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January 2012

January 31, 2012

Is Bald Barbie Coming to A Store Near You?

Barbie is known for her luxurious blonde hair, twinkly blue eyes, extensive and inappropriate wardrobe and, of course, her unrealistic figure.

But two moms want to make her more relevant to their daughters. They are petitioning Mattel through Facebook to come out with "Bald and Beautiful Barbie". Both their daughters have lost their hair to cancer treatments and the moms think that releasing a bald doll will normalize the girls' situation and make them feel beautiful and special. In turn, a bald doll will help other girls facing similar situations.

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January 30, 2012

Michelle Williams and the Mommy Card

Do you remember when "mom" was just what you called the woman who gave birth to you? (Mum, in my case.)

Now the word "mom" is a whole marketing strategy. The momification of every sector from business to fashion and entertainment to blogging is ongoing. There doesn't seem to be an area that can't be mommified. And I say this as a writer who is proud to be called a Mom Blogger (said with only slight sarcastic intonation).

You know that mommydom is trendy when even the celebrities are pulling out their mom card whenever they can. From their baby bump to getting their body back, a celebrity mom gets extra media attention, more tabloid shots and possibly extra sympathy from the cultural group known as "moms".

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January 29, 2012

Things That I Care About, But You May Not: Greg Wiggle Is Back!

The news that Greg Wiggle is re-joining The Wiggles after a five year absence has made me ridiculously happy.

I'm not sure why I care, since it has been at least a year since a note of Hot Potato was wafting through the house. And Greg was never my favourite Wiggle anyways. He always had a dour, priggish way about him. And his magic tricks were awful. Anthony is the one with all the charisma (sorry Murray and Jeff).

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January 26, 2012

I Can't Wait to Share These Books!

It is Family Literacy Day. Which kind of begs the question: isn't everyday family literacy day?

Does a day go by in your family without talking about books or reading? Or at least yelling at your kids to get their reading done?

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January 25, 2012

Teens Can Be Amazing: Who Else Would Put a Lego Man in Space?

Sometimes kids have something that we adults don't have: guts. They aren't always brought down by the what-ifs of a situation and go for it. (This is, of course, a downside of teens as well.)

These two high-schoolers from Toronto are a great example. They decided to send a weather balloon, camera, and a Lego minifigure holding a Canadian flag into the stratosphere just because they wanted to. And so they did and it actually worked. And they have an amazing video to show for it.

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January 24, 2012

The Ins and Outs of Facebook

Yesterday, I wrote a general post on Facebook and why I am leaning toward allowing my son on to the site even though he is under the age limit of 13.

But Facebook is such a huge, huge topic that I felt like I missed some things about how to handle the site itself.

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January 23, 2012

Under 13 And On Facebook

My son is almost 12, he is in Grade 6, and he tells me often that he is the only kid in his year that does not have a Facebook account.

He has one year to go to legally join the site, but we are leaning towards letting him lie and join a year early. It doesn't feel good but I do know that most of his friends have an account and I would rather that he joined while I still had some influence over him, than have him join without me knowing. Because that is what kids do.

If you don't believe me ask the Vice-Principal of your local middle school; they will tell you that all the grade sevens have an account, but many parents don't know it.

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January 22, 2012

Pink or Blue? Is It Important to Find Out A Baby's Gender While Pregnant?

I got asked this a lot: "Do you know what you are having?"

Our usual answer to that question was: A) a baby B) a big meal C) what do you think I'm having? D) a human, unless that alien abduction dream was true.

At which point the asker would then try and guess, either by using some superstition that had to with my skin, eating habits, the way the wind blows, the size of my stomach or something else with little reliability.

But is knowing the gender of your baby really that important?

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January 19, 2012

Cindy Crawford's Daughter Follows In Her Mothers Footsteps. Hope She Doesn't Trip

In case you haven't heard, Cindy Crawford's daughter is the new face of Young Versace.

My first thoughts were: Who buys Versace for their kids? And who cares?

But also, why? It's not like that Crawford-Gerber family is in need of money. Putting their child's face in a magazine is about the chasing of fame, pure and simple.

Their beautiful 8-year-old daughter wants to model and they made it happen. And I don't get it.

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Blood And Anxiety Are All In A Day's Work Around Here

This wasn't the post I was planing to write tonight, but given the night I've had it is what I have come up with.

My 11-year-old son was in a funk and feeling cranky and down. He was lying on my bed when he did a funny, jerky head move and banged his head on the corner of my bedside table.

It obviously hurt and I went over to check out the situation and as I was soothing him, I noticed blood - never a good thing.

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Emma WavermanEmma Waverman

Emma 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

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