Recently, while driving to work and listening to The Dean Blundell Show, the discussion turned to Bronies—grown men who enjoy watching My Little Pony.
At first I thought this was a little creepy, but then I did a little research. It turns out the developer of My Little Pony, Lauren Faust, is known for writing kids' shows that have adult appeal and intentionally set out to create an animated show that could be enjoyed by children and adults alike.
Okay, it’s time to stop with all the coddling, and hovering, and helicoptering. Give your kids some space! Let them be kids.
We are stealing their childhood.
Sure there need to be rules. Don’t talk to strangers, look both ways before you cross the street, don’t hit your sister, don’t hit your brother... I don’t care if he hit you first, don’t throw balls in the house, and don’t play with balls on the playground... what?
Clean freaks and germaphobes, you might want to turn back now, because things are about to get dirty.
While many parents are buying antibacterial everything and sterilizing everything in their path, I am that mom that lets her kid eat the lollipop that fell on the floor. Yup, blow off the dog hair and that sucker is good to go. Okay, if there is dog hair on it, I might rinse it off.
I believe that we are cleaning ourselves to death.
When you have 4 kids at home, you don’t often get time to give individual attention to each. When the opportunity does arise, I like to try and do something a little bit special. Today, I only had Eleanor (11) and Siobhan (1.5) with me, so I decided to make the day about Eleanor.
We started by going to the mall; the girl likes to shop. We went to her favourite store, Old Navy, and we picked put some clothes. We got clothes for all the kids, but Eleanor may have gotten a couple extra items.
So when something like a dead dictator trends on Twitter, I tend to feel the need to check out what’s going on. It turns out a couple in the US has a son named Adolph Hitler, and a daughter whose middle names are Aryan Nation and child services has removed the children from their home.
The other day, I rushed home from work to take Eleanor to her club swim meet. Tom was taking Ethan to hockey, and Rebecca was going to spend the evening with her dad, so Siobhan came with me to the pool.
As I said, I was in a rush, so I threw a few diapers, a change of clothes, and a snack in diaper bag and ran out the door. What I didn’t bring was anything to entertain Siobhan while Eleanor was swimming... for 2 hours.
42, It’s the “Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything.” (Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
It’s also how many outfits my family wears in a week. 42 shirts, 42 pairs of underwear, 42 pairs of sock (that’s 84 socks!). 6 people times 7 days. The math is easy. What’s not easy is getting all of that clothing washed, folded, and put away every week.
This weekend, I was fortunate enough to spend my time with some pretty cool people. It all started Friday with a big YMC gathering because almost everyone was in town for the Blissdom Canada conference.
I would like to start this by stating that I am in no way an expert on divorce. I do however, speak from experience.
I have been in my fair share of failed relationships. I was married at 25 and divorced at 29. They call it a starter marriage. I find it hard to believe they have a name for it, but they do.
By 34, I was packing up my 2-year old daughter and leaving her dad. As I said, I have had my fair share of failed relationships.
Last week, I attended my first Rack To Rack Fashion Funshop with Rachel Matthews and, as promised, I am going to share my bounty of knowledge with you.
The first thing I learned was that Rachel is a firecracker! She is bright and vibrant and has a smile that lights up the room. I also learned that she knows how to put the “fun” in fun shop, as soon as walked in, I was offered a glass of sangria. That’s my kinda party.
When Tom and I got together, I gained a daughter and a son. I already had a daughter, so that was nothing new, and surely a little boy couldn’t be that different, right?
WRONG
It was like Ethan and I spoke different languages. Tom had to translate sometimes and explain to me what Ethan was talking about.
The much anticipated hockey season is just around the corner, which means my husband is giddy with excitement. Me? I’m stressed about the kids getting proper nutrition to fuel them through the day and into game time. Whether it’s a before school practice or an evening game in another city, feeding a sports family on the go is a challenge.
So the cooler weather is upon us and, if you are anything like me, you have been contemplating moving to Hawaii. You have also been looking at your clothes from last fall wondering what the hell you wore.
Last fall I had just had a baby and I was 20 pounds heavier, so I have to look back 2 years and try to remember what I wore... did I throw everything out? Because my closet looks bare.
So, then I venture out to the mall and I look at a billion things and I come home with a whole lot of kids clothes because they look good in everything.
My step daughter is 11-years old, and like most tweens, she is looking for more and more freedom. She wants to be treated more like an adult and she would like more privacy.
While I understand all of these wants, and I think she is just in wanting them, it scares me to death.
I want her to be able to go hang out with friends after school. I want her to feel secure walking up to the mall by herself, but I worry about her.
This weekend, Tom and I traveled north with our 4 children for a wedding. I have read several articles about traveling with kids and while I think the tips are fantastic, here is what really works:
An entertainment system on wheels. We have a minivan with 3 video screens, chairs that swivel and a game table.
I remember in grade 6, despite my efforts to wear baggy sweatshirts, a boy named Ian referred to me as ‘Chesty Morgan’. I didn’t back then, nor did I today (until I Googled it a moment ago) know who or what his reference was about, other than to say I had a large chest.
That was the same year that another boy (Darrin) made note of the hair on my legs. Light in colour and wispy fine, like any young girl, but I was mortified.
We just spent a wonderful long weekend with our kids. We planned very little for this weekend to be sure we could spend time with them, and so we could make sure everything would be ready for back to school.
While we spent most of the weekend hanging out with the kids, visiting with family, and doing fun things, today (Monday) was spent tidying rooms, organizing school bags, and getting the kids prepared for school.
They did ask if we could have a bit of an end of summer celebration, so we ordered in a special dinner for them and had some cupcakes for dessert.
Green pumpkins are super cool and softer than orange ones, which makes them easier to carve. The guts were also less slimy and easier to remove.
