Sofia was so cute today. We had a 10 minute dance party tonight where she whole heartedly boogied to Raffi's "Shake my sillies out" (which she wanted to dance to 3 times. She also seemed to especially respond well to Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie." Hopefullly Sofia will develop some better moves than Chris and I. I at one point thought that I danced okay.. but it seems like the more I go without dancing, the more my moves start to resemble my parents and in-laws that I used to laugh at (No offense inteded whatsoever.. even though my father in law did really hurt his butt trying to do the splits at Anita's wedding).
So on to my new topic of interest...Now that we found out that we are having a boy, Chris and I realized that we have to start thinking about something that we never thought about before... circumcision. I didn't have a strong opinion on the matter either way.. and apparently Chris didn't really either, which surprised me, so our logical solution was that we probably won't do it since neither of us feels passionate about the topic. Circumcision is like any other controversial parenting topic..breastfeeding, cosleeping, natural childbirth etc.. Lot's of people do have strong opinions on the matter. I honestly have to say that I really do not have any experience to draw from that would give me a strong opion at this point in my life. From talking to several moms and family members about circumcision.. there seems to be a few common patterns in how couples make the decision to circumcise.
Type 1 couple is the couple who wants dad and son to match eachother. I think their reasoning is that it may be hard on a kid if he looks different than the main man in his life?
Type 2 couple which I hear about a lot.. is the couple who leaves the decision to the male who may have a stronger opinion on the matter than the woman.
Type 3 couple are families who follow Jewish tradition in circumcision. (I don't think that most people who circumcise do it for religous reasons however today).
Type 4 is the couple who is worried about hygiene... although many times circumcision is considered a cosmetic procedure as I don't think that this theory really stands any more. What have other people heard?
Type 5 is perhaps the most intersting couple, and I am surprised how much I hear the words "locker room" come up when talking about circumcision. Many parents have this extreme fear for the well-being of their son when 15 years down the road, he will be scrutinized and toremented in the locker room for not being circumcised. Does this really happen? Is that really what guys do in locker rooms? I imagine if there is any truth do this idea.. the trauma will certainly decrease as more people are choosing not to circumcise.
In the flip side for the parents who decide not to circumcise, I hear of parents who are concerned about pain, find little validity to the above reasons why many choose to circumcise, or for cultural reasons decide not to (many cultures don't circumcise).
So what couple are you?? I think that I was going to be the person who leaned more towards not doing it but ultimately left it up to Chris (who as I mentioned earlier had no strong opinion wich made the process simple. I never knew before being a parent how many different sides there are to every parenting decision or concept.
10 years ago
5 comments:
I read this when you posted it, but put off responding for some reason. Sorry! But anyway, the reasons are valid on either end of the discussion. You just have to do what is right for you. I didn't care - Paul strongly did. That was the one thing he demanded out of the whole situation, so what was I to do? The procedure was essentially painless for B-man, as long as we had enough sugar water. So whatever you decide will work out and he won't hate you either way! :o)
I can't believe that you've only had one comment on this so far! Congrats, first on a boy! It's fun having both. Mind you, I'm sure it's fun no matter what you have!
Okay, so I didn't feel really strongly either way when it came to circumcision. Denver was in favour of it, simply because he wanted him to look like Daddy. I told him that I didn't think this was a good enough reason to do an unneccesary medical procedure. So the deciding factor for us was the fact that we happen to know several men who had to have it done as teenagers or adults. It's much more traumatic then. So even though I felt like it was a little unneccesary, we felt like it's better for us to do it now, because if something happened down the line, we would have wished we done it when he was a baby. I've heard a lot of statistics about it, so I'm not sure how accurate they are, but I was told 1 in 1000 boys/men have to have it done later in life. And I was told that it's about 50/50 now, as far as curcumcized vs. uncircumcized.
It doesn't seem like a such a big deal now, but it was a hard decision for me and I made Denver take him into the doctor. I waited in the waiting room and only went in afterwards to nurse him. I cried when I had to change his diaper later because I felt so bad for him (but that could have been the hormones!). So that's my 2 cents!!
Kara-
Here is an article for you.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/06/18/circumcision.decline.ap/index.html
Eric and I didn't have a strong opinion either way until a friend's 13-yr old had to have it done. Poor boy- middle school is tramatic enough! And apparently that is not that uncommon. I'd much rather our kid deal with it as an infant than teenager.
Hello ladies,
Thanks for the feedback! I will definitely do more research.. but even with research sometimes...there are going to be studies on both sides that make convincing arguments. I guess it is not like the biggest decision of our life or anything.. so we are just going to have to decide... so far it will probably still be no... but who knows. We don't even really have any ideas for names yet.. so we are just behind overall. By the way Elizabeth.. you guys weren't going to find out what you are having are you??? Did you already have your ultrasound???
Kara!!!! I'm ever so curious as to what you ended up doing? Is that too personal to ask you on your blog??? I miss you tons, dear friend. love, elisa
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