Learn how to kill lice while keeping calm for your kids
I checked her hair again and there they were — disgusting bugs eating my beautiful daughter’s poor head…
And also my own head… And also my roommate’s head. Basically three out of four people in our co-living household.
As I came to this realization I really wanted so badly to freak out. But I looked at my daughters little trusting eyes, and I realized that I didn’t have that luxury.
Why this feminist mom is okay raising a princess
I feel like there’s a certain trend in feminist parenting where we totally support little boys wearing dresses and sparkles… but cringe a bit inside when a little girl wants to do it. Feminism and Queer-positive parenting is supposed to be about choice, and that sometimes sometimes includes the choice to explore the identities of princess or a sparkly fairy.
Mama, why are you fat?: Teaching kids about different bodies
Growing up, I was teased all the time about my weight, and it affected me profoundly. I was almost 30 before I reached a place where I could just inhabit my body without seeing it as a problem. I decided that I didn’t want to view my own skin as an enemy. And I certainly don’t want my children growing up thinking that everyone should look like people in magazines, or that we should all just be miserable with our physical bodies because they aren’t “perfect.”
We all fight this fight, and we probably all want a better world for our children to have bodies in. How do we make that happen?
How young is too young to teach kids about sexual objectification?
Recently, some situations have come up which make me, as an intersectional feminist, question how to speak to my sister, let alone my nieces, about sexual objectification. How young is too young to teach kids about sexual objectification? Beyond that, has anyone got any ideas on how to break down sexual objectification for young people to understand?
Telling my Facebook-obsessed family I don’t want photos of my kid online
As I consider having a kid, one thing I feel very strongly about is not blasting photos of them all over social media. Preserving my future child’s privacy and right to choose is something I feel strongly about. But, I don’t even think something like that crosses my share-everything-on-Facebook family members’ minds. Any advice on how, or when, to broach this subject? I don’t want to become that mom who bites anyone’s head off who posts a photo of my kid on the internet. But I also want people to think before they post.
3 ways to teach kids to be body-positive
Teaching kids to be body positive is one of the most radical things we can do to further the Body Acceptance cause. By raising a generation to be critical of diet culture, body policing, and body discrimination; by raising them to love their bodies as the amazing tools they are, and to spread that love and acceptance wherever they go, we have the ability to change our culture, one beautiful child at a time.
These tips can be incredibly useful in all your dealings with young people in your life. Here are my top three tips on how to teach kids to be body-positive…
I will not teach my daughter how to avoid being raped
I cannot teach her this lesson for a simple reason — my daughter cannot avoid being raped, because being raped is not something the victim holds any control over. To teach her that she can avoid being raped, makes a fraction of the responsibility of being raped owned by her. My daughter owns none of this risk. Instead, will teach her this…
Teaching my kid about God as an ex-fundamentalist
“But Mama, what IS God?” Shit. I’m really not prepared for this conversation. For the majority of my life, I envisioned a future where this conversation with my kid would be welcome, and the answer given would be clear and certain. But the last half-decade has changed all that…