Ellen Goodman's The Baby Bump Fixation over at AlterNet is an entertaining piece, but I thought she just got to a wonderful point near the end:

"Let's be clear. The difference between being a celebrity parent and a civilian parent is probably the difference between working at Wal-Mart and Warner Bros. The stars get nannies and trainers, the rest of us get diapers and stretch marks. Hollywood's baby flicks may ultimately be as useful a guide to real life as its chick flicks."

But what I really want to talk about and don't have time for today is not celebrities versus us normal parents. But I want to talk about this notion of "grim parenting." Can we really not talk about the realities of parenting without coming across as grim? Is sweeping the bad/difficult/trying times under the rug really how we want to live as parents? Is this "honesty trend" bad for us? I know that I think this notion is preposterous; however, I come upon parents every day who choose not to reveal or discuss the underbelly of parenting under any circumstance. Is that just a personality thing or are some people afraid of appearing "grim" about parenting? What do you think?