Sorry, just as I hit "publish" on that one, the song that makes me CRINGE EVERY TIME came on in the Piglet Movie. Did Carly Simon NEVER HAVE CHILDREN?!? NO IT IS NOT A MOTHER'S INTUITION TO WASH HER BABY AND CLEAN THE #$*&ING HOUSE!
How the hell could a woman of her generation (early boomer) ever bring herself to sing such demeaning rubbish in her "crone years"? Seriously, it doesn't sound like she's singing with a gun pressed to her head.
For what it's worth, it's THIS mother's intuition to NOT wash the baby so damn much. Bad for the baby's skin and BABIES DON'T STINK. Toddlers do sometimes, and rinsing off the mud is a good idea, but seriously the whole "scrub behind the ears" (yes it's in the song) thing... what's the point? When was the last time a kid got sick with e. coli because *gasp* mama didn't wash behind his ears? Wash the hands, wash the feet, wash the really stinky bits. The part behind the ears - damnit, that's the part that smells the BEST! Leave it ALONE unless the kid's been playing in something that requires washing it off! AAACK!
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I didn't start washing behind my ears until very recently, and I do it because I don't like how slimy it feels back there. I don't know how it smells because my nose isn't quite stretchy enough. But I'm not a baby, so that's hardly relevant.
I haven't actually been able to hear the entire song all the way through without being interrupted by shouts of "Auntie NO!" and such, but from what I've heard of it, the whole bath thing is a metaphor for a mother's ability to see through a child's attempts at deception and evasion (probably due more to the child's shortsightedness more than the mother's supernatural intelligence). The deception is represented by the dirt and grime that a kid can get himself into and which conceals the "good" child that the mother knows is there, but which can be difficult to find when he's been screachy and troublesome.
They may have carried the metaphor too far. Maybe someday if I learn how to make music I'll rewrite and record the song so it puts less emphasis on the bathing idea and takes a more big-picture view of mothering. Maybe incorporating things like Mrs. Weasley's sock-washing and sweater-knitting.
-Serena
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