Okey doke. I had been thinking about how infrequently I mention Thing 2 on this blog and how you probably all think I am a neglectful, uncaring mother incapable of loving her baby. So, I was going to post a little memo about how much I adore him (I do, I do, I do - it’s SICK how much I love that baby) and all his adorable quirks (he has a intense hair fetish and likes to pull my eyelashes while we snuggle), and how I am actually very focused on him for a number of reasons (e.g., not the least of which is that he has “THE Read the complete Post.
Hmmm. I am summoning the powers of teh internets to help me strategize.
My daughter goes to a wonderful, wonderful preschool that impresses me every day. The profoundly qualified and committed teachers, the curriculum, the director, the families - it’s a place that I feel great about. Not only do they provide a rich setting and ample resources for social and intellectual development, they are also very progressive and deal brilliantly with issues of diversity - racial and ethnic, class, gender, ability, family structure etc etc.
The only complaint I have is that they currently Read the complete Post.
Dove’s newest viral video “film,” Onslaught is making the rounds. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s certainly well worth the 1 minute and 15 second time investment. Check it out here.
But, poor Onslaught is getting shredded by the feminist blogosphere, and yesterday even some of my very, very faves like Jill over at Feministe and Two Knives… had at it — both making extremely good Read the complete Post.
Mini-post? Why a mini-post? Because I should NOT be doing this at work when I am supposed to be finishing my chapter draft. If dh busts me, I’ll never hear the end of it…
BUT! I have to share this gem from the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood (CCFC) website:
Congressmen Tackle Product Placement
By Ira Teinowitz
TV Week
9/27/07
Warning that increasing use of product placement and product integration are “blurring” the line between TV ads and TV content, two congressional committee chairmen are calling on the Federal Communications Commission to
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.
Well, I watched WordGirl with Thing 1, dh, and a good friend this morning. The 30-somethings in the room enjoyed the embedded adult humor (e.g., when resident bad guy, “the butcher” –who rather hilariously hurls meat products at victims– is debilitated in a vegetarian restaurant after being pelted with tofu.) Thing 1 laughed a lot and was excited for the screening. This is the only tv show she’s seen other than Sesame Street (well, Read the complete Post.
Hey, hey, hey. Tomorrow PBS is launching WordGirl, which is almost my dream come true.
WordGirl is a hip, clever cartoon about an alien (in human form) supergirl from the planet “Lexicon” who fights enemies with her vocabulary and monkey sidekick (targeted toward kids from 4-9, but some Read the complete Post.
We’re in Maine right now, vacationing at a lake house - stealing the very last week of summer. Here we are with a dock for swimming, kayaks, a canoe, fishing gear, woods for exploring, and from a kid’s POV, there is essentially an indoor playground too — lofts and bunkbeds that make cool hiding fort-like spaces, a zillion unfamiliar books and toys, and an indoor play tent (we brought it with us, along with some crawling tunnels in case it was rainy). Considering the surroundings I was fairly perplexed that Thing 1 kept asking me, “what can I do?” this morning — our first full day here. I mean, really, if all that kid friendly fodder weren’t enough, I also packed large bags of toys for both her and the baby. And as it turns out, “Are you kidding? What can’t you do?” did not seem to work to send her on her merry way. Read the complete Post.
If you are here, I am dying to get suggestions from you!
Please write (either as a comment, or feel free to email me at mom@outside-the-toybox.com) with your suggestions for: Read the complete Post.
Well, here I am, the stinking would-be high priestess of media issues in kids lives, and I have dirty laundry. Here is my Dear Abby moment (Is Abby out there? Anyone wanting to pretend to be Abby? We need advice!)… Read the complete Post.