babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
Miranda Cosgrove's new album, High Maintenance
Sunday’s New York Times Magazine was dubbed “the youth issue” (note lowercase). The cover story: Peggy Orenstein’s fascinating profile of Miranda Cosgrove, star of Nickelodeon’s iCarly, and TV’s good girl of the moment. Cosgrove is carrying the torch once held by Miley Cyrus, which begs the question: Will Miranda Cosgrove mirror the Hannah Montana star’s very public fall from grace?
Like Miley before her, Miranda Cosgrove is packaged as spunky and sassy without being sexual. Miley shed that image in a few fell swoops and scantily clad photo shoots. So far, the iCarly star is supposedly content with her “golden girl” image. But is it only a matter of time before the weight of being a respectable role model to younger girls begins to clash with the teen’s need to carve out her own grown-up identity?
According to Orenstein, author of the popular new book Cinderella Ate My Daughter, the squeaky clean image of these tween and teen girl stars may actually be part of the reason for their rebellion.
You’d think the only thing that feminists and libertarians could possibly agree on with the Sarah Palins of the world is the color of milk. Turns out there may be a new wave of feminism that embraces at least one socially conservative value: the anti-raunch movement.
Yesterday, Bethany Sanders wrote about Nell Casey’s article wherein she explained that she earns more than her husband and admitted to using it, on occasion, to get out of parenting duties. Many families today need both parents to work, just to make ends meet, and yet, many women still find themselves doing the lion’s share of the work at home. But the home is not the same as it once was and marriage is not the same. These days, it falls upon both parents to both bring home the bacon and to fry it up in a pan — at least it should.
Sure, you could resolve to lose those extra pounds or stop smoking or eat more healthy food; those are all excellent goals and I support them wholeheartedly (and I’m working on that first one myself). If, however, you want to add a little something to spice up your list of resolutions for 2010, why not start the year off by joining Kristen Chase, a.k.a. the Mominatrix, in a little Sexual Resolution? For the entire month of January, she’ll be doling out daily sex-related assignments just for moms.
How late is too late to talk to your kids about safe sex? How about after they’ve already become sexually active? According to a new study out of Harvard, nearly 40% of parents do just that.
The study surveyed teens aged 13 to 17 to find out about their sexual activities and what issues they had discussed with their parents. The researchers also talked to the parents of these teens to determine what they had talked to their kids about. The surveys were repeated three, six and twelve months later.
What the researchers discovered is that when it comes to talking about sex, many parents don’t go beyond the “what goes where” basics. Continue reading »
When you can take a shot at abstinence-only education, the former Governor of Alaska and vice-presidential runner-up and shill shelled nuts all in one blow, you must be some kind of genius. Or Levi Johnston.
Before you got the whole “Birds and Bees” talk at the age of 24, how did you think sex worked? Did you think mommy made babies with daddy by getting on his shoulders? Was sex when mom and dad rubbed their butts together under a tarp? Like any kid, you probably had some imaginative misconception on how the whole biological dance works. Lemondrop compiled a list of some the better examples. Some highlights:
Misconception: “My parents gave me the ‘Where Did I Come From?’ book when I was really young. So from the illustrations I thought babies were made by two hippies.” — Maggie, 28
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 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
10