Entries from August 2009 ↓

Broadcasters and government officials have put the scare on about N1H1 virus reeking havoc on the new school year. There is still no vaccine.

I have only one solution to offer – Thieves. This bottle of essential oils combines the oils thieves and looters used to rob plague victims in France, without getting the plague.

This proprietary blend of Eucalyptus, cinnamon, clove, rosemary and others, was tested at Weber State University and found to have killed 99.96 percent of airborne bacteria. Rub 1 drop on your kids (don’t forget yourself and husband) or put a drop in their cereal before school and maybe they won’t get this flu virus that has everyone hollering pandemic.

I can’t promise anything, but my logic goes like this: if it can make you immune to the plague, what’s a little flu?

Email me or leave a comment and I’ll order you some for $41.78. (If I get a justifiable amount of interest I’m thinking of becoming an official distributor.)

Noah Cyrus, Miley’s nine-year-old sister was photographed on a stripper pole with her friends at a night club before the Teen Choice Awards. Read that story on Dlisted.

Also in the Dlisted story is a new teen pop group titled The Lolitas. You know, like the elementary-aged little girl who “made” Humbert Humbert rape and molest her in the child pornography “classic” Lolita.

Then we have this innocent photo of Cheeky Sweetie’s daughter wiping marshmallow off her mouth after eating a s’more. Bing labled the photo something heinous in its algorithm and now the photo is popping up as an option for “penile penetration’ and “child nudity.”

I’m tired of being shocked and incensed that America’s children are being treated in this way. Does anyone have any other ideas? I’m leaning toward social annihilation and threat of physical harm.

And that’s a wonderful thing!  Think of those around you when you need some extra motivation to eat nutritiously and be physically active.  As friends, daughters, wives, and mothers, our healthy behaviors can positively influence those around us. …

As mothers…
A few years ago, I attended a great lecture by an endocrinologist who was treating overweight children with type 2 diabetes.  Afterwards, I asked the doctor what he thought was the main reason some children were successful at losing weight.  He said that without a doubt, when parents start to lose weight and develop healthy habits, you see the children lose weight and become healthier.

Our children learn eating and activity habits from us.  We are the ones that provide the food options in the home.  Young children will eat and drink what is available to them.  A child who complains they are bored will likely jump at the opportunity to run outside in the sprinkler with mom or shoot a few hoops together.

Read the whole thing at:

A Woman’s Healthy Choices Affect More Than Herself

One major secret to a positive body image is wearing the right clothing for your body.

Clothing that doesn’t show everything is clothing that cleverly hides flaws and private areas. Like the above dress, for instance.

I don’t want to mislead you, I’m no prude. I’m prone to flashing a bit of cleavage myself. I just feel oddly entitled to lift my arms up all the way without flashing my stomach, which I’m not as proud of as I am my clavicle and cleavage area. I also feel entitled to bending over without showing the world my butt crack and my men’s briefs. It does not make me feel great about my body to not be able to move it freely without tugging, pulling, adjusting and fussing with my clothes.

The American Psychological Association, in their Report on Sexualization of Girls, site girls’ need to constantly tug at and adjust clothing as a major body image issue.

“A second emotional consequence of self-objectification is appearance anxiety; which is manifested by checking and adjusting one’s appearance. Girls’ fashions arguably compound the opportunities for this kind of anxiety: tight-fitting “belly shirts,” micro-miniskirts, and plunging necklines require regular body monitoring and a kind of chronic vigilance about whether everything is in place.”

Of course you can relate. We can all relate to bending down and wondering who is looking at our bum crack because of those low rise jeans. We can relate to tugging our too-short shirts down over our pants or pulling on the necks of our shirts to cover our bra strap. Or having a toddler flash our boobs by pulling a blouse down just a little too low as they cling. I’m over it.

This does nothing to make us, or our daughters, feel great about our bodies.

The right clothes – the right swimsuits, shirts and jeans – are vital for a positive body image. (Go to Zafu to find the best jeans for your body.)

While you might not find the perfect fit – embarrassing adjustment not required -  in many stores, there are clothing designers out there who are making fashionable, modest clothes for real women and real girls.

I recently purchased a swimsuit from Diviinemodestee.com for myself. I love how I feel about my body when it’s accentuating my positives with a good design and requiring the least about of tugging and pulling. It hides things, like my stomach, that I don’t feel comfortable showing the whole world. Another modest clothing company, Shade, is having a clearance sale right now with some very cute and body flattering suits for women.

I’m going to buy one of these tummy covering tankinis for Ainsley next year to avoid the whole “I want a tankini! Why can’t I have a tankini?” temper-tantrum episode in the dressing room. The one where she’s pulling the suit down enough to cover her tummy and exposing her chest to prove that it “fits.” Maybe I’m not the only parent who has had that moment?

“You can have a Tankini dear,” I’ll say next year and I’ll allow her to choose from this adorable collection.

The extra-long, high necked cap-sleeved T-shirts at Diviine Modestee also allow me to say “yes” to halter and tube top fashions that are admittedly cute, but which her father will never let her wear out of the house.

Oh, they are having a clearance sale right now and I’m not aligned with the company in any way.

I thought gender stereotyping was mostly nurture when I had my daughter. I was right. Until I had a son.

Given equal opportunities and equal access to both gender’s toys and games I have to concede:

Zack likes cars, trains, and balls far more than Ainsley does. He is more likely to build stuff with tinker toys and shoot me with his fingers. He can hear a train whistle 2 miles away and point it out. He will inspect tires on machinery.

However, he is also very likely to play dress up, play with babies and Barbies, enjoy cooking and pretend to be the next American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance contestant.

Ainsley’s far less flexible about gender roles and identity than he is. Though, she is seven and he is three and this may account for his willingness to cross gender lines. (Also the fact that we never say, “pink is for girls, boys don’t wear that, what are you gay?” probably has a lot to do with his freedom of play.) I’d love to preserve it in him and instill it more in her.

Ainsley really is more gifted in language, including arguing and negotiating. Zack tends to pretend I never spoke if I say something he doesn’t like, just like someone else I know.

Ainsley is also the natural and obvious leader if she is ever in a group setting with boys.

In fact, it’s so distinct, her natural role as leader, I wonder if the whole gender gap exists because girls felt compassion for boys and threw the game so boys wouldn’t feel so bad.

What observations about gender can you share from your house?