Can boy wear a skirt to school?

A growing number of teenagers have been dressing to articulate gender identity and sexual orientation, confounding school officials, whose responses have ranged from indifference to applause to bans. In a New York Times article, Jan Hoffman explores how this generation is challenging the gender norms.

Fat Talk

When is the last time you said to your friends or daughter something like, "I love my legs?" You probably can't remember. So often women bond by saying self deprecating remarks about how they fall short in some physical area. Well it's time to end Fat Talk. In a blog by Dara Chadwick, she emphasizes the importance of keeping comments about yourself positive. She also introduces a video by the sorority Delta Delta Delta which kicks off "Fat Talk Free" Week, an initiative designed to encourage women to be aware of what they're saying about their bodies and to consciously choose to speak positively about themselves.

Balloon Boy's Parents- is this abuse?

What should we call parents who use their children as objects to seek their own personal gain? The entire ordeal was staged to create publicity for his parents' desire to be on reality TV again.
Six-year-old Falcon Heene was told to hide for hours in the rafters of the garage while the country worried about his safety. Falcon and his siblings were told to collude with his parents' abuse of the nation's desire to drop everything and focus on the safety of one little boy. They put him on TV many times the day of the hoax and while on the Today Show, which was the middle of the night for this little by, he threw up. For me this qualifies as abuse. Associated News writes about the saga. What do you think?

Does eating dinner with our kids protect them?

In The New York Times article The Guilt Trip Casserole:The Family Dinner by Jan Hoffman, the writer starts with the following statistic:

Teenagers who eat with their families less than three times a week are more likely to turn to alcohol, tobacco and drugs than those who dine with their families five times a week.

So, what's a working mother or father with late hours to do? Statistics like these have always made me feel guilty and I know I'm not alone. I don't believe there's a direct cause and effect. I have always believed that families who eat together demonstrate that they set aside a time to talk to one anther about their day. This connection doesn't have to be limited to the dinner hour. Basically connection is the key.

Should we love our children for what they do or who they are?

Over 50 years ago, the psychologist Carl Rogers said just loving your child isn't enough. He said we had to love our child unconditionally. We've assumed that Rogers was right- but is this at the core of our hyper-parenting, where all the kids get trophies? Can it create entitled children without direction? Journalist Alfie Kohn tackles this question in the New York Times.

Mothers and Adult Daughters in USA Today!

The day finally came and our new book hit the stores. Were are thrilled to have such a large article written by Sharon Jayson in

USA Today

What's funny is that after writing almost 300 pages on the subject, I found myself searching for a concise sound bite to answer the questions, "What's too close for comfort?"
Writing is one thing, but distilling big ideas into little snippets is very hard because the nuance is lost.

Man slaps other person's child in

Sorry, I just have to report this insane story.

A stranger (Roger Stephens) slapped a 2 year-old on the face after he asked her mother to make her stop crying in Walmart. I'm betting she didn't stop crying!!!!!!!

Thank goodness he was taken into custody of the sheriff's Dept. The full story is at www.modermom.com.

How do you deal with your child's overeating?

Parents walk a fine line between telling their overweight child how to make better food choices and putting too much emphasis on what he is eating. The word DIET has become a dirty word, yet childhood obesity is a big problem. We all know we're supposed to focus on healthy eating but how do we do that when our child is sneaking snacks?
Frank Bruni, in the New York Times, writes about this issue.