Power bubbles and playing with worms: my 6 rules for raising a powerful girl
Who says a white dress isn’t made for playing in the mud? Imagine a world full of women — our daughters — who are strong enough to get dirty and climb high, brave enough to look closely at their surroundings, and smart enough to recognize just how awesome they really are.
Meet Otis Kryzanauskas, Canada’s only male registered midwife
Otis Kryzanauskas is cool for two reasons, and one of them is that killer last name. The second? He just became Canada’s only registered MALE midwife.
How to talk to little boys
Wondering what the best thing to talk to little boys about is? READING. Daughters are thriving and sons are flailing, and it seems like one solution might be to pick up a book and let your kid see you read for fun.
My 5-year-old cut off my hair and learned about what beauty really is
My daughter, Olivia, came home from her preschool and announced she needed to have long hair to be “pretty” and it wouldn’t hurt if I could put her in a dress for school. Initially I didn’t think much of that comment, but it bothered me. So I shaved my head to show her that prettiness wasn’t about long hair.
Parenting without gender expectations means accepting all outcomes
Recently, I took my two-and-a-half-year-old, Avie, to a Toddler Music and Movement class that, thanks to him, devolved into something more like Toddler Music and Mosh Pit. Most of the other kids were girls who twirled or held hands in groups of three or four and happily, almost dreamily, skipped around in circles while music played. Avie stomped, put his hands on the floor and kicked one foot up in his classic “trick” pose, ran around in his own circles wind-milling his arms, and finally, purposefully, crashed into one of the girl groups and knocked them down.
Are dolls appropriate for one-year-olds?
My baby is about to turn one and I’ve been looking online at lists of age-appropriate toys. Simple puzzles, shape-sorter toys, stacking toys, etc, all sound great — but dolls are also on the list. I’m not sure how I feel about that. She’s so young!
What do you do when your kid is inadvertently rude to strangers?
I’m a server at a restaurant that has a unisex uniform that includes a button-down white oxford and tie. I’m a woman who has a very short pixie haircut. Recently, a young girl loudly proclaimed to me, “YOU LOOK LIKE A BOY!”
Why we’re not planning on cutting our son’s hair anytime soon
My son is newly two-years-old, and has long, blonde, curly hair. Aside from the fact that it’s usually a bit wild, it pretty much looks like the kind you’d find on toddler beauty queens — and we have no intentions of cutting it any time soon. Sure, we’re nearly constantly bombarded with mis-assumptions about his sex due to his hair, and family members are always quick to ask us when we’re going to finally cut it.