Parenting
Changes
Where did I get off, writing about current events? What did I know? I should probably write about something I was more qualified to address, like narcissism, or fine cheeses.
Young Child
Should We All Lighten Up About Barbie?
I’m interested to hear what you guys think about Barbies. I don’t have a daughter, but I was a girl—a girl besotted with the world of Barbie.
Parenting
Parenting Resolutions: What are Yours?
I’m making some resolutions this year. And what better place to start than with some of my less-than-exemplary parenting habits?
Young Child
Is Bribing Your Child Ever a Good Idea?
Let’s talk about bribery. Have you ever employed bribery as parenting tool, or do you think it’s setting a dangerous precedent?
Your Life
Prop 8: Where do you Stand?
If you want to argue that gay marriage is unholy, go right ahead; if
you want to disallow same-sex unions in your church, you have that
right. I got married in front of a judge, so my marriage is pretty
unholy as well.
Young Child
Sex Education: How Early Should it Start?
Your young child is starting to ask about SEX. When should you start getting technical with the details?
Health & Safety
Kids and Weight Issues: What can we do?
More children are dealing with weight problems, and they’re dealing with them at younger and younger ages. What’s your take on childhood weight gain?
Health & Safety
The Picky Eater: How do you Deal?
People often ask me what Henry’s eating these days, and in response I typically let out a series of high-pitched shrieks. Because oh, my friends. Oh, dear. It’s not good. This is a topic I have avoided bringing up because it tends to elicit strong…
Young Child
The art of losing (and winning): how do you teach your child to compete?
Henry is in one room. I’m in the other. Two outfits lie before each of us. We’ve been waiting for this moment for seconds, if not minutes. And now the moment of truth has arrived. “Ready,” I call out. “Set,” Henry yells. Go. The race…
Health & Safety
When is it okay to leave your child alone at home?
If we have learned anything from the film classic “Home Alone,” it is that leaving a child by himself (accidentally or on purpose) for any period of time can result in all manner of shenanigans. Also, Joe Pesci will show up. However, at some point,…
Parenting
Only children: will they grow up to be selfish, lonely, self-centered, homicidal maniacs?
Scott and I have been torturing ourselves over the question of trying again for a second child. We share an urge to embiggen the family, but we also like our little club just the way it is. Henry certainly seems happy enough on his own….
Relationships
Writing about your kids: a few thoughts on parent blogging
When Henry was four, I wrote on my blog about a meltdown he had at Ikea, and what I felt were the insensitive comments of the strangers around us. I wasn’t prepared for what happened next: readers and bloggers on other sites mocking Henry, wondering…
Health & Safety
Is pretend-shooting acceptable play for kids?
I have been shot. I also have also been blasted. Tasered. Stun-gunned. Vanquished. Laid low by a surprise shot from a laser cannon. Sent into unconsciousness by a sleep weapon that looked an awful lot like a pillow. I can’t talk about the mind-control ray…
Pregnancy
What would you tell yourself, if you could?
To: Alice Bradley, July 2002 From: Alice Bradley, July 2008 Subject: You, in a few months. ———- Hey there, hot pregnant lady! And I don’t mean temperature-wise. The oversized-belly look works for you, seriously. This will be the last time your midsection is ever this…
Health & Safety
Are our children overprotected?
As we walk to the playground, Henry yells to his friend, “Let’s race!” And they do. Down sidewalks that are bulging and splitting from the tree roots underneath, two semi-coordinated boys flail their legs downhill, shouting with glee. Behind them, I cringe, and wonder who’s…
Parenting
The city or the suburbs: which is better for kids?
As readers of Finslippy probably know, Scott and I once lived in Brooklyn, where we wrestled with the nagging question: now that we’re a family, are we ethically and morally bound to live in the suburbs? It seemed to be a question that most people…
Health
Sex every day: would you do it?
So every week, while I’m writing my Wonderland column, Scott asks me if there’s anything he can do to help. Every week I ask him what he could possibly do. Write it for me? Massage my feet while I write? Massage his own feet while…
Parenting
When sacrificing for your kids does more harm than good
A friend of mine –let’s call her Julie—faced the following dilemma: she had organized a night out with her best friends, the first time they could all get together, without kids, in months. Her friends all being busy mothers, organizing that particular night took a…
Young Child
What do you do when your kid rejects a friend?
There comes an uncomfortable turning point in the parent/child relationship when the child realizes that he has opinions about whom he wants to befriend, and that his opinions do not necessarily jibe with his parents’. Usually, or at least over here in New Jersey (in…
Big Kid
Teenagers and the Internet: can we survive them?
A few months ago, Frontline aired an episode on Teens and the Internet: “Growing up Online.” I had missed it when it first appeared, but I was sure to catch it when it aired again this week. It was a sober, balanced look at the…