Embrace the Chaos is where moms can connect over parenting issues, sanity savers and more

Every parent is a worrywart in his or her own way. We may have different triggers that set us off (different things that keep us awake at 3 a.m.), but we all have them deep in our psyche.

Mine is a fear of randomness: The idea that one minute life is good, and in one instant all the goodness is drained away so that fear and sadness remains. The fact that the mundane could be replaced with the horrible in a flash scares me to the core.

My Grade Three son only has gym class two days out of eight. I thought that he had Daily Physical Activity every day to make up for the activity deficit but when I asked him about it, he had no idea what I was talking about. It's not that I think standing behind your chair stretching and doing some jumping jacks increases his physical health. But it sends a message that sitting too long is not good for you.

DPA is supposed to be part of kids' daily activities at school, but it looks like the schools are failing to do it.

It's not just the fault of schools, kids are not active enough and their rate of activity is declining.

The Active Healthy Kids Canada released a report card this week which gave Canadian kids an F in physical activity. A study says that 62% of kids' awake time is spent sitting. That includes school and the six hours of screen time a day that kids on average are doing.

A rousing 46 per cent of kids get three hours or less of physical activity per week, only 14 per cent play outside after school. Gone are the days of the neighbourhood hide and seek games, the group bike rides and hours spent skipping.

Part of the reason that kids don't play outside as much is our own fear. We rely on structured activities and leagues to give our kids a workout. The ParticipACTION (remember them?) website says: Think one hour of swimming lessons is enough? Think again.

I know that I am not the only parent who allows too much screentime and too much sitting around. My 12-year-old, who is not very athletically-inclined, definitely sits around too much. Sometimes motivating the kids to move takes more energy that I have.

But that's no excuse. In the video, Kelly Murumets from PartipACTION recommends kids doing more chores to get moving. Now that's an idea I can run with!

Do you worry that your kids aren't active enough? What do you do to get them moving?

Want more chaos? Last year, I asked if teens deserved privacy? I stand by my answer, despite the comments.

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Every time I look at Jillian Michaels I think of her saying that she would never have a baby because "I couldn't handle doing that to my body" and I seethe a little.

This anger may help me out during my occasional use of her 20-minute shred video, who knows.

But "TV's toughest trainer" is possibly regretting those words and her general dissing of motherhood, along with all her advice to, and humiliation of, her chubby clients who whine about having no time to work out.

In real life, I have no filter. You may think that I don't have a filter here in chaos, but I do. I don't post pictures of my kids and I am sensitive to the history I am creating for them here in cyberspace.

But I'm not perfect. There is the possibility that they will stumble across something I have written one day and feel embarrassed or angry or annoyed that my job was to tell stories about them.

Because I live in social media I am more aware of the implications of exposing my kids, or maybe I'm just not a famewhore. But as I have said before, I would never post a video of my children in the hopes that it would go viral.

But people do and because funny videos of kids are on the "most watched" section of many websites out there, many children are being watched, laughed at and immortalized on the web.

To which I say: Stop oversharing!

Leaders of the Catholic church and Ontario's Catholic school board are in a battle with the Ontario government about an anti-bullying measure that would force Catholic schools to have gay-straight alliances.

The Liberal government's new anti-bullying legislation mandates that IF the students want to name their anti-homophobia club the gay-straight alliance they must be allowed to do so, even if school leadership wants a different name.

Is there anything more pathetic/hilarious than a dog whose head is wrapped in a cone?

Seriously. My 2-year-old Shi-poo is going to be in the cone for two weeks and it's kind of hilarious how he gets stuck rounding the corners in the house or stares balefully at the chair he wants to crawl under. 

Joey had cataract surgery last week. Yes, my dog had laser eye surgery - the same surgery my mother-in-law had, but he had a different doctor.

Cataract surgery is non-urgent surgery. And by that I mean an expensive one. (Though nothing comes cheap at the vet's office.) After some humming and hawing about whether it was worth it...

I love my birthday. I love the simplicity of the date -- 9/9/69. I love the day itself when everyone is (supposed to be) nice to me. I love the potential of gifts (stress potential since there usually aren't any). I just love feeling special.

But now I find out that September 9th is the second most popular birth date of the year! Over the years, I have collected more and more birthday buddies - I thought it was a coincidence. It was like we were in a special club. But it's not that special anymore. (This is the same thing that happened with my name!)

I loathe cleaning. I hate packing up old toys, books and clothes.

Each bag and box feels like pieces of my heart are heading out the door.

Needless to say, my husband loves it. He would throw out every toy in the house if he could.

My kids are really into the Power Rangers right now. They are watching all of the different series from beginning to end on Netflix, and even my 12-year-old will cruise by to check-in. I used to despise this badly-acted show and its horrible special effects - now I love it. Strong female characters? Check. Discussions about responsibility and power? Check. Did I mention girls who kick some butt? Double check.

Compared to some of the disrespectful, sexist shows out there on the channels aimed at kids, I will take some Megazord action anyday. 

A sexy exhibit in Ottawa has the politicians hot and bothered, but is any of the information new to the teenagers that it is targeted at?

Sadly, it probably is.

Sex: A Tell-All Exhibition toured Montreal and Regina without complaint. But as soon as it landed in the nation's capital it became news. The exhibit is explicit, unapologetically so (from what I have seen from news reports) and it presents reliable information on sexuality.

There are sections on orgasms, condoms and racy words. There are graphics, buttons, things to touch and most importantly a lot to TALK about. And that is a good thing.