Saturday is the annual Take Our Children To The Park and Leave Them There Day (TOCTTPLTTD). Can you even fathom it? Taking your kids to the park, and then abadoning them?
What would they do?
What about the predators?
My headline is kind of facetious because of course I think kids should be banned from tanning salons. I would personally wrap my kids in UV-protectant clothing 365 days a year if I could.
I don't tan. I freckle, burn, peel and repeat. I don't even know what I look like tanned, but I have had the desire to have that celebrity-healthy glow. So I went to a tanning salon once and the whole experience freaked me out. The worst part? There were signs all over the place saying that tanning was healthy and good for you.
I have a friend from high school who had the coolest mom. She could talk about anything with her mom. Her mom even gave her beer and they got matching tattoos when my friend graduated.
So cool. The rest of us with mommish moms were so jealous.
So cool, until my friend needed a mother. Then it wasn't so cool.
Paige Sultzbach won't be playing in her championship baseball game in Phoenix. In fact, her whole team will be sitting this one out.
A Catholic school that was supposed to face the 15-year-old's baseball team forfeited instead of facing a girl on the field.
Did you have a nice Mother's Day? Did it pass unnoticed? Are there toast crumbs in your bed?
After last week's hand-wringing about motherhood and the media's constant attempts to criticize, judge and divide mothers. I thought it would be nice to remember why we like being parents.
What are the little things that bring joy to you? Not the big moments, but the little ones that make it worthwhile?
I breastfed my kids until they were two. I co-slept, I slinged and I strollered. I even have attachment parenting guru, Dr. Sears, sitting right here on my shelf and I loved it.
But I don't like the latest Time magazine cover.
I admit it, I have been asking myself this question quietly for a while: has motherhood replaced sexism as a way to keep women out of the workforce?
I'm just not sure of the answer.
But Elizabeth Badinter is. She is a famous philosopher and privileged academic from France whose new book, The Conflict: Does Modern Motherhood Undermine the Status of Women?, is making waves in the media on both sides of the Atlantic. (And is continuing our state of awe over French parenting.)
I hope that I am raising mama's boys. Not just because I have trouble letting go (which I do) but because I think boys that have good relationships with their mothers are nicer men.
But I don't mean mama's boys like you may be thinking. Not wussy, enmeshed wimps - which is how popular culture portrays mamas' boys, even though we mothers of boys know better.
I would love for a day to go by where I am not alerted to some new scary information about food -- whether it is fillers or dyes or just the general badness about the food supply chain. I'm just not sure whom to trust anymore. So I alternate between ignoring the new information and being super-controlling about what comes into the house.
I'm sure the yell of excitement could be heard down the hall as a couple learned that they would not be losing custody of their newborn.
Maricyl Palisoc and Charlie Wilton have a 9-pound, three-week-old son named William. Instead of enjoying his first few weeks of life, the couple have been fighting with Children's Aid to maintain custody. Both parents have cerebral palsy and the Children's Aid Society threatened to take the baby away from them, unless they had an able-bodied person with them 24 hours a day.
Emma WavermanEmma Waverman writes five days a week about the chaos of modern family life here at MSN.ca. She is the co-author of the family cookbook Whining and Dining: Mealtime Survival for Picky Eaters and Families Who Love Them and is hoping to one day to finish her certification as a parenting coach. She lives with her three kids, ranging from tween to grade schooler, and husband in Toronto. Emma has written for a variety of national parenting and lifestyle magazines and papers. When she’s is not making typos, telling you what she thinks, and thinking about dinner - you can find her on Twitter at @emmawaverman. You can contact Emma at embracingchaos@hotmail.ca
I have never gone tanning at a salon, and never will. With red hair and fair skin, I burn easy, and would never risk it. I think tanning salons should be banned for everyone. That much uv ray exposure is dangerous. I also think it's unnecessary, if you want to tan go outside and enjoy the sun, it's safer, and better for your health as you will be exposed to fresh air, natural nutrients from the sun, and be able to be active. Sure it may not be cool these days to be less than brown, but your health should not come second to your coolness factor.
onTanning salons should not exist for anyone at any age. I cannot belive someone would willingly put themselves at risk for cancer. I am a teen (15), and I hate tanning. I have never, nor will ever, gone to a tanning salon. I do tan easily (unfortunately) but it comes from the sun. No creams or sprays, no artificial UV rays. As for this lady, I would personally consider her an unfit parent. Even if she didn't take her daughter tanning, look at her. Someone with that extreme of an addiction cannot take good care of a child. The example she is setting for her daughter is horrible. She may give her child all needs, provide shelter, food, clothing, but her behavior and addiction is completely unacceptable if she is going to raise a child.
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