Today is Day 1 of a challenge I set for myself - to write every day for the month of May & simply tell the truth: Good. Bad. Beautiful. Ugly. Embarrassing. Exciting. Titillating. Boring.
Whatever - so long as it's the truth for that day (or moment)...
(If I'd been more on it, I would have started May 1st, but - Oh well - that's sort of how my life goes these days)
So, today, I took the kids to the 5th birthday party of one of my son's best friends. They've been in preschool together for the last three years & Trent just loves him. And I really like their family. And their youngest really like Iara. Wins all 'round!
And we had a great time - until it came time for the Birthday Boy to open his presents & suddenly all the other children (including Trent) descended on the poor boy like f*cking vultures, offering to 'help' him open his presents; screaming; elbowing each other; and generally acting like little beasts.
This is a bad situation for Trent, who gets really overwhelmed, but can't seem to pull himself out of the group. I could see he was starting to get frustrated, and he started pushing himself closer & yelling, and I kept having him move out of the group, or at least in the midst of kids I know he does well with (and who do well with him) - and away from a couple kids he was clearly 'sparking' with.
And then, after about 15 minutes of this, I suddenly realize I have no idea where Iara is!
And I had a mini panic attack.
And she was fine - standing about 10 feet away, seemingly totally in her own world.
Some other parents noticed all this & said they'd asked her if she wanted to come closer & she kept saying 'no'.
And I felt simultaneously relieved that other people had been taking care of Iara & *totally embarrassed* that I had been witnessed in the act of *forgetting all about my 16 month old daughter*!!!
Seriously, what kind of a parent does that?!?!?
I am losing my mind...
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
I don't have much contact with mainstream media or reports on which famous people are doing what, so I may be way behind the times here...
But after I read about this over on Peerie Flooers, I am just loving the Pinkett-Smith family that much more:
On letting their daughter, Willow, shave her head, Jada Pinkett-Smith responded:
"The question why I would LET Willow cut her hair. First the LET must be challenged. This is a world where women, girls are constantly reminded that they don't belong to themselves; that their bodies are not their own, nor their power, or self determination. I made a promise to endow my little girl with the power to always know that her body, spirit, and her mind are HER domain. Willow cut her hair because her beauty, her value, her worth is not measured by the length of her hair. It's also a statement that claims that even little girls have the RIGHT to own themselves and should not be a slave to even their mother's deepest insecurities, hopes, and desires. Even little girls should not be a slave to the preconceived ideas of what a culture believes a little girl should be."
(source)
And Will Smith said:
"We let Willow cut her hair. When you have a little girl, it's like how can you teach her that you're in control of her body? If I teach her that I'm in charge of whether or not she can touch her hair, she's going to replace me with some other man when she goes out in the world. She can't cut my hair but that's her hair. She has got to have command of her body. So when she goes out into the world, she's going out with a command that is hers. She is used to making those decisions herself. We try to keep giving them those decisions until they can hold the full weight of their lives."
(source)
Thank freakin' G-d for parents willing to challenge themselves (and all of us in the process) to allow their children to be more than a reflection of themselves!
I would go further, and say we must teach both our daughters *and* sons that their bodies are their own, that their thoughts are their own, that they need not conform to societal 'norms' *nor* break them in simple rebellion - they are truly their own people. Perfect & perfectly loved - for their own sake.
Not for us the approve or disapprove, not for our profit & gain, and not for furthering our ideals & ideas.
For. Their. Own. Sake.
As Utah Phillips said in a speech he gave at the Washington State Young Writers Conference: "You are about to be told one more time that you are America's most valuable natural resource. Have you seen what they do to valuable natural resources?! Have you seen a strip mine? Have you seen a clear cut in the forest? Have you seen a polluted river? Don't ever let them call you a valuable natural resource! They're going to strip mine your soul. They're going to clear cut your best thoughts for the sake of profit unless you learn to resist, because the profit system follows the path of least resistance and following the path of least resistance is what makes the river crooked!"
But after I read about this over on Peerie Flooers, I am just loving the Pinkett-Smith family that much more:
On letting their daughter, Willow, shave her head, Jada Pinkett-Smith responded:
"The question why I would LET Willow cut her hair. First the LET must be challenged. This is a world where women, girls are constantly reminded that they don't belong to themselves; that their bodies are not their own, nor their power, or self determination. I made a promise to endow my little girl with the power to always know that her body, spirit, and her mind are HER domain. Willow cut her hair because her beauty, her value, her worth is not measured by the length of her hair. It's also a statement that claims that even little girls have the RIGHT to own themselves and should not be a slave to even their mother's deepest insecurities, hopes, and desires. Even little girls should not be a slave to the preconceived ideas of what a culture believes a little girl should be."
(source)
And Will Smith said:
"We let Willow cut her hair. When you have a little girl, it's like how can you teach her that you're in control of her body? If I teach her that I'm in charge of whether or not she can touch her hair, she's going to replace me with some other man when she goes out in the world. She can't cut my hair but that's her hair. She has got to have command of her body. So when she goes out into the world, she's going out with a command that is hers. She is used to making those decisions herself. We try to keep giving them those decisions until they can hold the full weight of their lives."
(source)
Thank freakin' G-d for parents willing to challenge themselves (and all of us in the process) to allow their children to be more than a reflection of themselves!
I would go further, and say we must teach both our daughters *and* sons that their bodies are their own, that their thoughts are their own, that they need not conform to societal 'norms' *nor* break them in simple rebellion - they are truly their own people. Perfect & perfectly loved - for their own sake.
Not for us the approve or disapprove, not for our profit & gain, and not for furthering our ideals & ideas.
For. Their. Own. Sake.
As Utah Phillips said in a speech he gave at the Washington State Young Writers Conference: "You are about to be told one more time that you are America's most valuable natural resource. Have you seen what they do to valuable natural resources?! Have you seen a strip mine? Have you seen a clear cut in the forest? Have you seen a polluted river? Don't ever let them call you a valuable natural resource! They're going to strip mine your soul. They're going to clear cut your best thoughts for the sake of profit unless you learn to resist, because the profit system follows the path of least resistance and following the path of least resistance is what makes the river crooked!"
Monday, December 6, 2010
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