusion of a political/economic/demographical melee in my lifetime. I am glad that Charles was able to find some fuel for his car, and I pray that they will find Evans safe, wherever he is. Please keep the Kenyans (both Luo's and Kikuyu's) in your thoughts and prayers and hopefully, this will come to an end soon.