(Another) Mean-Mom Question Time: Are You and Your Partner on the Same Page About Discipline?
This morning, I got to talking to a woman at my gym. Normally, I don’t talk much at the gym (too focused on getting in, working out, and getting out!), but as it happens we were hanging around waiting for a Zumba instructor who never showed up! (Grrr… does she not know that I only just became addicted to Zumba, and now she’s messing with my high?). Turns out this other frustrated Zumba-er was annoyed for a similar reason as me. Well, a similar one aside from the addiction thing (didn’t ask her about that; wouldn’t be seemly, right?). She …Keep Reading
Mean Mom Question Time: What’s Bedtime Like at Your House?
I don’t think it’s a huge leap to say that sleep — from your newborn’s earliest days to your teen’s freakish ability to sleep for what seems like days — is a major parenting issue. Can I get an amen on that? Amen. Thanks. I’ve always been … let’s call it “a stickler” or “tough” or, oh, I don’t know, mean, when it comes to my boys and their sleep. Getting them to settle down and sleep, stop crying and sleep, eat and then sleep: it was my whole world when they were babies, as it is for most parents …Keep Reading
Mean Mom Question Time: When Do You Tell Your Kids What Gay Means?
The story about the young man at Rutgers University who, after he found that a video of him having sex with a male partner had been live-streamed on the Internet, committed suicide, has me heartsick. I’m sick for him, for his family, for all the other teens unsure of how they fit in a world that still, still can’t deal with the fact that we’re all born different. I’m also sick for my own children, who are coming up in a world where being a homosexual puts you in a second-class category, shunts you aside, tells you you’re at best …Keep Reading
Mean Mom’s Question Time: How Much Do You Meddle in Your Kids’ Friendships?
Just this weekend, I was talking to my sister, who had recently attended a mini-reunion of her high school class. She told me she talked to a girl who used to live around the corner from us, whose older brother, Charlie, was The Tormenter of the Bus Stop. (I recall that I actually mentioned our old bus stop in this old post about kids and bus stops, but I’d forgotten Charlie’s name.) Anyway, my sister said to Charlie’s sister, Annie: “you know, your brother was really mean to us, and I still have psychic scars!” Annie apologized for her big …Keep Reading
Mean Mom’s Question Time: How Much TV Do Your Kids Watch?
Starting this week (and hopefully continuing because it turns out to be wildly successful!), I’m instituting Mean Mom’s Question Time. Because I got to thinking: I can write (and write, and write, and write), but I’d rather discuss sometimes. So. Here’s the topic for Week One of Mean Mom’s Question Time: How much TV do your kids watch? The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends no boob tube for babies and toddlers under age 2, and a limited amount thereafter. Baby “education” DVD and video creators tried to get around this by touting their products as not-TV (think, HBO for …Keep Reading
