A few weeks ago, Jillian Michaels (trainer from The Biggest Loser, the goddess of The Shred, she-who-will-kick-your-ass-and-you-will-like-it) was caught in a press maelstrom. Her alleged comments about pregnancy and adoption during an interview with Women’s Health Magazine were criticized and dissected ad nauseam.

So yesterday I jumped at the chance to chat with Jillian in an intimate group setting.  In fact, this last-minute interview was set up with the exact purpose of letting Jillian address the controversy that has since (thankfully) abated press-wise.

First of all, Jillian told me specifically that she did NOT say “pregnancy ruins your body” and told me in no uncertain terms: “I don’t believe that.” She gave several examples of healthy (and hot-bodied) moms, including Alison Sweeney, who she trained postpartum and has never looked better.  If you look carefully at the paragraph in question (below) from Women’s Health, it’s clear that it’s not a direct quote, but editorial commentary.  Jillian never said she has an aversion to pregnancy.

She also hopes to have kids someday, saying, “I’m going to adopt.” One of the reasons: Jillian admits to having an aversion to pregnancy, the result of being an overweight kid.  “I can’t handle doing that to my body,” she explains.  “Also, when you rescue something, it’s like rescuing a part of yourself.”

Jillian admits that she was caught off-guard when she was asked about pregnancy. She was unprepared to answer very personal questions about a future family.  Jillian answered the Women’s Health’s original question (about wanting to have kids) with her plans for future adoption. But she was then asked “why not pregnancy?”   Jillian says she answered that “there are many personal reasons,” and when pressed conceded that her overweight issues from childhood could be one of many reasons. She didn’t answer the question directly, because (as Jillian told me) she was panicking, not entirely sure she even wanted to answer such a personal question (which includes a now-public medical history of endometriosis and polycystic ovaries) but not wanting to lie either or avoid the question altogether.

Gee, Jillian sounds human.  Indeed she is. And likable to boot.

On the issue of  Jillian’s quote about “rescuing something,” it was actually given much earlier in the interview and NOT when she was talking about adoption!  In fact, I think a lot of this brouhaha would have been avoided if people would have read that damn article, which unfortunately was unavailable online. Looks like media sources were working off of a Women’s Health Mag press release.  It was clear that the concept of “rescuing” was a big one for the author, making the chance of that quote being taken out of context pretty high.

Look, I’m not a journalist.  I don’t have an agenda to uncover the truth.  Even though Jillian shared more details with me about why she wants to adopt and the reasons for not choosing pregnancy at this time, I don’t feel compelled to share them because I don’t think they are any of our damn business.

I do think Jillian deserves to have a forum to share her version of what happened.  She chose not to go to traditional media. She chose to go directly to mom publishers.  She tells me it’s because she cares what we think of her and how her words affect us and other moms. And I believe her.

I like Jillian and this piece is biased.  But everything here is the truth.

Jillian can be a drill sergeant and looks perfect to us on television, but she’s also sensitive and imperfect and learning.  Learning that moms care about what she says.  Learning that her words carry a lot of power.  She told me that it troubles her greatly that women felt scared or were hurt by her words, even if they were misconstrued.

As an aside, my son and I have been reading E Is for Ethics: How to Talk to Kids About Morals, Values, and What Matters Most each bedtime.  On the Forgiveness chapter it discusses how to show forgiveness and I hadn’t really thought about the phrase “forgive AND forget.” I learned that if we really want to forgive, we won’t bring up the issue again.

I’m ready to move on and kick some Shred booty.  Are you?

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(If you’d like to read more about this chat with Jillian, visit MomLogic; their writer participated in the same interview and did a more traditional write-up)

You seem to hear a lot about commercials that get it wrong when targeting parents (like the Motrin babywearing commercial and the ensuing Motrin Moms backlash).

Here are two recent commercials– one for television by McDonald’s and the other for the web by Toyota– that struck the right chord with me.

McDonald’s Baby

Toyota’s Swagger Wagon

So, if you were concerned it was too late to send your fave moms a bouquet, it’s not. Get thee to ProFlowers now.

Interesting factoid: FedEx expects to deliver more than one million bouquets of flowers in the days leading up to and including Mother’s Day. WOW!
BTW, my favorite is peonies, if you’re reading Craig.

Whether you love or hate Barbie is irrelevant here. This collection is all about nostalgia and for me Barbie’s teeny-tiny pink plastic shoes started a fascination with stilettos that bears witness in my shoe closet (yes, I have one. ’nuff said.)

Limited quantities of Barbie goodness is available. My favorite… the slick tote featuring Barbie’s famous footwear designs, shown above.

Also, psst Barbie is selling an original unopened 1978 Dream House. There is only one available (whoops! already sold out before I was able to press publish). Get this, it costs $2,000! (You have no idea how badly my 7-year-old self wanted one. And a pink corvette. Sigh.)

It’s the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the flower blossom season– typically cherry blossoms. It’s an important social event for Japanese people, celebrated with picnics under the sakura trees.

Last year, we outlined cities around the country that are flush with Cherry Blossom trees and celebrations. Only problem with the Cherry Blossoms is that their season is fleeting only lasting a week or so. If you can still capture the magic– like we can in the NY area– do it this weekend.

If not, consider dining under the cherry blossoms at home. (Many florists know how to preserve local blooms a bit longer.) So, build a mini tree on your dining room or coffee table. Have friends over, order-in and serve sushi rolls, sweet dango dumplings and sake.

I can’t think of a better reason to have a get-together or an easier party to throw– whether in or outdoors– this weekend.

My 7-year old son has just hit the age that he’s really getting into games in general. We’re talking the Wii, online games, games for the iPhone/ iPad and even board games. Sure, he liked the Wii and some board games just fine. But now he’s learning skill and strategy and I have to admit that I love it. As kids my husband and I were avid game players and we still love playing cards. It’s about time our genes started expressing themselves in our offspring.

Aerial shot of Kung Fu Panda World

One of my son’s latest faves is Kung Fu Panda World (KFPW), the brand-spanking new online destination for kids. Now, we’ve never explored Club Penguin or other online kids’ worlds but I’m pretty blown away by the high-quality animation in Kung Fu Panda World, which shouldn’t surprise anyone since it’s a Dreamworks Animation production (KFPW is their first foray into the online space).

First thing you do when you join KFPW is you get to choose a character. They give you a little personality quiz and recommend you be either a Panda-, Tiger-, or Monkey-based character. Of course, they chose monkey for me… my first choice anyway. However, I could have changed it to Tiger, had I preferred. Then, there’s a little spinner-dohickey that recommends names for your character, which you can play around with. Overall there are 18 million name combinations. If you want, you can extend the whole process to a cool 20 minutes of fun time for your kid. Or you can speed right through it.

Meet Cool Caring Blossom, aka me in KFPW.

Activity-wise, my favorite part of the site is the scavenger hunts. (I’m sure I was a pirate in another life.) My son loves the various arcade style games you find throughout KFPW most of which you can play by yourself or invite other KFPW members to play.

Safety-wise, I’m a fan of KFPW’s Parent Control Panel where you can oversee and manage your child’s account by enabling or disabling features like safe chat and the gameplay settings (all through a separate login, ahem). Other overall safety measures that KFPW follows: no personal information solicited or shared and chat & online behavior are filtered and monitored by a U.S.-based and trained-staff, 24/7.

In terms of technology, it’s a browser-based world, so there is nothing to download or install. Hooray! (I am so annoyed with the endless updating of all the other bookmarklets parked on my browser). There is free play available up to Level 6 (where you can keep playing), or you can buy a monthly subscription of $5.95. The other alternative is a sponsored game play option which provides free play but with the member-quality experience (day-long trial only). In return, when you and/or your kid login you see a Brought To You by Sponsor banner ad.

So, if you come across Cool Caring Blossom in Kung Fu Panda World don’t forget to friend me! My son? His Kung Fu Panda identity is a secret. Sorry. You’re a parent, I’m sure you understand.

And, oh yes, there will be more game reviews coming now that this is fashionable at home.

More Kung Fu Panda World Reviews from my friends:
- Kung Fu Panda World by Mom In the City
- Kung Fu Panda World reviewed by Selfish Mom

But space is limited and it’s first-come, first-served. If you want to attend, you’ll have to RSVP ASAP. Here’s how to do it:

* Party-goers must have some kind of pass for the conference in order to RSVP for this BlogHer Party. This can be the $50 Party-only Pass which is still available at http://blogher10.eventbrite.com. You’ll be asked to provide your pass confirmation number when RSVP’ing to CheeseburgHer. The single-day passes do not come with party access on all three days, only on the day of their pass. Single-day pass holders will need to purchase a Party-only Pass to go to parties on all three days.

* If you have a BlogHer pass, go to this site to RSVP. Do it soon before all the spots are taken.

I was on the Today Show on last Friday.

I felt really good about how the the segment turned out (other than my on-camera NERVES) with fellow guests Susan Getgood and Jen Singer. I like what my friends at Cool Mom Picks wrote “just ignore the title.”

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