Maria Blogs

You either loathe her or pity her but Britney is a topic most, if not all, mommies gravitate toward at least once this year. The latest in her long line of “misbehaviors [gee, I'm too nice]” involve not showing up for deposition.

If I am in the middle of major girl/grownup meltdown AND post partum depression I’d probably skip deposing too to list all the many ways how much of an unfit mom I am. Heck, I’d probably be withdrawing whatever money I have left, bundle my kids and hie off to whichever country that does not have an extradition treaty with the US.

I have no love lost for Britney … not since she bought herself a husband [COME ON, if you're buying yourself a husband, at least choose top of the line girl ...] but I can’t help but feel bad for her. I don’t even know how much of the tabloid gunk is real and how much is not, but let’s see:

She’s considered a bad mom because she lets her baby sit on her lap while driving. She reportedly left the babies on their own at one point just so she can party. That and so much more.  Meanwhile, KFed [what a monniker, k, fed you to the crocs .. oh wait, you're the biggest croc] went from mr. spend-happy user partying everywhere and every time without the wife and kids to being a devout dad and concerned partner?!

GASP. GASP. Gaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.

Back home, car seats are a foreign thing … and man can we drive there or what. Forget LA or New York, we mean REAL driving, the kind that respects traffic lights for what they are — race lights that tell you when it’s time to beat the red light and go as fast as you can! Traffic? No problem, just squeeze your 4×4 SUV between the Pantranco bus and the logging truck on the curb. No yaya? Sus, send your kid alone to lola in a tricycle, give the driver extra so he won’t take any other passengers ha.

Car seat are an encumbrance .. how can babies and kids be on the back of a pickup truck speeding along the North Luzon highway on the way to La Union beach? Nine year old kids would drive around te neighborhood delivering goods for his parents’ business without anyone batting an eyelash.

Back home, our version of a school bus is a pimped out tricycle with three boys hanging out back and 5 more crammed inside. I’m almost 35 years old, I’ve been in one of those “sundo” [tricycle school rides] and I haven’t heard of an accident happening to one of the kids for riding there … from time to time our “sundo” would bog down in the middle of the road from overweight and all the kids would have to pitch in and make tulak [push] to jumpstart the bike engine. Ahhhh … happy childhood days.

It’s so funny how the US have so many safeguards and RULES on what you can and cannot do in caring for your child but this society also ends up with a high rate of children bullies and school shootings. Que horror, imagine a pistol waving bulilit storming St. Paul’s School in Sta. Maria and shooting classmates they’ve been playing piko and Playstation just the weekend before?!

So many rules, so little spontaneous interaction between children. Why, parents even have to schedule playdates for kids. What happened to knocking on the kitchen door and start playing with the neighborhood kids? Just be home by dinnertime anak.

Back to Britney,  I’m no Julia Roberts so I can’t “adopt” her and build her a guesthouse and knock some sense into her but I’d send her back to the Philippines where she can party to her heart’s content while yaya [nanny] takes care of the boys. If there’s one thing we know how to do is take care of our babies given the chance and resources.

That, or strangle her with one of her missing underwears.