Week in Review….Parenting in the Loop

Friday the 13th…are you superstitious?

Interesting reads of my week….enjoy.

Alicia Silverstone has defiantly defended her practice of re-feeding her 11-month-old baby son.

Ms Silverstone said she has no regrets about publicly portraying how she feeds Bear, her son with rock musician husband Chris Jarecki, even though many medical practitioners say it is unhygienic and can cause bacteria and viruses to be passed from mother to baby.

The Good Wife” of the Master’s Golf Tournament!  The dad dilemma over diapers and divots tournament…guess which of these won that match.

Interesting discussion about how sport celebs deal with parenthood and tournament schedules…their feelings on the subject of daddy dilemmas.

On March 28, Watson and his wife, Angie, announced that they had adopted a 1-month-old baby named Caleb. Suddenly, Watson found himself far, far more interested in being a new father than in returning to Augusta National. He told Angie that he wanted to come here later in the week, but she quickly shut that down. He said that she told him, “No, you need to come in here and practice like normal.”

How many habits can you say this about?

The habit of meditation is one of the most powerful things I’ve ever learned.Amazingly, it’s also one of the most simple habits to do — you can do it anywhere, any time, and it will always have immediate benefits.

Have a great weekend and if reading this in the U.S. don’t forget Monday is April 15th…taxes!

Are you a Blog Bully???

http://thefeministbreeder.com/judging-moms-may-be-good-for-your-traffic-but-its-bad-for-your-feminism/

Titles are everything in the blogosphere …it can make a major difference in whether your post gets a “click” or not.

I had to click on the above post…the title caught me and here is what I thought about what I read…

The post was about feminism and the judging of moms which is rampant in the mom blogger arena. The mom judging is sometimes beyond a discussion…it can be an assault which in my opinion is very unprofessional, in addition to being unpleasant to read. This type of post puts me on the defensive…even to the point of wanting to defend the person or persons being attacked. I literally have to stop reading and refocus at times to not take sides until after finishing a post.

In the end, The Feminist Breeder certainly shredded a fellow writer’s post to make her point…I am not sure that her harshness was absolutely necessary to create a discussion on the hot topic. Her points were valid but focusing primarily on one feminist blogger did nothing for me coming over to her viewpoint.

I do not see any of this going away soon…in general, it seems that readers and watchers like cat fighting, it is like blog bullying with no real reasons behind the assaults or criticisms.

Here is the link to the post in this discussion…http://thefeministbreeder.com/judging-moms-may-be-good-for-your-traffic-but-its-bad-for-your-feminism/

I would love to know what you think about blog bullying, assaults and attacks on bloggers by fellow bloggers.

Do you think assaults are necessary in some cases?

OR

Are critical evaluations enough to generate good discussion?

Week in Review….Parenting in the Loop

  • Highlights of the week…sharing some of the reads of the last few days.

Ainsley closed her eyes, as if to shut out the embarrassment. The ongoing quest to understand why her young body was turning into a woman’s was not one of Ainsley’s favorite pastimes. She preferred torturing her 6-year-old brother and playing school with the neighborhood kids. (Ainsley was always the teacher, and she was very strict.)

Tummy time” and “Back to Sleep” weren’t part of the playbook when Ginny Fountain gave birth a generation ago. This expectant grandma’s got a lot to learn about newborns, which is how Fountain, 64, wound up in a grandparenting class offered earlier this month at a hospital in Seattle.

But listening is a growing problem for young children to the extent that preschools are now finding it necessary to “teach” listening in some Pre-K programs. A parent recently left this comment on my post A Baby Ready For Kindergarten, College And Life:

Snooki Is Pregnant

Snooki’s pregnancy has stirred up the news…she and her boyfriend are engaged and according to US Weekly she is 15 weeks into her pregnancy.

As one of the “stars” of Jersey Shore, viewers have seen her at her worst…but now she is pregnant. What will that mean to the girl known for partying and speaking her piece on television?

Hopefully, she will use this pregnancy to show her fans and viewers what a responsible woman’s choices are when it comes to drinking and eating during pregnancy. Apparently, she was drinking before she knew she was pregnant…that is common…as many women do not know they are pregnant and continue to party and drink. Continuing to drink after learning that you are pregnant is a problem  and can cause difficulties for early embryonic development and later fetal development.

Ideally, if you are planning or trying to get pregnant it would be wise to stop drinking…although some physicians do permit some alcohol during pregnancy the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists do not agree with this.

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy amounts to sharing your cocktail with your tiny, developing baby. The same level of alcohol you ingest is also ingested by your baby, says the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists ACOG.Why is alcohol consumption during pregnancy so bad for your baby? Mainly because alcohol consumption during pregnancy affects your babys cognitive and physical development. The highest risk from alcohol to your developing baby is during the earliest stages of pregnancy, when babys critical organs are forming and cells are dividing very rapidly. The more you drink during pregnancy, the greater health risks you and your baby are facing. Since there is no known safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, ACOG recommends eliminating all alcohol consumption during pregnancy to optimize your chances for a healthy baby.

via Alcohol and Pregnancy.

Having a baby is a huge responsibility and Snooki deserves a chance to enjoy her pregnancy and her baby. In general, we are very critical when some support is actually needed. Remember that Jersey Shore is a product of the media and lets hope she has a life outside of her “brand”.

Snooki Is Pregnant – Parenting.com.

Why Caucasian Dads are Superior…REVISITED…

Noteworthy Wednesday!

This is my most read post in 2011…since “Tiger Mom” is now published in paperback and it is the one year anniversary of the commotion that it set off I am reposting this for you perusal.

Enjoy.

Why Caucasian fathers are superior.

“So it should come as no surprise that I am better at parenting than most humans (and all animals, except bison and unicorns). The reason? I’m a Caucasian male.

The Caucasian culture does not accept mediocrity. You name it, we excel at it. Whether it’s playing hockey, or watching hockey, or dancing (the polka), or finishing last in 100-metre races, or suppressing the civil rights of minorities, Caucasian males do it best. We also raise the brightest children.”

Seriously, this is such an amusing piece that responds to the “Tiger Mom”  uproar. I thought we had read just about everything but apparently not so.

Given all the commotion that Tiger Mom has generated, I think that it is time to consider some balance. Parenting is something that is too important to actually laugh about.

It seems there are as many beliefs about the right way to parent as there are parents. It is my belief that anything taken to extremes is never really a good thing. There are exceptions to almost any “rule”. To be excessively rigid in your parenting style could pass this rigidity on to your child or create the opposite stance on your child’s part. Neither of these responses is what I personally would want.

There are many aspects of attachment parenting that I like and I probably was an attached parent and am an attached grandparent although I did not “co-sleep” nor did I breast feed.

My personal parenting guidelines came from Erik Erikson’s stages of development. I tried to parent so that my children successfully completed Erikson’s  stages of development.

I also tried to model behavior for my children. They experienced how important it was for both their grandmothers to die having completed their final stage of life at age 89. They both died with integrity and dignity.

Parenting never really ends.

For me, it is about teaching your children how to have love and empathy and be able to develop their own skills to live each stage of life.

With that said please read this “caucasian father’s” editorial reaction to “Tiger Mom” and laugh if you like…it is pretty humorous!

11/11/11

Veteran’s Day 2011

Here is where I was on 11/11/11.

I was picking up food for dinner…

My family was a very military one so I try to carry on the tradition by keeping that spirit alive and well whenever I can.

Today, I made a trip to the local AMVETS center and made a donation…

May all our troops remain safe and may they return home soon!

The 6 Best Baby Care Books

NOTEWORTHY WEDNESDAY!

“SECOND ADDITION”

Back in the day, an extended family of wise women would be around to reassure parents about weird gurgling noises, breastfeeding “latch,” and infant acne. But for most modern Americans, that wise old aunty comes in the form of a big fat baby book.

But which one? There are a lot out out there, but the 6 I’ve picked here will teach you what basic  things there are to know about babies and how to keep them safe, healthy and relatively happy.

via The 6 Best Baby Care Books | Being Pregnant.

It is often said that our children do not come with “owner’s manuals” like the ones we get when we bring home a new car.

In a way, this is a good thing but where do we go when we really need answers?

The internet…Barnes and Noble…or to our cellphone to call an experienced friend or better yet the pediatrician.

If you are looking for books on parenting here are a few of the best ones out there …already reviewed and recommended.

My personal choices include these plus….The Happiest Baby on the Block and The Happiest Toddler on the Block…both by Dr.Harvey Karp.

New parents and not so new parents… this one is for you.

Happy reading…

PARENTING BLOGS…

NOTEWORTHY WEDNESDAY!

From: FB page of Phd in Parenting:

Do you find the articles posted here and the discussions on the page valuable? Consider suggesting the page to some of your friends who might like it too. The more the merrier!

via Do you find the….

From my FB page...Parenting in the Loop

This is a great blog and valuable discussions for anyone who is concerned about making the world a better place now and for the next generation…two thumbs up here!

Lunch Notes ….

NOTEWORTHY WEDNESDAY!

Lunch Notes…Just some random thoughts…

With my morning coffee I read this article on lunch notes…

Yet another thing to make moms feel guilty.

If they are not putting notes in their kids’ lunches…their kids may feel left out.  Oh no!

Worse yet… they may feel that their moms don’t care enough about them to buy a pre-written note to stick in their bento box.

I have to admit…

for fun, I used to cut my kids’ sandwiches into heart shapes…I had some free time and thought it would be cute.

I was operating out of  guilt because…OMG… I worked, teaching nursing and had to leave very early in the morning…before my girls were even out of bed.

There were no cell phones to text …so… I had to use hearts and notes left with their breakfasts as a way to make them forgive me for not being present during every their every waking moment.

What was their reaction to this???

Not  exactly what I thought it would be.

“Lame”…I think was the word  they often used in the 80’s to describe some of my thoughtful moments.

What has changed since then…to make notes cool and competitive?

I am not sure…but what I want to know…is..

Are you sending notes to school in your child’s lunch?

and if you are …why?

and honestly…what are your children’s reactions???

The lunch-box note used to be an occasional smiley face on scratch paper. Now it’s an elaborate fixture of the school cafeteria. Some kids complain when they don’t get a lunch note. Or they may compare lunch notes with friends. Parents hear about it when their efforts fall short.

via Lunch Notes Get Crafty, as Parents Design—Or Buy—Motivational Messages – WSJ.com.