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- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!ub!acsu.buffalo.edu!ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu!oispeggy
- From: oispeggy@ubvmsd.cc.buffalo.edu (Peggy Brown)
- Newsgroups: misc.kids
- Subject: Re: Circum.: When Parents Disagree :-(
- Message-ID: <Bzqw1v.HD4@acsu.buffalo.edu>
- Date: 24 Dec 92 03:52:00 GMT
- References: <1992Dec23.212132.22722@ntmtv>
- Sender: nntp@acsu.buffalo.edu
- Organization: University at Buffalo
- Lines: 80
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-
- In article <1992Dec23.212132.22722@ntmtv>, missy@ntmtv.UUCP (Missy Iaquinto) writes...
- >
- >
- >This discussion happens to be coming at a time when my husband
- >and I are needing to make this decision, and I'm looking for
- >some net.experience, or at least some net.advice.
- >
- >We have a 3 year old daughter. When I was pregnant with her,
- >and we did not know her gender, we never really "agreed" on
- >the issue, I was against, he was for. At that time, I had
- >said once, and now regret saying, that he could make the
- >final decision, but that I was against it. We never really
- >discussed it further, but I'm sure that had Kayla been a boy,
- >she would have been circumcised.
- >
-
- Well, you ASKED for net opinions, so here goes....Note, this is
- just my opinion and I hope I don't say anything you find
- offensive.
-
- 1.) I think your husband is *VERY* manipulative.
-
- 2.) I think you do not deal with his manipulative tendencies as
- well as you could, which maybe encourages him. In fact, you may
- well be giving him mixed messages, which confuse him. Very common
- problem for women. We tend to submerge our wills and identities
- for others. This is something I've dealt with (and continue to
- deal with). For me things were not greatly unbalanced. In fact,
- it took awhile before I even acknowledged that things were not
- 50/50. Once I figured it out though I did something about it and
- my husband adjusted fine, eventually. Its not pleasant to rock the
- goat ("goat" was really a type, but I think I'll leave it.:)),
- but I feel much better having an egalitarian relationship
- and and equal division of power. (You may or may not feel that
- any of this would be useful for you.)
-
- 3.) I think its completely irrelevant that under pressure and
- manipulation you agreed to circumcision for your first baby. Its
- a GAME to think any of that applies to the second baby. It was
- unfair the first time and certainly is unfair now. Besides,
- YOU feel strongly about it. You may well feel more strongly
- about it than your husband. IMO just because he's a male does
- not give him the final say. IMO, since the procedure is
- medically unneccessary, both parents should agree on it. (I'm
- expecting a boy in April and he will not be circumcized.)
-
- 4.) I think its completely unfair and another GAME what happened
- with the name situation too. I don't think your strategy of
- "bringing it up later" is very effective. That gives him time to
- get "set" on the idea and gives it more momentum, at least in his
- mind. When something like this comes up its far more effective
- to express the fact that you do not accept this, but it can be
- discussed later.
-
- I don't know how other people choose names. With my husband and
- I we decided that I would choose the girl's name and he would
- choose the boy's - with both of us having veto power over
- something we hated. I was torn between Amanda Clare and Alyson
- Clare, but went with Amanda because he liked it better. He chose
- Richard Leonard (after his father). I choked on Leonard and
- suggested Paul instead (his name). So his final selection was
- Richard Paul. (He thought about Paul Richard too, but I was
- discouraging about 2 with the same name in the house.) Anyway,
- since its a boy the name will be Richard Paul. We had relatively
- little fuss over naming and both of us are content with the
- selection.
-
- Since you already know your child will be a boy this method won't
- work for you. Another way would be to rate different names and
- then select one that you both rated highly. Though if he is into
- playing games instead of being honest, he will trash all the
- names he knows you like....I don't know what to suggest.... You
- have a problem, but don't back down.
-
- This is a time of great joy and excitement, so try not to let
- these (relatively) little problems ruin it...
-
- Good luck,
-
- - Peggy -
-