Okay, so I know Christmas is supposed to be about love, family, and the birth of Christ and what not, but it’s also about PRESENTS!
I know this sounds odd from someone who has issues with consumerism, but over the last couple weeks I have been thinking alot about my daughter and how much I want her to have that moment when she walks downstairs Christmas morning and sees IT. The gift she has always wanted from Santa.
Don’t you remember that? Oh, the rollerskates! Oh, the Barbie dream house! I wanted that Barbie dream house so badly and there. it. was. In my living room. Thank you Santa.
Don’t get me wrong, I want holidays that are a much more than gifts, and I want the gifts to be in moderation, and I do want them to be gifts I feel good about.
Here is where I found the challenge. Read the complete Post.
Well, many smart bloggers have me thinking about the holidays. Mom Unplugged has really been posting great, thought-provoking stuff that asks us to reconsider what holidays are and what they can be (Man, does she make some good points I’d rather not hear, remincent of Candace’s post on bloggy guilt). I know she’s right and it hurts a little. And the Not Quite Crunchy Parent has several posts addressing toys toys toys and good buying for smart, healthy, creative play.
I’d like to add to the discussion a little by highlighting a few goodies we can all take under advisement. The first is that the teachers’ org. TRUCE has released their annual toy guide. It’s a nice resource for parents and also a gentle nudge we can forward to well intentioned relatives who are filling your house with things you don’t really care for.
Some of you might want to get into the a healthier consumption mindset by checking out What Would Jesus Buy. At least we can laugh at the insanity. I can’t wait to see it. I heart me some Reverend Billy - I tip my hat to him and all the other culture jamming activists out there who make us smile and keep dissent fun and photogenic. Read the complete Post.
Well, we had the big meeting yesterday and it went fairly well. Because the teachers in the preschool have Master’s degrees in child development or education and the director has an EDD, I made the mistake of going in ready to talk about solutions/alternatives, but presumed I didn’t really need to “teach” why this is a problem. In fact, I specifically avoided professor mode, since I only study media – they are the experts on Read the complete Post.
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is having their annual summit in Boston in April.
The topic is sexualization of children(read as BRATZ et al - that image above is of Bratz Babyz, btw - I know my dd always wore a LOT of liquid eyeliner when she was part of the under 1 set.) Read the complete Post.
Thanks to The Curvature for cluing me into National Organization of Women’s Love Your Body Day! In honor of this you can choose to be:
A.) Pissed off (by watching a very good slideshow from NOW that follows in the Jean Kilborne tradition.) All the beauty image nonsense that we gripe about illustrated beautifully.
or
B.) Happy/Accepting/Celebratory (”This Little Bod of Mine, I’m Gonna Let it Shine…”). Think about all the marvelous things your body does for you. I give mine such a hard time, seriously taking it for granted (sorry body). If you prefer option B, I recommend the Shape of a Mother blog, that bluemilk introduced to me, kudos Shape of a Mother for showing us what real bodies actually look like. If you are a self-helping kind of gal, you might like to also take the I Love My Body Pledge. And without a doubt, no matter who you are, watch the Mika video for Big Girl.
(btw — BOTH A and B highly recommended. Send all that trash talk outward)
Today I took Thing 1 and Thing 2 to a women’s soccer game on campus, with friends (hi SA!) and it wasn’t exactly the perfect outing - it was extremely hot, there was no shade, we had a long walk each way, and because we had to get back for swimming, we were tight on time. Non-optimal. Significant whining ensued and we didn’t see very much of the game, but you know what, I’m still glad we went, because it reminded me about what an antidote women’s collegiate sports are for so many of the things that fry me. Read the complete Post.
Okay, so for the last month I’ve been obsessing in my own secret way over Halloween.
I love Halloween - it has always been my favorite holiday, because it asks nothing from you other than your creativity. What a delight. Over the years I’ve had some really great costumes too — I once went as a can of Tomato Soup, and made dh dress as Warhol, one year I was a picnic (you had to see it), once I was Molly Shannon’s Mary Catherine Gallagher from SNL (smellin’ my armpits all night, with great Read the complete Post.
I just watched the premiere of CBS’s much-maligned reality show Kid Nation (Where 40 kids are left for 40 days in a “ghost town” with minimal adult interference to organize their own society). For backstory on the hullabaloo, see yesterday’s Washington Post story or today’s brutal Baltimore Sun column. I turned it on, expecting to be outraged (awful conditions, unchecked anti-social behavior, exploitation Read the complete Post.
I recently read a funny post by subarctic mama about her husband convincing her daughter to get regular (unlicensed) sneakers instead of Cinderella sneakers and I had to laugh! I fear my own inability to manage such a situation so much that I have gone to rather great lengths to avoid it.
As I mentioned before, I avoid taking Thing 1 shopping to keep her sheltered somewhat from consumer culture and to circumvent what they aptly call in the business, “the nag factor,” but Read the complete Post.
Wheeee. Feeling playful on this holiday weekend. Maybe it’s because I had to work most of the day (alas, the tenure clock offers no days off, vacation has me behind on my self-imposed schedule) and felt robbed. I did leave at 3:30 though and went with dh and the kids to our fave park, which is oh so much more than a park - playground, bike path, pond for sailing, swimming, geese honking. It’s really lovely. Not that it matters much to Thing1, who would be happy playing in a landfill if there were swings and monkey bars, or Read the complete Post.