Parenting Magazines

I subscribe to 3 parenting magazines – Parenting, Cookie, and Child. I’ve had Parenting for years (9 years probably!) Cookie and Child were new this year. I won’t be renewing them. First, I can’t tell the difference between them. Second, they are both way too frou-frou for me. They seem very oriented to hip Manhattan moms who dress their kids in French couture and/or vintage rock concert T’s. (on purpose, not just cause that’s what you found at Once Upon a Child). Usually I just read it to amuse myself with the ads – $1,000 high chair! $1,500 stroller! – and the "mom" suggestions – as if it would really relieve my stress level to buy an $85 lipstick or $200 shoes (!!).

Anyway, I was perusing the latest issue of Cookie last night, reading an article about "Mom and Baby" weeks at this spa in Mexico. So apparently there are women who will take their baby to this spa in Mexico for a week for this "mom and baby" thing. (As it mentioned in the article, your baby is lovingly cared for by the spa’s nannies while you are having your mud baths or whatever). And I was thinking once again, if this magazine is targeted toward real moms, I do not know who they are. I don’t know a single person that would spend $3,500 to go to Mexico on a spa week with their baby. Then I turned the page of the article, and it had a small sidebar that said something like "more baby-friendly spas". And lo and behold, one of them is right here in Arlington! Who knew, I’ve been missing the opportunity to take my baby to a spa for $3,500 a week! I was intrigued by the description ("a stately 42-year old Southern mansion") and wondering where in the hell it was in Arlington, because Arlington is mostly typical subdivisions and apartments. So I checked the website, which does indeed say it is a "stately Southern mansion" and also that the spa started in 1965. The spa’s website only gives a post office box, but I googled it and found a street address. In Grand Prairie (adjacent to Arlington), and not in a nice part of Grand Prairie either. (If there is a nice part of GP, I have never seen it). It was cracking me up. Really, people would pay that much to come to a spa right off of Hwy 360 between Avenues K and J? Right up the street from the strip clubs and Six Flags. I had thought maybe this fancy spa was out by the lake at least but apparently not Maybe the whole point is that once you’re there, your surroundings fade away. Whatever, I think I’ll keep my $3,500.