Last week, the Internet heated up with outrage as Disney seeemed to turn the rebellious Princess Merida into a sparkly, thinnified, more mature version of herself. A petition and many blog posts later, Disney pulled the images from their website and denied the makeover happened at all.

Catherine Connors, Disney exec. and Editor-in-Chief of Babble.com (and former Canadian mom blogger extraordinaire) writes:

 ...the original Merida hasn’t, actually, been made over: there are a few pieces of iterative artwork out there that were created for the purpose of celebrating her coronation, but these are fancified depictions of Merida, not a new Merida (who in any case is defined by far more important things than what she wears.) 

The idea that the people who were upset about the changes were the ones guilty of making a big deal about appearances is a Disney spin (and also disappointing coming from Babble). Her gown was much less of an issue than her apparant rib removal.

Photographer Jaime Moore wanted to commemorate her daughter's fifth birthday with some photos. When she searched for inspiration she found a lot of little girls dressed up as princesses. But she wanted to do something different, so she posed her daughter Emma as five inspirational women who have made a difference in women's lives.

There was a coronation on Saturday, one that brought a new princess into our midst. No, not Kate - Merida from the Pixar movie Brave. Merida is the outspoken, arrow-shooting, boyfriend-shunning princess in the Oscar-winning Pixar movie. 

It seems just like Anne Hathaway's character in Princess Diaries, Merida had to get a makeover before the powers-that-be at Disney would allowed her to join her princess-y sisters.

Left: Merida from the movie. Right: Made-over Merida

Okay I can't stand it any longer. I have to address the Kim Kardashian fat-shaming pregnancy issue.

I have stayed out of the fray on this because I think that everything KimmyK does is to get publicity and more money -- including getting pregnant. 

But since announcing little North West, Kim has been wearing tight and oddly-shaped outfits that don't do her lovely body justice. And the tabloids have been judging her heavily for it. We loved her curves before, but only within reason it seems. 

In some ways, her body is the product that she sells and she knows that every bizarre get-up she puts on will be commented on, so I do think she is not oblivious to the silhouettes she has chosen to go out in. (And I do find a leather minidress a bizarre pregnancy outfit - no breathability.)

She has been criticized and fat-shamed for months about her clothing choices as well as her expanding body. The tabloid and psuedo-tabloids have been selling magazines off of her body for years and now it is has ramped up with headlines like: "I Can't Stop Eating" and "Pregnant Kim's Nightmare". And then there was this. 

"Does this jacket make me look fat?"

I overheard my seven-year-old daughter asking her 10-year-old brother.

"Yes," he answered, "It's a weird shape."

Did I spring into action? No. Most likely a mistake - but I didn't want to make a bigger deal of it than it was and decided to tackle the subject at another less time-sensitive juncture.

But I forgot. Until the next day when I realized that my daughter was now choosing to wear her raincoat instead of the trapezoidal snow jacket.

So I took hear aside (school bells be damned! We are dealing with the big issues here!).

I said to her, "I noticed that you aren't wearing your snow jacket anymore, even though it is cold out. Why is that?"

"I just don't like it anymore and it is just not that cold out," she answered.

"Does this have anything to do with what you asked your brother yesterday?"

She looked at me sheepishly: "Yes."

Rape, sexual assault, boys, girls. It is on everyone's minds, including the minds of every media outlet available. First there was Steubenville, and then there was our Canadian version in Cole Harbour where Rehtaeh Parsons lived, and died.

We spend a lot of energy talking to girls about how to avoid rape but now, finally, the conversation is turning to talking to boys about respecting and expecting consent. In other words, teaching not to rape. 

But it's not an easy conversation to have and it starts very young. We should be teaching all kids about boundaries -- that the words 'stop' and 'no' have weight. Even professionals have a hard time with it. I asked Marnie Goldenberg, a mother of two, a lawyer, a sexual health educator and the person behind Sexplainer.com to write about how she spoke to her 8-year-old about sexual assault and how she was planting the seeds of informed consent at a young age.

Today is Pink Day. 

Which means that my boys are wearing pink to school, (along with their sister but she hardly counts). They don't really love the idea, but they go ahead with it half-heartedly. They don't want to be losers NOT wearing pink on Pink Day.

You know what I don't want to discuss with my 7-year-old daughter? Victoria's Secret or its little sister PINK. Or sexy underwear in general.

This means we generally avoid walking by PINK (or La Senza) with their psuedo-cute/sexy images featuring girls far too young to have fake boobs spilling out of gingham push-ups. PINK is Victoria's little sister -- aimed at college girls but with appeal to the younger ones as well. It's all pink and cutesy/sexy like Selena Gomez in store form. 

Women, work, feminism, family -- these are all topics that keep cropping up lately. It started last year with articles by Anne-Marie Slaughter and Elisabeth Badinter, but it has jumped forward with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In and her suggestion that women should be more ambitious. The discussion (for the most part) has been nuanced and intelligent and has not pitted woman against woman.

But we wouldn't want that. 

Do we need to talk about those family car stickers? You know, the stick figures where each adorable sticky represents someone in your family, right down to the goldfish bowl?

These seemingly innocuous figures are creating a lot of debate in the car pool. Do you love them or hate them? Do you think they are cute, but would never put them on the back of your car? Or do you think they are an abomination?