Category Archive

advice

I'm a tattooed, blue-haired mom dealing with mental health stigma: do I need to tone down my look?

I’m a tattooed, blue-haired mom dealing with mental health stigma: do I need to tone down my look?

I’m a tattooed mom with blue hair who loves her family and teenage kids and live in a home full of love. Recently we’ve been working through challenges relating to mental illness — minor but requiring therapy and medication. I’ve lost some friends over it, people who could overlook the superficial style stuff, until it seemed less superficial.

My wardrobe has toned down a LOT in the six years we’ve lived here — but should I go back to being a brunette who tends to stick with long sleeves in the summer for the sake of my teen daughters?

How to turn up the volume on your flat, fine hair

How to turn up the volume on fine, flat hair

I have flat, straight, fine, and thin hair, that falls flat no matter what I do. It’s long and has no volume whatsoever. How should I style my hair and how do I make curls stay? I also don’t want to damage my hair, and because it’s thin it gets damaged really easily.

Does anyone have any tips do deal with this?

Where can I find more subversive and unique stickers for scrapbooking?

Where can I find more subversive and offbeat stickers for scrapbooking?

“I’m starting to get into scrapbooking, and am wondering if there is any place or website that has offbeat stickers and designs? Some of the stickers sold for scrapbooking are too sweet for my taste.” Great question! If you’ve been searching “scrapbook stickers” and only seeing happy-sappy and precious ones, that’s no surprise. There are a lot of cooler and more offbeat stickers out there, you just have to dig a little outside of the scrapbook market. Here are are some of my favorite sites to find more unique, subversive, and offbeat stickers to illustrate your adventures…

How do I teach privilege to my able-bodied, white male children?

How do I teach privilege to my able-bodied, white male children?

My partner and I recently welcomed our miracle twin newborns to the world and we’re thrilled! But also terrified. Somehow we managed to bring two more blond-haired, blue-eyed, males into our rural Midwest society (we are both of primarily European ancestry, but we never expected this!).

We had always planned to teach our children to value diversity and to challenge the system of privilege, but now we’re looking at raising children who are the textbook image of privilege. Help! How can we do parenting right?

My area is going plastic bag free. How do I dispose of this cat poop?

In Australia, our big supermarkets are about to switch to being plastic bag free.

I’m all for this, but I regularly use the bags to dispose of icky kitty litter and was hoping I could get some suggestions as to more environmentally friendly (and hopefully cheap) options?

My husband doesn't want kids: how do I cope with his choice?

My husband doesn’t want kids: how do I cope with his choice?

My husband recently told me he definitively doesn’t want children. I knew he’d been leaning that way over the past few years so we’ve been waiting. Silly me, I’d always thought he’d eventually change his mind. If I’m honest my heart is quite broken. I’ve always looked forward to being a parent. How do I move from wanting a child to child-free?

Is polyamory a lifestyle or an orientation?

Is polyamory a lifestyle or an orientation?

My husband recently told me that he is thinking more and more about a polyamorous lifestyle. He told me that he feels he needs to come out of the closet as poly. Aside from all of the considerations for the relationship itself (I saw you already address that well here and here), I’m more interested […]

Objectionable art: My home's art has themes of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll: is that okay if I have a child?

My home’s art has themes of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll: is that okay if I have a child?

I love the artwork in my home, and I’ve never given a second thought to the themes of sex, drugs, and rock and roll in my collection until having a child. Now that my husband and I have welcomed a little one into the world, I give more pause to the content of our collection and future art purchases.

Will the large print of Brigitte Bardot with a cigarette carelessly dangling from her mouth make my son more likely to take up smoking? Could the Mcbess drawings of scantily-clad ladies lead him to objectify women?