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Strollerderby
(Image: cmkaa.org.)
I’m going to go ahead and start this post off by saying that I am biased. Really, really biased. Way back in the years B.C. (before children) I served in the U.S. Army. I am now a mom, and my youngest child is autistic. I spend a lot of time trying to access the right services to help him, and that’s without dealing with military acronyms and red tape every day.
On Tuesday, a Congressional briefing will take place to educate legislators of the challenges faced by military parents of autistic children. Continue reading »
Clare Ellarby and son, Denum
A British mom was horrified when she learned that her 7-year-old son would not be able to make his First Holy Communion. She says the reason he was denied is because he has Down Syndrome. According to Clare Ellarby, the Diocese of Leeds wrote a letter saying that her seven-year-old Denum Ellarby “lacks the ‘concentration’ necessary to prepare for Communion.”
A Tender Moment Between a Stormtrooper and His Son
When you think of a Stormtrooper, you probably think of a heartless killing machine under the control of the one and only Darth Vader. But one artist has found a softer side to these denizens of the Death Star, that of the role of loving father.
Kristina Alexandersons has diligently created a pleasing plethora of photos of a stormtrooper and son in touching, sweet moments. A stormtrooper and his son going for a walk, a stormtrooper and son playing jump rope, and she even captured story time with Uncle Darth.
Yeah, these photos, they are awesome. Check out a selection of these tender moments right here. Continue reading »
So what if she can't dance, it's her dream!
Maybe don’t go over to Breed ‘Em and Weep, where you can read about blogger Jennifer Mattern’s dream-crushing tendencies. You might see yourself in her story and, if you do, you probably won’t like it.
Mattern hasn’t always known she was a dream-crusher, but her daughter was kind enough to point it out one recent evening. Continue reading »
What's Beckinsale's beef with the baby?
Eat your broccoli? Quit chewing your toes? Sleep through the night, or else? What does Underworld star Kate Beckinsale have against this baby? Does she think Lycans have taken on the disguise of chubby little infants? Continue reading »
Which country's alleged parenting technique best describes your style?
I don’t think my mother-in-law would disagree that my husband comes from a highly anxious people. In their eyes, if the worst can happen, it probably will.
I grew up largely on my own. My single mom would regularly come home from long shifts at work to find my brothers and I had positioned the trampoline so we could jump onto it from the roof of the house. She never seemed overly concerned about it, and we all survived, although there was that one time somebody took a dart to the eyeball …
Most recently, Serge and I argued over the hardwood staircase in our new home. He doesn’t think we should let our 3-year-old go up and down it alone. I argue that if we constantly carry her or hold her hand we’re making it even more unsafe because she’ll never learn how to safely negotiate the steps on her own. Still, he’s determined to “carpet the staircase.” Sigh. He also wants to get a new TV stand so that our 1-year-old will stop touching the buttons on the DVD player. Me? I think we need to teach Henry not to touch the buttons instead of removing them from temptation. Isn’t that the only way he’ll learn?
Our parental disagreements of this nature are what made this article on the Huffington Post catch my eye. It’s called French Parents: Vive La Difference? In it Debra Ollivier talks about how, in France, they don’t pander to children. Ollivier’s first child was born in Paris. She writes about how she baby-proofed her apartment so much so that her French neighbor said the place looked like a “psych ward.”
Ollivier uses the anecdote to demonstrate how the French parent differently from Americans and why it quite possibly might be the way to go. I liked this idea. Basically, according to Ollivier’s theory, I’m France and Serge (who is, ironically, half-French) is America.
Ollivier cites her friend, expat Pamela Druckerman, who writes in her upcoming book Bringing Up Bebe that “My French friends didn’t have to hurriedly end phone calls because their kids were shouting for something … They were, overall, just more relaxed. It was a cumulative effect, which led to a ‘hang on, maybe they’re onto something,’ So I decided to look into it.”
What both women, and many other expatriates living in France, apparently discovered is that “where childhood trumps adulthood in the States, the opposite is largely true in France.” Continue reading »
Example of a vintage Valentine's Day card
As holiday cards go, Valentine’s Day cards have evolved over the years, from vintage cards that either had a lovely sentiment or were just a darling reflection of the time, to mass produced cards that tie in with the hottest show/movie/toy.
Do you remember the Valentine’s Day cards you exchanged as a kid?
Depending on when you grew up, you might have passed along a Holly Hobbie card or a generic puppy valentine — but today’s kids swap cards that are typically tied to marketing a popular TV series or movie. Continue reading »
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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