"Been around the world and found that only stupid people are breeding..."

I am fully aware that there are many people out there in the world, even in my own life, who are far more intelligent than I. I make no claims to being uber genius or intellectually superior to others. I want to make this clear up front, because I'm about to spout off about stupid people. What has inspired this latest rant is a post in a mommy board I belong to. Women were boasting about their 18 month olds' vocabulary. I can understand knowing the number of words your child can say if the number is around 10 or less. But these women were chiming in with 80! 100! My baby is up to 1000 words! Seriously? Come on. Who the hell keeps count after 3? You madam, are either full of shit, completely delusional, or just plain stupid. While I often refer to my son as "our little genius," I of course say it with tongue-in-cheek. I know he's average. I most certainly do not keep a running tally of all the words he has said. I don't believe this has any relevance to his intellect. What is far more important is his ability and attempts to communicate. What is both hilarious and infuriating is that these parents who claim to raise "super babies" are the same morons who get in fist fights at Little League games and think Disneyland is some special right of passage.

Is it really fair to dismiss these people as stupid? I think so. But maybe it isn't entirely their fault. We live in an age where hyperbole is not just accepted, but expected. As is lazy thinking. Adding to the hot mess, is that our culture has become so competitive with everything, our reputations especially, that we seem to be plagued by regular folks trying to bedazzle their personas both online and in real life.

While it can be entertaining at times, it makes breeding all the more complicated. Well, not the breeding part. The child rearing part. I don't want my son to be a lazy thinker. How do I provide balance when he's surrounded by people who focus on bullshit rather than critical thinking and being genuine? Parenting is challenging enough. Now I have to put up with other parents who fill their children full of audacious over-confidence and equip my son to hold his own without falling into the same delusional path.

I'm not better than these people. You may even find typographical errors and misspelled words in my writing. Why? Because I'm not that smart and sometimes forget to use the freakin spell check. I'm no genius, but I do make an attempt to be self-aware. It shouldn't be asking too much for others to follow suit. It's OK though. My baby can still kick your baby's ass.