February 9, 2007

That Smell? It's Not A Diaper; It's Pheremones.

If you have Jane Jacobs on your babyname shortlist, you'll love reading Steven Johnson's take on urban parenting in Babble. Johnson's been writing thoughtfully on urban, connective living for a while, but now that he's got a few years of dadlife under his belt, his theories have evolved and expanded. That fact alone is a huge relief for people who fear a kid signals the end of polysyllabic communication as we know it:

But after we moved to Brooklyn, I started to think that maybe there was something even better than the pedestrian-centric city: the stroller-centric city. Kids made the sidewalks more lively and humane spaces, but they did something else as well: they spread the pheromones more thickly; they made connections happen between strangers who otherwise wouldn't have reached out to one another. The addition of our children transformed our sidewalk promenades. Strangers suddenly had a reason to talk to us, and I had a reason to talk to them. Before long, we stopped being strangers.
Street Walkers: the suburbs are overrated [babble]

2 Comments

Not to be flip about it, but daddy travelling with a child unaccompanied by mom seems to always open doors and avenues of conversation that would otherwise be closed. People seem to have an odd fascination (at least where I travel) for freaky long-haired dad and perfectly formed little girl.
I've gotten great advice and words of wisdom from Texas grandmothers: "it's that little girrrrls world - you take care" to harsh words from Better-than-me-ny-moms - "she's cold - cover her up" (yeah, I just did that, but she has a habit of uncovering herself, removing hats and blankets as quickly as you apply them) It's a very open-source kind of thing - everyone feels free to comment, and I don't really mind.

That's funny. It's almost exactly the same thing that you hear from people with dogs.

Google DT


Contact DT

Daddy Types is published by Greg Allen with the help of readers like you.
Got tips, advice, questions, and suggestions? Send them to:
greg [at] daddytypes [dot] com

Join the [eventual] Daddy Types mailing list!


Archives

copyright

copyright 2024 daddy types, llc.
no unauthorized commercial reuse.
privacy and terms of use
published using movable type