I loved being pregnant so much that I would offer to be a surrogate for someone - if I was younger, knew someone who was desperate, and didn't worry that I would want to keep the baby, and most importantly, if hadn't read Handmaid's Tale a few hundred times in the early '90s.

I know lots of people hated being pregnant but I just don't understand - there are so many reasons to love it. Here are some of mine:

The kids are sitting in their class fidgeting, staring at the clock until that bell rings. And then the shouts of joy can be heard all over the neighbourhood.

But what about the parents and caregivers in the schoolyard?

I was so frustrated with my three-year-old running around with a stick pretending to shoot everyone that I asked his preschool teacher if it was normal that he turned everything into a gun.

She told me to relax, that at that age girls are into princesses and boys are superheroes. It is how they explore gender and power dynamics. I wondered then, as I wonder now - is that purely genetic or do we somehow teach our kids these stereotypes?

Eglia, a preschool in Sweden, is on a radical mission to explore this question. They are actively working to dismantle gender stereotypes by banning gender pronouns, encouraging play with all types of toys and stocking books with "alternative" families which means no fairy tales allowed. They even use a gender neutral term for each other and visiting guests.

My daughter has mild eczema and when it gets itchy I put on this beautiful, organic, locally-produced cream full of essential oils and well-researched plant extracts.

And when that doesn't work, I pull out the cortisone.

The desire for happiness for our children is so basic, so intrinsic, that we start off on day one making sure they are happy every minute of every day. 

But what if our desire for them to be constantly happy is actually making them less happy as adults? Lori Gottleib poses this question in an article for the Atlantic Magazine titled: "How to Land Your Kid in Therapy". What if happy is the wrong goal?

I didn't realize that the parents were forming a tyranny in the workplace -- all the demands for extra time off for soccer practice and sick children are creating an unfair working environment for those who are childless by choice -- or even single, says an article in the Globe and Mail.

As someone who has been working at home since parenthood, I'm not really sure whether the article is trying to create a division where none exists, or is highlighting an existing problem. But I can see how a problem can arise; shifting work responsibilities because you must see your daughter as the purple fairy in her dance recital would be really annoying to co-workers.

I love a little baby belly. I love seeing it over the top of a diaper, running wild in a bathing suit bottom, anywhere except in a bikini.

I just think bikinis for little girls are a bit wrong. Now I know that many people disagree with me, that they think bikinis are adorable and sweet. But I think those little triangles (c'mon leopard print??) that rarely cover the nipples are at best useless and at worst, trying to portray little girls as sexy. And let's be honest, bikinis aren't even comfortable! So what's the point?

I was completely aghast when a friend said to me: "My kids don’t have bank accounts. We are spenders not savers in this family.”

What???

All the more reason for them to be savers. Someone is going to have take care of you when you are homeless and hungry, I said.

I was walking through the psychic fair when a woman pulled me over.

Pick a number from this chart and I will tell you your future.

I don’t know why, but I was drawn to 256.

“From that number I can tell you that you will marry your boyfriend, have two boys and be a writer.”

Poor Barbie. She's having a rough time lately. First there was the university student who made a life-size version of her, finally answering the question: Could Barbie stand with those measurements? And the answer is no, especially not in stilettos.

And then Greenpeace started a full-out assault on her. Even encouraging Ken to break up with her for her highly destructive deforestation habits. It seems that Mattel, and other major toy makers including Disney and Lego, use paper sourced through a company that uses Sumatran trees for packaging. The deforestation of the Indonesian forests is further endangering the Sumatran tiger as well as other species.