ladyofthelake

Ohhhh I'm guilty of that, proving I'm definitely not a Stepford. If I was there'd be fancy sarnies, bagettes decorated like a caterpillar, cupcakes, jellies, cookies etc The place would be totally decked out with bunting and ribbons, and the Birthday Cake would be a work of art!

Shish kebab

Hi Woodsy sorry to hear you have been a bit overwhelmed with your mums club I would feel the same way. I guess I was lucky in San Diego with the mums I met they were all so down to earth and there was no one trying to out do the other by what they could do the best for the kids. One of the mums was from turkey me from Scotland and The American mums didn't come from CA so it helped. We would just go to the local parks and sometimes have a wee picnic on rainy days we would meat at a book store or another indoor place. We had a lot of fun and the kids had a great time just being themselves and getting to know each other as people. Stepford wives right enough. As I was reading on to all the other replies it is making me want to run from CA. As I said before I have never felt settled here in LA but I don't live in an area that you would even meat a stepford wife. Let along hear the English language. We are going to move at the end of our lease but maybe I will just stay here HaHa. I can't go all that pretence and you have to watch your p's and q's. I am still looking for a mums club but nothing around here not for the artsy craft days just to be able to speak to someone in English other than my dh but no luck. Maybe I will take Spanish lessons.

woodsey

hi, nice to hear from you again, we should ge together for a day out....PM me if you fancy
Have to say it did make me feel really homesick which I haven't done for months, How I wish I was back at the little playgroup in Scapegoat Hill but I am going to persevere for the sake of my boy cos he did seem to really like it but they'll be in for a shock if they ever come to mine, might manage a few ham sarnies

Lord Lionheart

Ham Sarnies might not be a good idea for the lady that was going to her freinds son's bar mitzvah....... Trader Joe's turkey 'ham' is probably a safer bet.

woodsey

glad you pointed that out, I would have been in trouble then.....

Lord Lionheart

Someone's got to look out for you, let me know if you want to borrow the fake Louis Vuitton handbags I got for Elina when I was in Hong Kong - 2 for $20.00............. nah, they'll probably spot them a mile off.

woodsey

thanks dad

Englishmum

Yes but with respect Rete, you're not British. This is all so alien to us women from the UK. Even the word 'playdate' does not exist in Great Britain and you certainly don't book it up days ahead, instead it's usually on the spur of the moment.

Rete

I realize that EM and playdate was not a part of my vocabularly when I was a young mother either.

However, women are women all over the world as mothers are mothers. I'm sure there are unclaves of stepford wives in the UK just waiting for the newbies to make themselves known so they can pounce.

What is so different in an English woman's/young mother's like in the UK from that of the same age category woman in the US. We aren't talking Mars and Junipter here and I really am curious why you ladies from the UK seem to think that all American stay at home mom's are like the ones a few of you have met and that we are all to be categorized according to some male's fantasy of the ideal wife and mother?

fatbrit

They both have similar anatomy. After that, it's hard to find any similarities whatsoever...

AdobePinon

Sorry, Rete, they freak the shit out of me.

woodsey

my hubby would divorce me if I was like that....
on a more serious note, I am struggling to find anyone American who isn't like the women I mentioned, it was not a critisism of them in any way, that is how they are, we in England are different, I do not think there are any women like that back home, kids in the US seem to be brought up on 'structure' literally from day one, I was simply making a point that I don't understand how they do it on a daily basis, the Stepford thing was just a little bit of humour. I do not believe for one minute these women drug their kids or themselves, I was actually amazed with what I witnessed yesterday, they seem very content with their lives but so am I without the need for boo boo boxes and cookie bouquets. I applaud the time and effort they put into their kids and themselves (when do they sleep though) and seriously it did make me think that I sometimes don't do enough with my son, I have noticed that older kids in my neighbourhood do seem to have much greater respect for themselves, their parents and their neighbourhood, no standing in groups on street corners drinking cider, smoking fags etc etc (yesterday I saw a boy of about 10 sitting on his own in the park reading, never seen that in England), my teenage daughter has also commented on how 'boring' kids are here compared to back at home so maybe structure isn't a bad thing after all...or maybe they are all robots

ladyofthelake

For one thing, we are far more likely to admit our inadequacies and just be ourselves rather than try to create the false impression of being a 'domestic diva'. There are a lot of British women who like doing the arts and crafts, either for themselves, or with their kids at home. The difference is they tend to do it purely for the joy of doing it, not for the show or to make a good impression. I like doing arts and crafts, I've tried all sorts, and for the most part tend to do them at home alone so I can concentrate on what I'm doing.
So many Americans seem to think they have to be doing something every moment of the day and have failed in some way if they are not. My daughter has a friend who has countless extra curricular activities to do each day, so they never actually get to play together. Sad.

anotherlimey

Oh no, no, no.

I grew up in a little Sussex village where a housewife at the top of her "profession" would bake a fruit cake for a WI jumble sale once every three months.

If you had made a cookie bouquet more than once they would probably call you a show-off and you would be banned from the afternoon tea meetings.

Lord Lionheart

Just look for your nearest trailer park or hop on the I-14 and drive to Palmdale or Lancaster :scared: