How would you describe your marriage? Happy? Satisfying? Meh? Does it depend on the checking account balance? Or how the kids are behaving? Or just on the weather? You know, divorce is always an option. And according to Ellen Tien, it is an option that many of us fantasize about on a regular basis.
In an essay titled "She's happily married, dreaming of divorce" originally published in the May issue of O Magazine, Tien describes her own marriage as "Less than bliss, better than disaster." She says that she and her husband "remain if not happily married, then steadily so." In other words, they're not divorced. Yet.
But, she claims, she thinks constantly about the possibility of divorce, acknowledges it as an option. It is just an option she has not yet exercised. In this, she says, she is not unlike other women her age and class -- we are all dreaming of divorce despite the fact that we claim to be happily married.
How do your kids get to school? How did you get to school when you were a kid? Taking the yellow school bus, walking or riding a bike may all seem like normal methods of getting to school. In the modern world, we drive and carpool as well. But what about in urban environments where a lot of parents don't drive or even own a car? They take the subway.
And they do it ALONE. That's right--I've seen it myself. Kids popping onto and off of the subway without a parent in sight. How do they manage it? And why, you might wonder, do their parents let them do it? Well, necessity is the mother of invention and a lot of other things, it turns out. Kids are going in one direction, their parents in another (to school versus work), and the main way to get around town in New York, for example, is underground.
Turns out, it's probably safer too. Driving in this city is a disaster on a good day. You're a LOT less likely to get into an accident on the subway than you are in your car. Plus, the kids tend to travel in packs on the subway. I never see a kid get onto an empty car at an odd (non-rush hour) time. They pick which car to meet up on and collect as the train makes its stops toward their final destination. I know because I can hear them screeching above my iPod.
Although it appears to be happening with greater frequency, celebrities giving their children unusual names is not new, just ask Frank Zappa's kids: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, or Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. What is rather unique is hearing what it was like growing up with such a unique moniker.
"My sisters, Scout and Talullah, had cute nicknames," said Rumer, who apparently had no such luck. "In school, kids would sing, 'Rumer, Rumer with a big hairy tumor.'"
Even aimless doodling on notebook paper didn't work out for the superstar celeb spawn. "When I was 12 and had crushes on guys, I'd put my first name with their last name, but it never sounded right. Rumer Depp? Nope."
Poor kid. She didn't even mention the complete absence of mass-produced personalized key rings available for Rumers at gift shops!
The superintendent of the small, rural district (Harrold Independent includes 110 students and is 150 miles from Fort Worth) David Thweatt says the reason behind the decision all comes down to safety. "We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" Thweatt said. "It's just common sense."
I attended a rural school district and understand that not everyone is fortunate enough to have the protection of school police officers or a nearby police station. However, the thought of armed teachers in the classroom still gives me pause. While there have been some horrific, tragic school shootings, they are pretty rare. Accidental shootings happen much more often than Columbine situations and as a parent, that would be a bigger concern.
It doesn't take a lot of foresight to realize the list of acceptable words or phrases acceptable to print little girl underpants is very short. But apparently the people involved in the production of Disney High School Musical panties either lack the skill of looking ahead or just aren't very bright when it comes to double entrendre.
"I was extremely shocked when I saw what was on them and I don't believe Disney or anyone else is so stupid not to realize the implications of the wording they chose." said Sue Ralph who said she would never have made the purchase if the phrase had been visible through the packaging.
A Disney spokesperson: 'The knickers in question were designed using our High School Musical 2 artwork, which uses the creative theme of a swimming pool, as this is a key part of the film's storyline. Unfortunately a genuine oversight was made and the text on this product was used outside the context of the swimming pool. This product will not be part of any forthcoming collections."
While it's good to hear that the number of High School Musical fans wearing "Dive In!" panties will be limited, I still think it's a bit far-fetched that THAT many people could be that clueless. Sounds like what the Disney product development team really needs is the addition of parents with common sense to help them out.
"It's not uncommon for girls to get their period at 9 or 10 years old, and with that development comes increased hair growth," said Dr. Doris Pastor, a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Taking an early developer's feelings into consideration and getting hair removal at a young age to prevent or curb teasing is one thing, but salon workers see more than just motherly concern from some women. Many pre-teen hair removal appointments are for girls accompanied by women who appear to be trying to make their daughters look perfect.
"I had a mother who brought her daughter in, pulled up her shirt and asked us to wax the girl's back. The hair didn't seem to be bothering the little girl, but the mom was embarrassed and wanted it done," said Diane Fisher, owner of Eclips Salon and Eclips Kids Day Spa in McLean and Ashburn, Va. "I told the mom to wait until the child wanted it, but she refused." That little girl was just six years old.
Humans aren't supposed to be completely hairless save for the top of their head and eyebrows, but it seems like the new ideal is to look like a life-size Bratz doll. That there are mothers so invested in the appearance of their kindergartner's backs that they're willing to pay to have hot wax applied and the hair yanked off appalls me.
As a kid, you knew who the cool parents were. Maybe you were even fortunate enough to be raised by some. If not, you probably made vows to be a cool parent when you were in charge.
Of course, the definition of "cool" changes depending upon who's doing the scoring. Little kids think adults who let them watch Dora the Explorer marathons are pretty great. For some high schoolers, the parent who buys beer for minors seems pretty awesome.
I quizzed teens because they are the harshest judges of what defines cool (and because I had some around!) to see what qualities they feel makes a parent "cool". Here's what I learned.
Even when a parent is 100% sure that their family is complete, it can often be difficult to shut that door once and for all. But do you think that it's possible, at a very young age, to just know that children aren't for you? And is it healthy to take steps to prevent that from happening?
Roger touched on this subject with his recent post about young men having vasectomies to avoid accidental pregnancy. Over at Jezebel, the women get their turn. They've talked to a woman who is only 24, but "just knows" that she doesn't want children. She went through a new, non-surgical sterilization procedure called Essure, in which scar tissue is created in the fallopian tubes. Interestingly, she didn't tell her parents ahead of time, and her mother was...disappointed...to say the least. But the anonymous woman went on to say that not wanting kids is "an important fact about who she was, that couldn't be changed, and her parents didn't want to accept that."
Is natural childbirth going the way of the dinosaur? Ask many new moms and a lot of doctors and midwives, and you may be surprised to find the answer is yes. Between increasing costs at hospitals, liability and the demand by insurance companies for medical professionals to take on more and more patients each year, thereby limiting the amount of time one can spend on an individual labor, the option for a natural childbirth seems to lessen by the day.
Instead of having a regular old labor, complete with the uncertainty of when the baby would arrive and lots of pushing and pain, more and more women--and their care providers--are getting C-sections. Celebrities like Posh Beckham have helped speed the plow in the C-section trend by making no bones about scheduling the birth of her three sons. The woman has a career to think of and I simply can't imagine her having ten extra minutes for her water to break, can you? Celebrities opting for this surgery--and, uhm, yeah, it's considered MAJOR SURGERY--have paved the way for making it a norm for regular folks too. Women are also opting to get epidurals to ease the pain of childbirth as their doctors increase the use of pitocin and other drugs to jump start a labor. Pitocin can increase the pain of childbirth, too, so when the doc gives one more often than not a woman gets an epidural too. Many feel this process causes problems which then leads to more C-sections.
Other celebrities, like Ricky Lake, are spearheading the movement of natural childbirth. Lake had her baby at home with the help of a midwife. And there are many women who prefer to go about it the non-medicalized way, without drugs or a scheduled C. Problem is, they're finding it harder and harder to do so. I don't want to get into a discussion of whether or not it's "right" to have a natural birth, a C-section or an epidural any more than I want to discuss whether expectant mothers should be playing Metallica or Brahms during labor. What I do think warrants discussion is how we as women can preserve the right to have our babies the way we want to have them, and not bowing to the demands of the insurance business or doctors who act out of fear of malpractice suits.
Our school lunch menu goes like this: Monday -- pizza and french fries. Tuesday -- hot dog and french fries. Wednesday -- sloppy joe and french fries. To say that I was disappointed to discover this is putting it mildly. Though schools across the nation are slowly starting to offer students more nutritional meals that are far lower in fat and salt content than those listed above, it's a huge system that will take time to overhaul.
The obvious solution is to pack a lunch instead, and many parents have turned to the kid-friendly idea of bento boxes. Bento, which originated in Japan, is a single portion meal consisting of rice, fish or meat, and vegetables, packed in a box in an often visually appealing manner. Though parents can choose foods their kids like to put into their own bento boxes, the idea is to make food fun, finger-friendly, and nutritious.
Remember jump rope? Some of you, as I did, may have spent hours if not the equivalent of days hopping up and down between two friends and a couple of ropes, trying not to get tangled. Some of the more adventurous (and graceful) spent their time perfecting moves that would rival the coolness of breakdancing.
Now, it looks like jump roping may move from outside of the playground and into the spotlight. The sport, which has been referred to as child's play, a hobby and a past time, is going varsity. At least Double Dutch will, and at least it will in New York. I don't know if you've ever participated in this particular kind of jump rope, but it ain't easy! Double Dutch requires a lot of skill, timing and flexibility, as well as fancy footwork.
The innovative school set to take the plunge is Brooklyn's own Boys and Girls High School. A demonstration was held to determine whether or not there was enough interest. Jumping rope, which has been traditionally seen as a girls' pastime, is being considered as a way to draw girls to the field of athletics, which have generally been dominated by boys. I'm sorry, but this is SO COOL!
If there's one thing that's controversial among parents who blog, it's whether or not it's appropriate to post pictures of your children online. Some parents worry that it isn't safe, while others are concerned that their children will view it as an invasion of privacy when they get older. Still, there are plenty of parents out there (including Dooce, arguably the most famous parenting blogger) who have no problem using photos and/or real names.
Seventeen years ago, these kinds of issues hadn't ever been discussed. So when photographer Kirk Weddie called his friend Rick Elden to see if he could take some shots of Elden's young son Spencer in the pool, Rick didn't think much of it. A few months later, the Elden's were surprised when their infant son showed up on the side of Tower Record's building on Sunset Boulevard, in all his naked glory. A shot of Spencer in the swimming pool had become the cover for Nirvana's 1991 album Nevermind.
Nevermind was no small album -- 26 million copies sold -- and Spencer is now a 17-year-old. Spencer says that it's "kind of cool" being the Nirvana baby. Though he's spent some time in military school for bad behavior, Spencer will likely be graduating high school a year early this summer. I'm curious what his parents thought when they first saw that billboard for the first time. Were they mad? Did they wish that they had had a chance to give permission? Maybe they were excited about their young son's fame, or concerned about his privacy. It's hard to say, things being so much different then.
If you're a parenting blogger, do you take measures to protect your child's privacy?
Hugh Grant, in the movie Nine Months, finds out he's going to be a father and, suddenly, he's dragged into the world of being friends with Tom Arnold and Joan Cusack, two inveterate parents. Since having kids, I no longer go out to lunch with co-workers, opting instead to eat while I work so I can get home sooner. I've traded my backpacking budding and Land Rover compatriots for the fellow parents from the kids' schools. Instead of game nights where cutthroat rounds of Scrabble and Scattergories are fought and won, I stay home to play memory or -- heaven forbid -- Fancy Nancy.
But it's not just parents whose circle of friends shift and change when that bundle of joy comes screaming into the world. Stephanie Powell laments the loss of her last long-time non-parent friend when she finds out her friend is pregnant. "Jodi was my dependable, childless friend," she laments. "And I liked it that way."
In some small way, I wish we'd never started with the whole Santa Claus things. My kids are so deeply invested in it that I'm afraid finding out the truth is going to break their little hearts. My hope is that they'll learn gradually, like I did, and not all at once. Christmas is still magical to me, and I know that all those years experiencing the mystery and magic of Christmas is part of that feeling.
Just tell me the truth and you won't get in trouble.
Do this or you won't get [something big you possibly can't take away anyway].
Big kids eat their vegetables; aren't you a big kid?
You'll make more friends if you play nice.
Mommy and Daddy are "taking a nap."
Cole says it's also statistically impossible that your child is the prettiest/most handsome in the world, because in fact, his children already hold that title. Since we've been talking a lot about lyingthis week, I think Cole's timing with this hilarious list couldn't have been better.
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, or so the old saying goes. But what about when life gives you expensive lemons? Although that may seem like an oxymoron, kids are getting hit hard with the rising price of lemons just as their parents suffer the insanity of gas price gouging.
When I was a kid I used to both buy and sell lemonade for less than a quarter. And I made a little bit of money. These days though, kids are charging more for their lemonade, to the tune of anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar. A dollar for lemonade?? Yep. And these kids are making some money, too.
Just ask the kids interviewed for the New York Magazine article linked to above. Now, granted, they live in New York City, where things are more expensive in general. Some of them charge 25 cents and some of them charge a dollar. All of them are making a profit, one group up to $240! Why? Well, because people feel sorry for them in the current economy. Being cute doesn't hurt either. What about you? What is the most you would pay for a glass of lemonade? And, how much do you think it's appropriate for your kids to charge when they sell it? After all, most likely you're the one buying those lemons!
How would you describe your marriage? Happy? Satisfying? Meh? Does it depend on the checking account balance? Or how the kids are behaving? Or just on the weather? You know, divorce is always an option. And according to Ellen Tien, it is an option that many of us fantasize about on a regular basis.
Although it appears to be happening with greater frequency, 
There's a brand new reason not to mess with Texas-the teachers might be packing heat!
It doesn't take a lot of foresight to realize the list of acceptable words or phrases acceptable to print little girl underpants is very short. But apparently the people involved in the production of Disney High School Musical panties either lack the skill of looking ahead or just aren't very bright when it comes to double entrendre. 
Whether it's from improvements in nutrition or chemicals in the food, the fact is many children are physically maturing at a much earlier age. While menstruation used to start around age 12, 
As a kid, you knew who the cool parents were. Maybe you were even fortunate enough to be raised by some. If not, you probably made vows to be a cool parent when you were in charge.
Our school lunch menu goes like this: Monday -- pizza and french fries. Tuesday -- hot dog and french fries. Wednesday -- sloppy joe and french fries. To say that I was disappointed to discover this is putting it mildly. Though schools across the nation are slowly starting to offer students more nutritional meals that are far lower in fat and salt content than those listed above, it's a huge system that will take time to overhaul.
If there's one thing that's controversial among parents who blog, it's whether or not it's appropriate to post pictures of your children online. Some parents worry that it isn't safe, while others are concerned that their children will view it as an invasion of privacy when they get older. Still, there are plenty of parents out there (including 
Hugh Grant, in the movie Nine Months, finds out he's going to be a father and, suddenly, he's dragged into the world of being friends with Tom Arnold and Joan Cusack, two inveterate parents. Since having kids, I no longer go out to lunch with co-workers, opting instead to eat while I work so I can get home sooner. I've traded my backpacking budding and Land Rover compatriots for the fellow parents from the kids' schools. Instead of game nights where cutthroat rounds of Scrabble and Scattergories are fought and won, I stay home to play memory or -- heaven forbid -- Fancy Nancy.
