Aimeé
Writer Jill Filipovic has a big following online and has written several books, so I’m pretty surprised she didn’t expect to get so much smoke over her extremely controversial opinion about how to feed children. As far as I can tell, no one asked her to share this opinion and it relates to nothing that was trending, yet she went ahead and tweeted it out for everyone to read.
“I know the thing parents hate most is when non-parents assert what they will do as parents which is inevitably smug and incorrect,” she wrote. “but I am 100% sure I will never assent to a ‘kid’s menu’ or the concept of ‘kid food.'”
How can a tweet be so self-aware and so un-self-aware at the same time?
From her statement, it seems Filipovic does not have children of her own. She seems to fully understand that no one without children really knows what it takes to care for them, and that those people frequently say smug, wrong things. Then she goes on to say something smug and wrong.
Even if she weren’t wrong, she should know that parents are amongst the most hair-trigger groups on the Internet. They will come for your neck if you even imply they could all be doing something better or different. Maybe it’s because they’re so tired from child-rearing, but they’re not interested in nuanced conversation, they’re interested screaming at you online. Which is exactly what happened:
https://twitter.com/pdxkren/status/1309364576144637953
It’s hard to find anything that ALL parents agree on, but I think all parents may agree this is the worst take https://t.co/5wRcsgVhtn
— Sara Mauskopf (@sm) September 25, 2020
https://twitter.com/Inspiredlawyer/status/1309355264383082496
https://twitter.com/bdpatterson2/status/1309539216607543298
https://twitter.com/JasonIsbell/status/1309541040710463492
I like you and your writing but this will definitely be something you laugh at in the future
— Meghan McCarthy (@MeghanMcCarthy_) September 25, 2020
Yes, this is the naive view of a non-parent. We’ve all been there, so it’s cool.
— @ijbailey (@ijbailey) September 25, 2020
https://twitter.com/cia_swapmeet/status/1309553107353780225
https://twitter.com/meenaharris/status/1309537045161803779
https://twitter.com/TheWillHobson/status/1309354448188248064
jill's toddler choking on a whole grape because she refused to cut it in half https://t.co/ivVBtEU2wo
— katy (@itsbedtime_) September 25, 2020
https://twitter.com/AsteadWesley/status/1309534382475149318
We have a two year-old foster child, and every dinner is a battle with him. Sometimes we cave, and get him chicken nuggets and fries, and then he refuses to eat the nuggets just to prove we are his bitch.
— Ryan Carnahan | FDT (@NoMoreBS2017) September 25, 2020
Precisely. Many restaurants “kids menus” are about portion control. I guess if you’re flush enough that you don’t care about dropping $25 on a restaurant burger for a kid that will eat a 1/5th of the bun and two fries, you can afford to have dumbshit opinions about kids meals.
— Incoherent Grab Bag of Grievances (@dougpasnak) September 25, 2020
https://twitter.com/Inspiredlawyer/status/1309355264383082496
Sure, Jill. Go ahead and buy your kid a $15 meal they’ll eat less than half of, even if they like it. https://t.co/GGRdkqrccD
— Jeremy Timmerman (@jtimm684) September 25, 2020
Ordering your kid the $18.99 adult salmon entree doesn't make you a hero, Jill. https://t.co/cFHd7lqzCN
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) September 25, 2020
There were some people who defended this take, mostly saying that they grew up in households where it was normal to eat the same things as adults were eating:
“Paying $4.99 for a saucer of Kraft mac is good, actually” is a take I didn’t expect to see all over my TL today.
When I take my kids to a restaurant, I want to feed them the food that the restaurant serves. YMMV. https://t.co/pOTbp7AXdJ
— Dungeon Messi (@tyschalter) September 25, 2020
https://twitter.com/viet_t_nguyen/status/1309547238591361026
Best doctor advice we got was “feed the kid what you eat.” Never had to make a special meal just for The Kid.
— Nayyera (@nayyeroar) September 25, 2020
But is eating at home the same thing as going to a restaurant? And even at home, a child is more likely to get a less spicy dish or smaller portions, or more carbs. They’re not little adults, no matter how you choose to treat them.
Though she wasn’t expecting to be quote-tweeted so hard, Filipovic seems to find the backlash funny, and is glad it’s at least bringing people together:
https://twitter.com/JillFilipovic/status/1309549678195888128
ha. this take, however, is spot on. thank you!
— Rob Birgfeld (@robbirgfeld) September 25, 2020
Parents, united.
