Seen but not heard

Would it really be so terrible to go back to the days when children were expected to be quiet and, as they say, “be seen but not heard”? I think about this a lot and even tell my 8-year old daughter that it was the norm not so long ago. Kids have clearly taken center [...]

Being Carded

Is there anything better than when you walk into a store, try to buy a bottle of wine or beer and get asked for some ID? No, this isn’t great if you’re 18 — you’re kind of out of luck — but when you’re slightly over 40 and have two kids, it’s a true blessing. [...]

Boundaries

At what point do we lose complete control over our personal boundaries? I think it must happen sometime during labor when your body becomes pretty much an open book for videotaping and pictures. Women breastfeed openly and publicly in front of anyone and everyone. These same women certainly wouldn’t have flashed their breasts at their [...]

Playing House

I love the way the tabloids talk about Angelina and Brad “setting up house.” You know — they’re just like the rest of us. They buy a home, move in with their kids and create a life together. Except, they’re not like everyone else — not even close. First of all, have you seen what [...]

Hazy View

So, I’m here in one of the most beautiful parts of the US — northern CA. There are mountains, lots of green, amazing weather and today, loads of smoke. There’s a major forest fire raging in the Santa Cruz mountains — about 3000 acres they say. We are maybe 20 miles away from it and [...]

Word Play

Did you ever notice how parents use certain “safe” words when describing their kids’ behavior? No one ever just comes out and say their child is a brat or spoiled or just plain wrong. It’s always couched in terms like “willful” (codeword for does not listen) or “spirited” (jumps on other people’s couches). I love [...]

Dance-Off

Here I am writing about more TV, but we’re in sweeps week — lots of finales and competitions winding down. Did you happen to catch the finale of “Dancing with the Stars” last night? I didn’t but I do watch it sporadically and know who most of the “stars” are. Apparently it was quite the [...]

Idol Daze

I’ll admit it. I do watch American Idol. It’s one of the few shows on television I can watch with my kids and make a family event out of. At the beginning, back in the days of Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken, we were HUGE fans and wouldn’t miss a beat. Around the 6th season [...]

Theory of Relativity

I know that time is relative. I live this relativity every day. I realize that the actual theory was proven by Albert Einstein many years ago, but all he had to do was ask any mother about time and he would have had his answer. So, this is the way it works in my house. [...]

Guilty Party

Guilt, guilt, guilt. It’s endless. It’s like a mommy right of passage. I guess I knew when I had kids that I was signing up for a lifetime of worry, but I didn’t realize that a whole load of endless guilt came with the package as well. If I’m with them, I feel guilty for [...]