Johns Hopkins University scientists set out to disprove the Old wives’ tale that women who suffer from heartburn during pregnancy, end up having babies with a lot of hair, and ended up confirming this fact!I can certainly vouch for this. I’m still finding secret stashes of Gaviscon and Maalox in our house and cars after having quite severe heartburn with both my pregnancies. Both my kids were born with full mops of hair, though BigBoy lost his as time went by.
Blogged with Flock
1. Not eating your child’s food – Bigboy had an easter egg, he broke it in pieces (it’s the white candy coated ones) and gave me the pieces to hold while he ate one piece at a time. I wasn’t allowed to eat some – it killed me – we’re Eve’s children after-all.
2. Eating your child’s food – when he got full – this always happens alarmingly quickly when he’s already got a piece in his mouth, he took out the soggy bits and put it in my mouth to eat. Sometimes I’m forced to do this anyway because it’s simply the easiest way to dispose of half-eaten food, I just close my eyes and swallow.
This site has some excellent ideas – just scroll down the page to see all the links.
I particularly like the Trash to Treasure Arts Section that recycles paper plates, drinking straws, baby food jars, egg cartons, plastic bottles and more. It’s great, because most often you will have the supplies in your home already.
technorati tags:recycle
Blogged with Flock
I’ve come to the conclusion that there are few things as irritating as the sound of a Nuk dummy (repeatedly) hitting the wooden slats of a cot at 3 in the morning, but it’s nothing compared to the sound of a Nuk dummy (repeatedly) hitting the carpeted floor at 3 in the morning. The one you can still ignore, but the other evokes images of dust bunnies wrapping their grubby little paws around said dummy. Not to mention the tension of waiting for the imminent wail of a 6-month old while you hunt around on your hands and knees in pitch darkness looking for that dummy to restore peace to the household. I’m exhausted. And irritated.
Oprah.com polled 15,000 women, both Stay at Home Moms (SAHM’s) and working mothers, and came to some interesting conclusions:
91% of women working outside the home has to do so for financial reasons
Both groups felt that SAHM’s didn’t get the respect they deserved
More SAHM’s felt that they were doing a good job as a parent (80%), but the working moms weren’t far behind (71%)
Both groups felt their children were happy
SAHM’s felt more judged by friends and family than Working moms – I found this quite interesting – could it be that women who work have had to face criticism already and had to inure themselves against it?
Both groups felt that parenting were now more stressful than when we were children
SAHM’s felt it was more difficult staying at home than going to work, whilst working moms were quite evenly split on the issue (maybe we (the ones who stay at home) are idealising those chats with colleagues around a take-out cappuccino or the client lunches, or the dressing up, or the quiet peaceful nights in hotels…)
Anyway, it seems that mothers have a lot in common, and we should give each other a break.
In the US anyway – it’s such a hot debate at the moment – should mommies drink or not while on a “playdate”. I mean, honestly, I’m sure it hasn’t even occurred to French women that this could in fact be a real dilemma.
But I can seen where the debate is coming from. We as mommies are being told at every opportunity how we f*** up our children – firstly it was considered bad form to go back to work, now it’s considered bad form to stay at home. How long you breastfeed for has always been a hot topic; breastfeed not long enough and your children will be obese, stupid and not attached – breastfeed for too long and your children will be skinny clingers with no sense of self-esteem. And please, don’t even dream of breastfeeding in public.
Maybe I should be grateful that my French, German or Italian isn’t good enough to understand what their hot issues are, but it seems to me that the Americans and British are especially good at dishing out admonishments and warnings.
The drinking issue is a case in point.
I first became aware of the concept with the publication of Christie Mellor’s book, The Three-Martini Playdate, A practical guide to Happy Parenting. She makes the point that parents were there first and children should fit in with the existing family structure and not become little gods that run our lives, which I wholeheartedly support.
So, things were simmering away quietly until a while ago, when the Today show decided to run a segment on mommies who *gasp* drink in front of their children, and everybody with an opinion jumped on the bandwagon. But, to put it in context for all of us, just remember that this is the country that came up with prohibition, and a fat lot of good it did them too.
It did lead to some very entertaining blogs written, for instance, Izzymom came to the conclusion that there are a lot of people out there who think that mothers lose their ability to make a sane decision the minute they give birth.
Some other interesting blogs worth checking out is:
Melissa Summers who started the whole debate at Suburban Bliss and Buzz Off, two really really funny blogging sites and worth subscribing to. She invented the term Momtini – which is according to the Global Language Monitor the 9th most politically incorrect phrase of 2006 – Quote: “Momtini — A Michigan mother invented the term ‘momtini’ as an act of rebellion against ‘parental correctness’. This has raised the hackles of child protection and ‘anti-alcohol’ groups.”
There is a great piece in the NY Times on the subject, worth reading (man, I DO love that newspaper), which pretty much sums up where I stand on the subject. An interesting point that does come up in the article, is that moms who have the occassional drinking playdates, are much less judgemental over other parents and their children – I like that.
At least I know now that I hang out with the right kind of people – it never occurred to us that you could HAVE a playdate without wine.
Personally, I find that certain things just go so much better with alcohol, like a bunch of screaming 2-year olds and their assortment of smaller siblings.
National Geographic has a very nice traveller site with lots of tips and resources for international travel.
They have launched an African travel planner which is really quite impressive, obviously aimed at Americans, but the web resources are really nice.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/extras/planner/africa/index.html
Certainly a site you can recommend to anybody who hasn’t travelled extensively in Africa.
Some very strong pictures this year – lots of black & white…
Winners gallery 2007 – World Press Photo
technorati tags:world press, photography
Blogged with Flock
Best Books of 2006: Picture Books
Some lovely books that you know comes properly reviewed by other parents.
technorati tags:amazon, top 10, picture books
Blogged with Flock
boon :: innovations for modern parents
It turns out my equipment envy is not something of the past yet, it’s turning into toddler product envy – but my goodness, I would LOVE to have one of these. This site has the most amazing kids products under the sun – modern, funky and practical. If you have a relative in the States…
Blogged with Flock
