The Best Kept Secret Blog - Generation X, They Say The Darnedest Things

Young people these days. They say the stupi.... oops, I mean darnedest things.

Exhibit A

Last Tuesday, the Globe and Mail newspaper ran an article on "push presents". It seems that the new normal amongst 30-something moms is to expect a gift when delivering a baby.

In my day, a husband may have bestowed upon his wife some token to celebrate the birth of a child but rarely did we expect or demand such an item. But now a days, it seems it's becoming the norm. As one mom put it, "I expected one, and if Adam hadn't got me one, I might have been upset."

Well what was she going to do? Cross her legs until he got himself down to Birks?

And honey, if you think getting that kid out was the hardest thing you have to do, wait until you've spent a rainy day stuck inside with a two year old, three cans of Play Doh and a Raffi CD, only to have your husband phones and tell you he's going for drinks after work with some people from his office.

Exhibit B

In a recent Sweetspot "Ask the expert" column, one young professional asked, "My office holiday party is coming up. Do I need to be on my best behaviour?"

And what is the expert expected would say? "No, of course not. Drink like a fish and sleep with the boss. Enjoy, it's Christmas!"

Exhibit C

This summer, again in the Globe & Mail, I learned about the trend among young mothers to hire night nurses to help with their newborns. No night feedings for these new moms. After all, they need their sleep.

One young mother complained that she had no idea how tiring it was going to be – the baby actually wanted to feed every two hours and she was exhausted.Well duhhh . . . What did you think it was going to be like?

In my day, we all walked around like zombies, leaking breast milk and wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. It was a right of passage and the tougher it was, the better our bragging rights at the playground.


If the 30 somethings get push presents, then we need menopause mementos, a little something for surviving the hormonal ups and downs of our 40s and 50s.

Our husbands certainly have an incentive to get us a little something. Unlike the younger husbands who present their wives with a bauble for a baby and the accompanying sleepless nights, dirty diapers and years of stepping on Lego, we can persuade our guys that a pair of, say, diamond earrings might be just the thing to ease us through the hormonal mood swings. Or maybe we wouldn't have to sleep with the windows wide open to cool down that hot flash if only we get the right kind of "ice".