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Strollerderby
In Afghanistan, boys have much more freedom than girls
If you think it’s challenging to raise girls in this country, you might spare a thought for parents of daughters in Afghanistan, where giving birth to a daughter, rather than a son, is — sadly, terribly, horribly — considered a failure on her parents’ part, and where girls are deprived of many of the freedoms granted to boys.
A fascinating piece in Tuesday’s New York Times examines a startling practice that has grown out of this sad state of affairs: parents who dress their girls as boys, passing them off as sons for years until they reach puberty. Continue reading »
Do you ogle in front of your kids?
Do men like to look at attractive women? Of course they do. And most of us would agree that there is no harm in that. But what about when dad is checking out a woman who isn’t mom right in front of his impressionable young daughter. Just what impression is he giving her?
Mike Adamick wonders about that very thing in a post at Jezebel. A stay-at-home dad, he spends a lot of time in the car with his 4-year-old daughter. During their travels, he says he can’t help but turn his head and stare when he comes across a beautiful woman. But after realizing that his father-in-law never ogles women, he’s questioning the wisdom of carrying on like that in front of his daughter. Continue reading »
Boys and girls present different parenting challenges.
My sister and I have had a long-running debate about who is harder to raise, boys or girls. She’s the mother of three boys ranging in age from 6 to 18. I have two girls, one is almost ten, the other 28. Over the years, we’ve gone back and forth and have finally come to the conclusion that boys are harder when they are little and girls are harder when they are older.
And it would seem that the experts agree with our assessment. Boys and girls are harder in different ways. And a lot of the differences have to do with their stages of development. Continue reading »
There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.
- Chinese Proverb
Amy Wilson, author of “When Did I Get Like This?,” has a pretty child. At Hybrid Mom, she writes of her daughter’s breathtaking good looks and her own amazement that she and her husband could produce such a beauty. She is genuinely taken by her daughter’s appearance and admits that she tells her so on a regular basis. But she wonders: “Do I tell my daughter she’s pretty way too often? Are we bad mothers for encouraging our daughters to feel pretty, to seek that out?” Continue reading »
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 10.4 million single mother families in the U.S. in 2006. Are many of those mothers unwittingly raising their daughters to be single, too?
That’s the question Audrey Irvine asks in an essay at CNN. A single black woman raised by a widowed mother, Irvine believes there may be more behind her own status than a dearth of available men. Continue reading »
Smith Magazine is celebrating Mother’s Day in the way they know best: using six words. Head over to their site and submit a six- word MOMoir about life with your mom or as a mom; one author will be chosen to receive a book of his/her choice from Smith’s partner sites, TruuMomConfessions and Postcards From Yo Momma or a t-shirt featuring the winning MOMoir, courtesy of Spreadshirt.
Read the Strollerderby team’s six-word MOMoirs after the jump. Continue reading »
My nine-year-old is an early bloomer. While she’s not the only girl in her third grade class wearing a bra, she’s the only one who actually needs one. She uses deodorant, Stridex and a disposable razor to banish the occasional armpit hair. But while her grooming routine may resemble that of a teenager’s, there is one area in which she remains a little girl: Her legs.
Like all of her classmates, she has hair on her legs. And while she has expressed an interest in shaving, she accepts my decision that at her age, it is unnecessary and premature. But some parents clearly feel differently about leg hair and not only allow their little girls to rid themselves of it, they actually encourage them to. Continue reading »
Lori Garcia 
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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