On good looks, ugliness, image, and what we teach our kids…
“We talk about body shape, size and weight, but rarely about distorted features. And we talk about plainness, but not faces that would make a surgeon’s fingers itch.
“The Ugly Duckling” is widely assumed to be the story of his own life. But the moral of that story was that a swan would emerge from the body of an outcast, and that you could not repress the nobility of a swan in a crowd of common ducks.
What if you just stay a duck?”
I’m a lot stronger than I thought: 7 things I’ve learned as a parent of two
In the past five years of being a mother, I can say without even an iota of doubt that every day has been an adventurous ride that has brought with it a new set of learnings. From all the late night parties and spontaneous getaways with my partner, to the breastfeeding woes and potty training sessions with my kids, I have come a very long way over the last couple of years — courtesy all the successes and failures.
Here are the top seven things I have learned as a parent of two…
Unexpected self-actualization from parenting: How my baby forces me to do things that are good for me
I’m new at this whole parent thing. Though I read about it and listened to other parents for years, I’ve been surprised by parenthood’s unusual joys. Your baby lighting up at the sight of your face is heart-expanding, but I expected it would be. What has surprised me is not the love that I feel, but the way such a tiny creature forces me to do the things that are good for me — the unexpected self-actualization from parenting…
Seeking gender-neutral kids books
Despite knowing the importance of diversity in our kids’ lives, we live in a mostly white, hetero-normative neighbourhood. So we have to use books to introduce them to a wide variety of people of all shapes, sizes, colours, and lifestyles. Are there any kids’ books with a diverse set of characters that do fun things while just happening to be gender-neutral or gender-bending?
How do you have adult time when living in a small space with a kid?
My partner and I just moved into a 600-square-foot cottage with our one-year-old. Although there’s technically a separate bedroom, the wall doesn’t go all the way to the ceiling. So it may as we’ll be a studio for sound purposes. Is there a magic equation for living in a small space with a kid? Will we ever have sex again? And what can I do when I just really, really need some personal space?
What were/are your favorite GOOD books for middle schoolers?
I have a brilliant child who enjoys reading, and I love finding her books that are rich and wonderful. My problem is when she goes to school she brings home these terrible junky books with terrible junky writing. If I give my child a reading list she can usually find the book in the schools library, but I am running out of ideas for her age group. Does any one have a favorite book from middle school that I can recommend for her literary treasure hunt?
How a deceased fantasy writer helped me explain death to my 4-year-old
Death is a scary question. It is the scary question. It’s your first real encounter of the inevitable as a child; the day you realise, because you live, you are going to have to die. Petrifying! I didn’t want to dismiss it with the old Catholic one-liners that I was fed as a child, but I didn’t want to traumatise my child any further with whatever half-baked, uncharted belly flop into the pool of hippy parenting my brain was feverishly trying to piece together.
Why I send my kid outside to a kindergarten in the forest
It’s winter in Georgia. The children waddle into the woods in layers of warm and waterproof clothes, awkward and round. The teachers’ hats are pulled down over their ears and when they stomp their feet and clap their hands along with the songs and poems at morning circle time, they do so with extra motivation.
This is the hardest time of year to send our children outside to kindergarten for the day, and the most important…