The twin preoccupations of the week couldn't have been more disparate: H1N1 and Halloween. But they definitely kept most parents I know busy this week. I am going to (try) and take a break from self-obsession and and remember that we are lucky that we have the time and energy to be anxious about a seasonal flu compared to the rest of the world.
Wow, how ironic, after my last post, to wake up this morning to a hot body next to me. No, not my husband, seems that Jenna is sick. She has a fever and a sore throat. Wow, are we part of flu-apoolooza?
My old boss used to say that I am like a duck -- seemingly calm on the outside but paddling furiously underneath. That's how I feel about H1N1, I think I feel pretty zen about it but then the panic shoots through me and I am trying to calm my wild thoughts. The randomness of the deaths is frightening and feeds my anxieties about unknown and uncontrollable forces at work in the world. (Yes, I know there are often underlying conditions but sometimes you don't know if you, or your kids has any underlying conditions.)
And the only thing that will make me feel better is when every member of my family gets that vaccine.
When my brother and sister-in-law had their baby, they made it pretty clear that they wanted to buy everything themselves. And since they don’t live near us, I was just fine with that. So what do you give to the family that already has everything? In fact, what do you give every new mother?
When did Halloween get to be bigger than any other holiday? The endless discussions, the endless outlays of cash; the decorating, the costumes, the parades and parties. In our neighbourhood it's all comsuming. When its all over what are you left with? A ratty costume, gross, matted spiderwebbing and a bag of candy heavier than your child.
That is where the Halloween Fairy comes in.
With all the media about swine flu out there it’s easy to assume that everything is the flu. But once you calm your inner hysteria, and go over the checklist, (ie. no fever, no intense achiness then not the flu!) and realize its just a cold then what do you do?
Sometimes I am caught unawares and I find myself staring at a wall of beautiful baby gear. The funky carriers, the new toys -- everything is so beautiful and well-designed. The consumer in me combines with the baby lover and takes over my body and I yearn to have another infant. One that I could carry around in a beautiful brocade sling with natural wooden toys, wearing environmentally-friendly bamboo clothing. Every year they come out with products that make new mommyhood seem so much easier!
Do you remember 1988? I do, just graduated from high school – the sweet smell of clove cigarettes, watered down draft beer and the stirrings of political awakenings. And I faintly remember hearing about a Nestle boycott, something about breastfeeding, formula and a big who cares from me. Well, that boycott is still going on, and Nestle inadvertently revived talk about its practices when it held a junket for mommy bloggers at its headquarters last month.
While I was courting controversy on the web last week (who knew Halloween costumes was such a touchy topic?). In real life, I was being trying to be a helpful member of the mommy community.
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 think I may have missed the point too. I grew up with Disney princesses, Barbie, and easy bake ovens. I also grew up learning about women like Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, Henrietta Edwards and the rest of the "the Famous Five" I watched Roberta Bondar go into space. I watched Kim Campbell become Prime Minister. I played princess and had tea parties, but I also took my same princess dolls and tormented my sister by destroying her Barbies. I blamed Cinderella when all the Barbie dolls had head transplants, and it was Snow White and GI Joe who launched Barbie into "space" with a bottle rocket and parachute.
My mom taught me what was real and what was fake, that to aspire to be anyone other than myself was to sell myself short, for even "real" hero's have flaws. As an adult I like sparkly things, make-up, getting my nails and hair done. I also like to advocate for those who are unable to do so themselves. I fight against social injustices and I fight for change. A Disney princess may have taught me dream, Margaret Thatcher taught me how to achieve. There is nothing wrong with looking "pretty" while kicking ass.
I've been following this on going argument/debate for a while now. I fail to see how a different drawing of Merida is destroying my daughter's ability to identify with what's healthy body type and a cartoon exaggeration. If this version of Merida is so wrong with her "rib removal", "boob job" and all the make up and sparkles... can some one please tell me what sort of doll my daughter should be playing with? Someone mentioned that women should be shown with "few warts, a zit or two and a pound extra". What dolls/toys represent that? What toys for girls are acceptable in your house?
It feels like there is no winning. Disney released an illustration that was horribly off model. I agree that the sparkles and make up are not what the character is about and that Disney screwed that part up. Just go to the Disney princess site and you'll see that they rarely draw their own characters properly. At this point any sort of Disney response will just be met with more anger and finger pointing. Should they have just drawn Merida as she is in the movie? Yes, but I also feel that the one they released isn't destroying little girls.
I also must admit that I'm a bit confused with all of this. Based on what I've been following, girls aren't allowed to be sparkly? They aren't supposed to play with the fantasy of being a princess or that there is a prince coming to take them to the ball. Because thats what I'm hearing. If they do pretend that, then they can't use Disney as a base for that, they must pretend within healthy body structures and not what the popular society and marketing says a princess is? Who says that's what they're doing? When my daughter pretended to play princess, I never stopped her and questioned her on it.
I feel like my daughter shouldn't have the things she enjoys (princesses and sparkles) and that Disney is evil to the core because others say so. I don't think that a poorly done, off character drawing is going to wreck my daughters idea of a healthy body image. I give my daughter credit that she understands the difference from real life and a drawing. She also plays Mario games and she doesn't think that Italian men are all fat nor does she feel we need a dog fighting ring in our back yard because she plays Pokemon.
Am I missing the point here? Do we really think that Disney is the bane of all evil for little girls?
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