An Obama Mama
Sunday, February 1, 2009 at 01:47PM 
For the past month, I have been a one-answer woman when friends talk about a problem having to do with joblessness or husbands sent back to war, “Don’t worry. Obama will take care of it.” Even when the problem has nothing to do with our government, like an inattentive husband or whiny child, I still say, “Once Obama gets in office, it will get better.”
The other day, I heard myself espousing my Mr. Fix-It theory and realized that my kids view me in exactly the same way. I am the Go-To Fix-It-Know-It-All person to whom they like to pose questions like ‘Why are there different types of clouds in the sky?’ and ‘How much is 43 times 256?’ If I can’t come up with some kind of answer, then I go to the Plan B alternatives, such as “Let’s ask Daddy,” We will have to look that up later” and my personal favorite, “I used to ask my dad the same question when I was your age.”
My strategy was recently challenged when I took my six and eight year old daughters to see Marley and Me, a movie inappropriately marketed as a family film. The first ten minutes are the ooh-aah puppy scenes, which made us all smile and laugh. Then Owen Wilson loses his job and the adult themes take over. Jennifer Anniston gets a better job, can’t get pregnant, gets pregnant, miscarries and then gets pregnant again. As I sat mortified in the Aliso Viejo stadium theater filled to capacity, my eight year old turned to me and says, “Mommy, how do you get pregnant?”
“We’ll talk about it later,” I whispered.
“But how can you stop trying to get pregnant?” she persisted as I grimaced. Somehow my explanation of when ‘a man and a woman love each other, God gives them a baby’ wasn’t cutting it.
While we were driving home, I thought, ‘I am a complete fraud at this whole motherhood thing.’ I know by now that these kinds of thoughts require immediate redirection to the park to find another mom in the same state. Fortunately, one of my fellow mommy doubters was there.
“I was just looking at books about that issue,” she shared, not having tackled the birds and bees talk yet.
“Have you found any good ones?”
“No, I am in the midst of researching it.”
I burst into laughter. “Isn’t it sad that we are looking for books to solve this dilemma?”
We nodded our heads in agreement that it was pathetic, but it is our generation’s way. Our moms had one book on parenting--Dr. Spock. We have thousands of titles to research, read and discuss before any action is taken. Perhaps that’s why we can go to fraud mode so easily. If we haven’t done the research, then how can we be certain it’s the right way to do things?
When I told my husband, it was time to have the talk, his face blanched. “Isn’t she too young?” Considering the fact that he tells our girls they can get married when they turn thirty-five, I should have known he would have a problem with this.
“Well our pediatrician said it is time to discuss the puberty issue.” His eyes widened more as I decided I would be going this one alone.
Now that the Inauguration has taken place and Obama is President, I am hoping his enlightened state will rub off on my parenting skills. I am going to assume the position of an Obama Mama, drop my Plan B and answer those tough questions the best I can.
Reader Comments (1)
they were right when they said, "Uneasy lies the head that weras the crown" too much pressure for Obama, but I have no doubts he is an able leader