Moms Eat Locals: Alert The Media!

I can't stand it...I must snark about it!  So we have a plethora of Patches - they keep springing up like mold or ants at a picnic.  Truthfully, a lot of them are worthless, but I do like Radnor Patch .

However, there is one thing on all the Patches I would like to either nuke or "86" like a bad piece of chicken or last week's tuna salad.

Who edits this chick Clara Park who scribbles the mindless inanity known as the "Moms Eat Local" columns?

Recently there has been the following:
Moms Eat Local: The Silverspoon
Moms Eat Local: A Taste of Britain with Easy Elegance
Moms Eat Local: White Dog Cafe in Wayne

Moms Restaurant Roundup: Great Harvest Bread Co. to Samurai

Now Clara (who must have escaped from the Nutcracker given the lack of writing skills) also does this for many other Patches.  Seriously?  How can they publish or post these things?

They mostly start out with this silly bubble of:

Moms know how tough it can be to eat out with little ones. Patch wants to help you know before you walk in the door if [INSERT RESTAURANT NAME HERE] is a good place to eat with your children.

Oh O.K.... hmmm what about the truth of it on the Main Line?  It's not necessarily that the restaurant isn't a good place for children, it's conversely that a lot of these children  and their parents are not good for restaurants because....they have no manners, they are bratty, they spend so much time with the help that when the actual parents occasionally trot them out they are well...willful (and that is putting it mildly).

As one friend recently said, some children are simply little savages.  And face it, a lot of kids today simply do not know how to behave out in public.

That being said, back to how dumb as in dumb ass dumb these columns are.  Regardless of the me and mini me at lunch factor, let's talk about these reviews - it is like a bobble head wrote them.

I also wonder if she is paying for all these meals and being reimbursed by Patch, or are the restaurants comping her?  Because if she is being comped, these are just poorly written ads.

But as for Patch in general?  Save the saving grace of Sam Strike doing the one if Radnor, for the most part they are a snooze and there are waaaaayyy too many of them.

Anyway, here's hoping Moms Eats Locals goes away...it's dumb and the woman loves everything even if we all know some places just suck in general.

Kids will try all sorts of foods and bascially, if your kid gets used to going out to eat with you, most places are kid friendly because the kids just become used to the idea that this is a cool treat.  And most restaurants worth their salt if they don't have a starch-o-riffic-gut-buster kids menu will adapt things to kids off menu and it's not super expensive to do that either.

But these Baby-R-Us columns? OMG puleazzze, make them stop....face it - your kids deserve better then happy meals, so can we stop with the happy meal reviews?

Radnor Cats Might Not Have Nine Lives....

The anti-animal people with too little to do and too much time on their hands are back at it in Radnor.  Yes, they are gathering their pitchforks and sharpening their knives....to kill cats.

They say they want to get rid of feral cats, but even if cats are supposed to be kept inside in Radnor, animals get out on occasion, so who will be the judge if a cat is feral or not because have you ever seen a perfectly nice domesticated kitty when it is cornered, scared, or threatened? Who will be the judge of telling scared kitties apart?  One of those great township geniuses?

I find it amazing that Radnor can't get the students out of houses in Garrett Hill yet they want to spend mucho dinero to kill cats?

I found a new website called "Radnor Cats" and would like to pass along their message (unless my neurotic new pal posting away on the Helicopter Parents post objects?  ):

Thank you for visiting Radnor Cats.

Radnor Township Residents:

The Radnor Township Board of Commissioners is considering a feeding ban on feral and abandoned cats under a proposed Board of Health rabies Ordinance, #115. Feeding bans are cruel and inhumane and do nothing to control the spread of rabies. Please contact your ward Commissioner and ask them to explore TNRM, Trap Neuter Release Management as a solution to the growing feral cat population in Radnor Township.

TNRM is a proven method to bring feral cat populations under control by Trapping feral cats, vaccinating, Neutering and then Releasing them to a Managed colony.

Managed Trap Neuter Release colonies are the only proven method of controlling rabies.

According to national experts from Alley Cat Allies and Best Friends Animal Society, there are an estimated 11,700 feral (community) cats in Radnor Township. A feeding ban will not stop the feral cat population from growing and will only cause harm to the wellbeing of feral and roaming cats.

This ordinance is going back to the Board of Health for review on April 18 at 5PM before being introduced at the Board of Commissioners in late April or May.

Below you will find the Commissioners contact information. Please call them or send an email with your address,(so they know you are a resident). There are some sample letters on this site from well known and respected groups and organizations. You can use them as a guide to compose your own customized email.

Radnor Township Commissioners

John Fisher -610-519-0253 jfisher@radnor.org
Bill Spingler-610-687-0839 bspingler@radnor.org
Don Curley-610-256-1287 dcurley@radnor.org
Kevin Higgins-610-688-7787 khiggins@radnor.org
John Nagle-610-527-7218 jnagle@radnor.org ,
Hank Mahoney-610-587-9400 hmahoney@radnor.org
Elaine Schaefer-610-355-0611  eschaefer@radnor.org
Bob Zienkowski-610-688-5600 (Township Manager) Rzienkowski@radnor.org
Matt Baumann-610-688-5600 x 146 (Director of Community Development) mailto:mbaumann@radnor.org

We are looking for Radnor Township Residents to help establish and support TNR.

Please contact Joe@radnorcats.com

One would think that Radnor Township had better things to do...

On behalf of feral cats  Published: Thursday, April 07, 2011

Letter: Vote 'No' to Feral Feeding Ban in Radnor Township

Cat controversy in Radnor Township

Helicopter Parents Make Me Batty

Not just on the Main Line, but as a societal comment in general: helicopter parents are waaaay out of control.  The average stage mommy used to be bad enough, but I have discovered these days that parents have a really hard time letting their little birds fly...when they become adults.

It is the natural inclination to protect our children.  But when our children become adults, shouldn't there be self-accountability on their part?  At least a little?  Is the United States helicopter parent, just the U.S. version of what they have laughed about in Italy for years with men who live with their mamas well into their 30's ?

I have had friends tell me of helicopter parents who call their adult children's employers to (a) call out sick for them and (b) complain that kids didn't get promotions and raises (c) and borderline outrageous things when their kids are getting married.

Seriously?

When I was that age, I would have died if mother and father picked up the phone to do something like that.

Case in point is I got a comment I did not publish from a helicopter mom recently:

I am not sure how to reach the person responsible for the content on this site, so I thought I would make a comment. I would like to politely and respectfully request that an article about my son be removed from this site. The story is about a two year old case that was dismissed and records were ordered expunged. This is not a legal or political threat. I am writing with sincerity on behalf of my son. A link referenced in the JustSnarky article is already removed. It might be helpful to know that other sites like JustSnarky have been sympathetic to my request and deleted their articles as well. Can you please provide me with a phone number or email so that I can explain the circumstances surrounding my request? Thank you very much for your consideration. As a mother, I really appreciate it.

Really mama, must you?  Blogs post current events based upon items in the news, and I haven't a clue as to what she is talking about and it's not like she gave me a link to a post.

Further and to the point, this blog does not phone and does not e-mail, and obviously this parent doesn't want a paper trail?  Not to be cruel, but there are a lot of posts on this site, and I guess they are referring to something that must have been picked up at some time or another based upon oh yes....PUBLISHED media reports.  So does that mean they are going after traditional media to act as if it didn't happen? Is that what the media is doing?

While I get the natural instinct of a mother to protect a child, this child is an adult.  And the other thing is this: are people now no longer allowed to comment on published media reports?  And how am I supposed to decide IF I wanted to throw this mother a bone, what the F lady?  I do not even have a clue as to what you are referring to because you provided NO link for review, and it is supposed to be just divined out of the sky?  Maybe this is your obsession, but it is probably just some current event in the media at the time I commented on.

I still can't decide how I feel about this, but I do not have time to play games.  Helicopter Mom, roll up and provide a link.  And tell me what TRADITIONAL media outlets have removed whatever this is from their archives like it never happened.

And of course there is this, the records may be expunged, and if so, for that I am glad as it is your child.  But your child is an adult and if you spend your whole life fixing his, how does your child grow and become his own person?

See that's the conundrum about helicopter parenting:  when do you draw the line? 

And as a blogger, if I am writing about how I feel on a topic that is in the media as is my right, where do I draw the line?