What bias, you ask?

The bias that proclaims:

Damn those kids!  They ruin everything, and if you don’t recognize that, well, you are just living in denial.

Don’t you know that they are spoiled, pampered, entitled and unappreciative?  Just ask most parents.  They’ll be only too happy to tell you how they’ve martyred themselves for their children without so much as a thank you in return.

Or talk to the people – the movers, the shakers, the hip, the savvy – to whom children are a bit like some alien entity you wouldn’t want to touch. (They cling and smell weird.)

These people like to talk a lot about things that are  AWESOME!  or HOT!   They know how to travel savvy and light (Tim Ferriss on the cover of today’s Times Travel section, anyone?).   They re-invent, they brand, they network, they publish.  They do NOT have kids.  (Or if they do, they keep it on the deepest down low.)

People with kids have to CHECK their bags at airports.  Oh the horror!

They cannot have wild sex at the drop of a hat anywhere they want – and sometimes don’t even want to!!!

Not to mention that kids cost MILLIONS of dollars to raise.   I mean really, between the nannies, the camps, the tutors, the personal trainers and the never-ending stream of TOYS for the kids, there’s barely any money left over for recreational drugs or weekend trips to Cabo for the parents.

Wait a minute?  What?  You mean you have kids and you (gasp!) like them?  You don’t feel they’ve sucked the life out of you, taken your good years and left you a dry husk of a person with no ambition and ugly shoes?   Let me get this straight.  You’ll go out in public with them and not cringe?    Are you one of those weirdos who – I can’t bear it – treats children as though they are real people?

Who are you?…..

Yes, that bias.

For those of us who don’t feel children are an expensive inconvenience better left to the unfortunate unenlightened people of the world, this constant barrage of negativity can get a little annoying.

Or did you miss the resulting hint of sarcasm in this post?

I like my kids and you know what?  I’m not a shlub.  Neither are the other unschooling parents I know.  In fact, I would go so far as to say we’re a fairly hip, AWESOME and -dare I say it – HOT bunch of people.   We are the ultimate innovators because we’re challenging the way people think about education.   That takes savvy with some guts on the side.

My kids are cool.   They’re interesting and they’re hip.  I like them as people.  I don’t think they hold me back from life.

Even if we have to check our bags at the airport.