The Elephant on the Beach

        People-watching on the beach is one of the most entertaining ways to pass a summer day. I just love the way people are so comfortable: fat, thin, tan, white; everyone’s walking around exposing a lot. Except for the new moms, who I’ve noticed are wearing black from neck to knee. We smile at each other.
        Speaking of what people are wearing, it’s ironic that the elephant on the beach (read: in the room) is the attractive, welll-toned woman in the string bikini, standing 5 feet from you and your husband!
      So, we’re pretty well settled here on the shore and I’m spending most of the time nursing or holding the baby while the kids play in the sand or surf. This leaves the husband in charge of a lot more than he usually is and he definitely doesn’t do things the way I do. Under his watch, every meal includes french fries and ends with dessert; the kids can go out of the hotel room in just diapers; and the fallback for entertainment is a movie or cartoons. I even disagree with him about where you should apply the sunscreen: I say the hotel room, to avoid the sand mixing in and to give it some time to be absorbed. He says the beach, to get more time down by the water.
         For some reason, all of this irritates me. I know he’s the other parent, and so, in theory, has equal say in their upbringing, but, frankly, I still feel like he should be doing things my way. Trust me, I don’t act on, or even voice these feelings all, or even most, of the time. But, I was beginning to wonder if I am unusually controlling. And then I remembered a little bit of Locke (read: John Locke, English philosopher and contributor, at least in terms of ideas, to the Declaration of Independence). Locke wrote on everything from colors to what human beings are. Somewhere in there, he also expounded on ownership—I think in response to the King of England owning the land that the peasants farmed. His theory is that ownership is based on labor: if you put work into something, you own it. I guess this matches my intuition: of course, I don’t think I own my kids (and I’m not dismissing lthe husband's hard labor which earns 99% of our income), but it seems that I should have more voting power, given the amount of labor put in to these 3. Maybe it’s a stretch, but that’s what came to mind when mulling this over.
        Of course, if I act on any of this, I might become Philosopher mom plus 3, if you know what I mean. And so we have another instance where philosophy makes no impact on the real world...