Breastfeeding headline is dubious. Photo via Milan Jurek.

I hate studies, or shall I say, headlines, like these:

While I fully acknowledge that breastfeeding is healthier for the mom and baby in the majority of cases, to say that it COULD prevent breast cancer in thousands of cases lacks perspective.

I looked it up, there are about 300,000 new cases of breast cancer a year. If breastfeeding could stave off 5,000 cases a year, that’s about 1.8%, and of that 1.8%, what were the confounding factors? I haven’t looked into the actual study in depth, but at that small of a percentage, if all confounding factors were accounted for, that could conceivably be within the margin of error.

So, the concern I have with these types of studies and headlines, is that they are ultimately misleading, regardless of where your values fall on certain behaviors and healthy lifestyle choices.

More Breast-Feeding Could Save Billions and Prevent Thousand of Breast-Cancer Cases

It’s not really fair to turn breastfeeding into a scare tactic or headline maker if we’re giving out misleading information.

Breastfeed if you like it, because it IS healthier, but realize that statistics are just a matter of risk assessment and those risks may be small in the scheme of things. If you enjoy breastfeeding, then you may also be reducing your risk of breast cancer but if you hate breastfeeding, that doesn’t mean you’re going to get breast cancer. There is a big difference.

Carla Hall partners with Country Crock to share casserole tips and tricks.

Do you have what it takes to be a rock star in the kitchen? Share the secret tip, trick, or ingredient that makes your casseroles sing and YOU could win $5,000 and a trip to New York City! Ends 5/31/2013.

Country Crock is searching for the next “crock star”. To enter, follow these instructions:

1) Share a photo of you and your favorite casserole

2) In a 100 words or less, share how you stay creative and resourceful

3) Submissions will be accepted at the County Crock Facebook page

12 semi-finalists will receive cookware and three finalists will win $5,000 and a trip for two to NYC.

Watch the video below to find out Carla Hall’s (former “Top Chef” contestant, and current co-host of ABC’s “The Chew”) tips for yummy casseroles and further information on the Country Crock contest.

Sponsored Post

Take it from a mom who’s been through it — if the anxiety and fear of parenting failures isn’t enough to overwhelm you, looking in the mirror and realizing that your old life is but a distant memory and that your prior bohemian lifestyle is on a 18-year hiatus, one tends to want to simply give up. One thing that may bring some order to this strange new world is having the control over your eating choices and getting something back that was unjustly taken from you — your pre-baby body.

Sometimes while perusing the grocery aisles, I’ll see a mom whose sweatpants, tired eyes and tussled hair screams to me to call Stacy London and Clinton Kelly of “What Not to Wear” stat!’ Of course, we all know, it’s what’s on inside is what counts, but being healthy inside and out has the added benefit of looking good and feeling great!

In our house, Slimfast is a staple product in our refrigerator. My high-schoolers grab one while on the go and I know it’s one less meal to worry about or come up with for myself when I’m left to my own devices and meal preparations. For years, I’ve been a Slimfast fan and grateful for the convenience and effective way to help me lose weight after having children and help me maintain my weight years later.

Just because we have children doesn’t mean we don’t want to feel hot and sexy. I beg of you, don’t give up. There is a hot mom inside all of us moms, just waiting to make the other PTO moms jealous.

The moms in the following videos are far too relatable, proving that looking good and feeling great is a common goal among many of us moms. One wants to be a MILF, one wants to look great naked and one wants to show off her hot bod for her high school reunion. One common theme — they want to feel better about themselves:

(Sponsored by Slimfast)

Rumor has it, Michelle Obama may run for President in 2016.

The First Lady appears to making a grand publicity tour and media blitz of unprecedented proportions for a First Lady in effort to kick off the first year of her husband’s second term as president. With her latest appearance being an Oscar Awards presenter, many are now wondering if First Lady Michelle Obama is being groomed for something bigger.

After all, Ms. Obama is still rather young at 49-years-old. She is a former lawyer and graduate of Princeton and her oldest daughter, Sasha, will be an adult by the time Ms. Obama would be eligible for a presidential bid, her youngest daughter will be 16.

While the FLOTUS has previously denied a run for office as recently as last year, she changed her definitive “no” to a “maybe” last Spring after an engaged and adoring media started eying her potential and seizing upon the idea. So could the new publicity tour be part of a grander campaign? As criticism and skepticism grows in light of Ms. Obama’s obvious PR campaign, calls for a Michelle Obama run for the White House in 2016 have just now started to pique interests in social networking circles.

One Michelle for President supporter with the screen name VictoriaNickers tweeted on Wednesday, “Why can’t Michelle Obama be president..she’s way cooler.”

Another supporter tweeted last week, “Michelle Obama for President!”

On the other side of the opinion aisle, Ms. Obama’s close relationship with Hollywood has drawn criticism from several conservative columnists including Jennfer Rubin from the Washignton Post who suggests Ms. Obama’s elbow rubbing with celebrities makes her look more a like tacky celebrity hanger-on than the distinguished wife of a leader of one of the most powerful nations on earth.

If Ms. Obama does run, it would also answer the question as to why President Obama continues to aggressively campaign and keep his campaign offices open across the nation. Given the popularity of Obama and his ability to separate himself from any negative consequences of economic fallout, Ms. Obama could go into the next election as a clear leader.

If Michelle does run, she will likely have a huge advantage in funding, support and preparation. Those looking for a change though, may have a tough road ahead of them if the pubic sees her as an extension of an already highly popular president.

So, what do you think? Could we, and should we, be looking towards another possible eight years of the Obama agenda after Barrack’s term ends?

Jennifer Kirkland with her son Ethan, 6, who survived after he was held hostage by a deranged killer, in a bunker for six days. Screen shot via Dr. Phil Show.

I know I will likely get some hate mail for stating the obvious here, but after seeing the mother of the boy who was held hostage for almost a week underground by a man he had just seen kill his bus driver, I don’t understand why she a) chose to put her son on television after he’d been through so much and b) why her sentimentalization of her son’s tormenter can be considered anything but a coping mechanism.

Ms. Kirkland, who originally said she would not be doing interviews, decided to go on Dr. Phil and rehash her son’s story.

While 6-year-old Ethan was in the room, Dr. Phil asked him a few questions, one about how he gets to school in which Ethan went over to his mother and whispered something into her ear. Apparently Ethan whispered, “…my bus driver is dead.”

Ms. Kirkland claims she has not spoken to Ethan about anything that has happened. She said she’s there if he wants to talk.

Kirkland also said that Ethan is suffering from night terrors, thrashing around in his bed.

For the second time, Ms. Kirkland publicly stated that she had forgiven Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, for holding her son hostage for almost a week. Dykes held the youngster captive after he stormed the boy’s bus, shot the bus driver and took Ethan after Ethan fainted from the trauma.

While Ethan was held hostage, Ms. Kirkland pleaded with the Sheriff not to hurt Jimmy Lee Dykes, her child’s captor. She felt he was mentally ill and should be spared.

I would say that Ms. Kirkland is a better woman than I, because had it been my son, I would not have been been so forgiving nor would I have cared what the hell happened to Mr. Dykes or whether he was spared. I believe there is a tendency to humanize and rationalize despicable behavior for the sake of coping. The sentimentalization of the criminally insane has often been a societal barrier in getting dysfunctional, unproductive and dangerous the help they need before they commit acts against humanity because people don’t want to admit that many killers lack any sort of sympathy for their victims. Further, the true irony in sympathizing with the criminally insane is in the majority of cases, they don’t appreciate, respect or value others forgiveness and sympathy. They are incapable of processing those kinds of feelings so the desire to humanize them is wasted.

If it were my kid, I would say, do whatever you need to do to Dykes in a manner that keeps my son safe. This asshole’s sense of self worth is not my concern, my son’s life is my concern.

Even more revealing and curious in the mother’s sympathy for Dykes is that she said that Ethan, her young victim son, described the killing of Dykes as, “The army came in and shot the bad man.”

So, Ethan, who is supposedly on the Autism spectrum and has ADHD, intellectualizes the “evil” of Dykes as a “bad man”, yet Ms. Kirkland still speaks of Dykes fondly, describing him as almost a caretaker even though, the police say that they felt Ethan was in imminent danger when they saw Dykes pick up a gun and get agitated shortly before rescuing Ethan. It’s hard to tell, but it’s still not clear if Kirkland is satisfied with the outcome, as if Dykes were treated unfairly or something.

I also cannot understand why Kirkland has not asked about young Ethan’s experience. I don’t know what psychologists have to say about it or what is the “right” way to proceed, I just know, had it been my kid, I would start asking questions so that I could know how to proceed. Be it counseling, assurance or therapy, I would ask. I would have to know. I would want to know so that I could address my child’s fears. If he’s having such bad nightmares, it’s obviously on his mind. He many not know how to broach the subject, so counseling and communication would be important to me. (Although it is also not clear if she has sought out counseling for the youngster.)

Would you feel sympathy for a man who allowed your baby to cry, 4 feet under the surface of the earth for almost a week before potentially killing him? Would you not ask him to talk to you about what happened?

DOE new mandate requires schools to set up disabled sports teams. Photo via Pierre Benker.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Education, along with the Office of Civil Rights passed a new unfunded mandate which requires schools to make concessions, allowances and modifications for disabled students who want to play school sports.

While much of the new mandate is a refresher on discrimination, something most people with a heart and soul can get behind, the last recommendation mandates that if reasonable accommodations cannot be made for a disabled student, then a school must fund and organize another team to meet the demands of disabled students.

For example, disabilities like diabetes and asthma — schools would be required to have a nurse assigned to that student for any school sponsored event they participated in. That’s going to be costly, but not nearly as egregious as the second part of the mandate, which states that even if only ONE disabled student is interested in a sport such as Basketball and cannot be accommodated with reasonable measures (lets say the student is in a wheel chair and wants to play basketball on the Varsity team), then the school must provide a suitable alternative.

So, let’s say you have three students who fall in to this category; who are they gonna play? The U.S. Department of Education says that schools can comply by starting a school district wide team and that it doesn’t necessarily have to be at each school.

Okay, so let’s say a disabled student lives in a rural area with too few participants to make up a disabled team, the school must now pay for that student’s transportation and what if the long bus ride requires the disabled student to have medical staff? Then the school has to pay for that too. While all of this is very moral and ideal in theory, how are cash strapped schools supposed to pay for this?

Some school districts have declined to comment on it, saying that they’re waiting to find out the costs and determine if the costs mean they must eliminate their sports programs altogether.

Perhaps the U.S. Department of Education will take another look at this, but this is just so typical. Bureaucrats who know nothing about financial constraints passing laws/mandates without considering the consequences. The same bureaucrats who send their kids to private schools or live in cash flush school districts.

The irony of it is — the poorer the community, the more of a negative effect it will have on their schools budget and sports program, which many poor communities rely on heavily.

What do you think? If providing equal funding and teams for disabled students means that schools cannot afford athletic programs at all, would you still support it?

Another irony — the U.S. Department of Education says they put this mandate together because of how vital sports is to the development of minors, but if the program has to be eliminated because school districts can’t shoulder the burden, then how would that be beneficial to anybody?

The prized stain set jersey seems like the perfect target for sweet Ravens revenge after the wife decides to clean the stain. The husband comes home to the once framed Joe Montana stained jersey and finds it missing. Just then the husband witnesses his wife with a load of laundry, a very clean load of laundry. A load of laundry that has been treated with Tide Miracle Stain.

Holy stain of legendary Joe Montana — erased. (Sad trombone.)

Sweet revenge or just plain rude?

Judge for yourself.

Zyrtec offers greats tips and strategies to help allergy suffers. Photo via zyrtec.com.

Sometimes I think there’s no rhyme or reason to when my allergies hit. Lately, my nose has been throbbing and I’ve been sneezing like crazy. I know it’s different from a cold since I don’t have a sore throat or fever. I actually think that my central air furnace has a lot to do with it. I was so tired of having itchy, watery eyes that I ran out to the drug store a few days ago and got some 24-hour Zyrtec. So far, so good.

A friend once told me that men grow out of their allergies whereas women grow in to them. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but it seems like a lot moms my age have been complaining of allergies lately.

Perhaps it’s the constant exposure to irritants and dander as they tend to be around their kids who are often walking allergens spores, especially when they forget to wash their hands.

Zyrtec has just released a 10-video explanation on how to identify allergies and manage them. It’s pretty informative.

For example, did you know that:

• Heavy drapes, as well as carpet are allergen magnets.
• Cold and allergies are mostly differentiated by body achiness and sore throat (cold) and sneezing and itchy, watery eyes (allergies).
• Dog allergies aren’t caused by fur, but rather dander, saliva and urine that triggers allergy symptoms. (Who knew?)
• If sneezing and itchy watery eyes last for more than two weeks, you may have an allergy to pollen.
• On an average day, pollen counts rise in the morning and peak about mid-day and then start to fall again.

Other tips include:

• Have your kids take showers daily to rinse off dander and allergens.
• Make sure your kids wash their hands frequently.
• Have kids put stuffed animals in closed containers.
• Vacuum weekly with a HEPA filter.
• Scrub bathrooms regularly to minimize mold.
• Keep your windows closed so that dander and dust doesn’t get stirred up in your home.
• Kids with allergies should leave shoes outside to minimize tracking allergens inside.
• Wear a hat and sunglasses outside to keep pollen away from hair and eyes.

To learn about Zytec rewards and access more tips and tools on allergy management, visit Zyrtec.com.

Infant’s ears pierced. Is it attractive? Photo via sxc photo.

I couldn’t help but notice the large crowd that surrounded a young mother and her infant daughter in a costume jewelry shop in the mall this past weekend. The poor baby. She was all smiles, oblivious to what was coming next. As the attendant drew marks on the infant’s ear lobes, she just sat there taking in the passerby’s as they stared into the glass, causing a gapers’ delay. The baby’s cosmetic right into adulthood was there — on display for the world to watch.

What this little baby didn’t know, she was about to get a sharp jab of pain, but not to protect her from illness, but to have something sparkly embedded in her flesh. She was about to get her ears pierced.

I didn’t bother staying for the puncture. It really bothered me. Pain for aesthetics, at only 6 month or so? It didn’t seem right. In fact, it seemed cruel.

I guess one could make an argument; little girls with earrings is cute. But does the end justify the means with such a young baby?

I remember getting my ears pierced after begging my mother for years as a young girl. She finally relented when I was 10 or so. As much as I tried to care for them, having a somewhat inattentive mother didn’t help the healing process and I wound up with serious infections and scar tissue that had to be removed years later. While I’m glad I have my ears pierced now, I always thought I should have listened to my mother and waited until I was more mature. I also recall my earlobes throbbing for a good three days or so. It’s not the kind of pain I wish upon any non-consenting infant.

So, what do you think? Is it cute or is it trashy?

Will Adam Lanza’s body ever be claimed by his father? Photo via Nicolás Báez.

In a word, no.

Rumor has it — no one has claimed the body of Adam Lanza, the fucker who shot up a first grade classroom at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 20 first graders (most of them only 6-years-old) and 6 school staff members (including four teachers, the school’s principal and the school psychologist).

If the rumors are true and Adam Lanza, 20-years-old, who shot and killed himself only when it was clear he was going to be captured, has not been claimed by any surviving family members, who cares? Honestly, who gives a shit if he winds up rotting there?

Personally, I really don’t care if his family doesn’t claim him but I am struck by the amount of people who thinks he deserves better than that and lambastes the man’s father for failing to give him a proper burial.

My question is why? For all of those who believe that Adam Lanza deserves our compassion and pity, because he suffered too or something, how do you know that? How do you know he was conflicted at all?

How do you know that he killed 20 babies, shooting them at close range between 2 and 11 times — that it was done in order to stifle his pain? And who cares if that was the case?

How do we know that his sole purpose wasn’t to inflict as much pain on others as humanly possible because it gave him pleasure? And even if he was in pain, so what? What does that have to do with anything? From all accounts, he lived a pretty charmed life, so sorry he had the inability to appreciate it, or he was mad at his mom or something.

Humanizing this bastard is just as much of a coping mechanism as calling him out for what he is — subhuman, evil and deranged.

No, I do not pity him. No, I do not feel sorry for him. No, I don’t care what happens to his body. No, I don’t care if his father forgoes his chance to say his final goodbye to him. Judging the man’s father and brother for the inability to pay their respect to him is just as bad, if not worse, than blaming the man’s mother for her inability to stop him.

If his father wants to have a funeral for him, so be it. I will not judge him for it, but given that he’s allegedly fled town with his new wife and his brother hasn’t spoken to him in over two years, they might be so repulsed by his actions that they can’t bring themselves to honor him in any way. And if that’s the case, then that’s their God-given right.

Just as I wrote about the Batman movie massacre shooter, I don’t think it’s noble or obligatory for the parents of such an evil fucker who has committed such unthinkable acts of violence against innocent people to be like “uh, you’re not my family anymore”. I think a parent’s love in unconditional to a point. That red-line for me would be if one of my children shot 20 6-year-olds, regardless of the reason, regardless of their psychosis. Just because someone is of your own flesh and blood, it doesn’t mean that they can expect you to continue loving them, regardless of their actions.

If Adam Lanza’s surviving family wants to forgive him, let them. But I won’t.  I don’t care if he rots in hell. He gets zero sympathy from me and I don’t care if he was struggling with a mental illness, that may be a reason, but it’s not an excuse. I don’t care why he was evil and I’m not going to pretend that a little Adam Lanza resides in all of us, because if he does, we might as well bring on the Apocalypse.

Bill and Giuliana Rancic welcome their new gestational baby. Photo via Style Network.

I feel slightly ashamed to admit it, but I used to kind of like Bill and Giuliana Rancic. They seem like nice people — down to earth, hard working, family people, especially for B or C-list celebrities.

It’s not like I’ve been a creepy fan. I’ve never day-dreamed about kidnapping them and tying them to a bed or anything. I have, however, kept a guarded interest in Giuliana Rancic’s desire to have a baby. She always seemed so sincere in her maternal quest. She went on the “Today” show and “GMA” and gushed about her one true desired destiny — becoming a mother. Then she had fertility issues and then the breast cancer. It seemed like a cruel joke for someone so focused on the goal of motherhood.

Then, in early 2012, the Rancic’s announced that they were pregnant! Not Giuliana, but a surrogate who was implanted with Giuliana and Bill’s fertilized egg. Oh, joy!

Giuliana, from what I could tell on the other side of the country, inside my living room eating an eclair bar and observing from the comfort of my living room, seemed so happy. I thought she was going to be such a doting and reactionary mother. There were even reports that Giuliana may leave her E! News gig to be a stay at home mother. She was going to become one of us.

But then the baby came in July with little fanfare. A healthy baby boy the Rancic’s named Edward Duke (whom they simply call “Duke”). He seemed to arrive with little social media narrative and minimal celebration. It would be one thing if the couple wanted to remain private, but Giuliana is a prolific social media updater. This I know because I follow Giuliana Rancic’s tweets and couldn’t wait to get the update on Giuliana’s elation and all the “firsts” of bringing home a new baby.

Instead, I got inundated with promotional tweets from Giuliana, plugging where she was going to show up at next. She tweeted nothing personal while waiting for her baby to be born in Denver, nothing about the baby on her plane ride home except maybe a vague acknowledgment that Duke was along for the ride. When the couple returned to their Chicago home, Guiliana tweeted about the great food they were eating at a nearby restaurant and her busy work schedule. I kept waiting for the humble brags and the annoying one-track baby talk. I got none of it. Instead, Giuliana was back to work within two weeks, with the same grueling schedule as before the baby. There was nary a mention of him, ever, except when the couple posed with him for a magazine cover. It was like Duke didn’t even exist.

For someone who spoke of motherhood in an endless loop before Edward Duke came along, Giuliana made little mention of him, instead choosing to focus on her career and promoting herself and her reality TV series. It was more like he was a new pair of shoes to be brought out on special occasions.

And the woman so desperate to become a mother, seemingly felt natural leaving her son behind as she traveled across the country promoting her clothing line. Her detachment anxiety was only brought up as a sort of obligation. It is weird.

I’m not the only one to notice either.

In a quick Internet search, I found many others who feel the same way.

Comments from the Daily Mail:

Comment from the Huffington Post:

Comment from Hollywood Life:

What do you think? Is Giuliana acting disconnected and detached from baby Duke?

Mayim Bialik, an attachment parenting advocate. Photo via Touchstone.

After Mayim Bialik recently announced her split from her husband of nine years, some people were blaming her continued devotion to extreme attachment parenting as a potential cause.

Bialik, 36, who was a former child actress on “Blossom” and now stars on “The Big Band Theory” has written several books on attachment parenting, hailing the act of co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding, bare-bottom potty training, child driven discipline (where the child decides his or her own punishment) and home birthing without medications.

An article that appeared on People magazine’s website today had the comments buzzing with speculation that her devotion to attachment parenting may have played a role.

What do you think?

Are the following comments far too judgmental? Is it any of their business really?

If you’re forced to get dressed up, which heel would you have worn before you had kids and which heel would be your go to after having children:

1.Dowdy Grandma shoe

For those about to not rock, at all.

2. About to retire shoe

For those considering a slow dance.

3. Postpartum shoe

I’ve only just kinda sorta given up.

4. Low Rider

It’s got a funky design.

5. A good compromise

Tell the husband we want these for Xmas.

6. Caution-wide load

Steady does it. Look mom! Heels!

7. Stay classy

Conservative, yet a teensy weensy bit daring.

8. I’ve still got it

A screw you pump at its most simplistic finest.

9. Defying physics

Bring it!

10. LOL

Ha! Motherhood has sent you off the rails.

Livestrong message of hope and support. Photo via livestrong.org

Few things in life are as devastating as a diagnosis of cancer, but with technological advancements and advocacy organizations such as Livestrong, people are getting the best care ever and access to life changing resources.

Livestrong.org helps cancer patients and their families with emotional support, financial support, pathways to insurance for those who are uninsured or underinsured, clinical trials, fertility issues and counseling.

Livestrong has produced five videos detailing real life stories with unique circumstances which require unique solutions. Livestrong is up for the challenge. They want anybody affected by cancer who is in need of support to reach out to them for the help they need.

The first video shares Brain’s story, a baseball coach who turned his passion for playing baseball a kid into a career. After he was diagnosed with Melanoma, Livestrong helped him find critical clinical trials in effort to provide him with the most advanced medicine available.

Learn more about how LIVESTRONG can help you with clinical trials by calling toll-free at 855.220.7777 or online http://livestrong.org/Brian

In Iram’s story, he talks about how the emotional and financial toll of cancer and how it tore his family apart, ending his nine year marriage. He looked to Livestrong to regain perspective and help him through low points in his life.

Learn more about LIVESTRONG’s emotional support services toll-free at 855.220.7777 or online http://livestrong.org/Iram

Sarah’s story explains her passionate desire to want a baby after she was diagnosed with cancer. Sarah confided in Livestrong who educated her on her fertility options.

Learn more about LIVESTRONG’s fertility preservation resources toll-free at 855.220.7777 or visit http://livestrong.org/Sarah

Ana’s story is about her father’s lung cancer diagnosis and the stress she felt worrying about his prognosis. A friend suggested she reach out to Livestrong for emotional support and she’s glad that she did.

Learn more about LIVESTRONG’s emotional support services toll-free at 855.220.7777 or online http://livestrong.org/Ana

Gabriel’s story is heartbreaking. He has been dealing with acute myeloid leukemia since he was 2-years-old. Now a student and young adult, Gabriel went almost three years without a check-up because he didn’t have health insurance.  Gabriel contacted Livestrong who helped him obtain affordable insurance and apply for scholarships.

Learn how LIVESTRONG can help you if you are uninsured or underinsured toll-free at 855.220.7777 or visit http://livestrong.org/Gabriel

(Sponsored Post.)

AAP says organic produce and meat is better. Photo via sxc photo.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has decided to weigh in today on whether or not organic foods are better for children than conventional foods. The AAP sifted through thousands of pages of studies and concluded that organic meat and produce is most likely more beneficial to children. Because children are more susceptible to pesticides, organic versions of produce and meat containing less pesticide may lower the risk of ADHD and behavior issues, as well as decreasing children’s exposure to harmful toxins. The AAP claims that children have a harder time metabolizing toxins in their bodies because of their body’s maturity and size.

Milk though — not so much.

The AAP found that organic milk vs. conventional milk made very little difference in exposure levels to chemicals and hormones. Although they recognized that there is a small increase in breast cancer for girls who eat conventional meat and produce, drinking conventional milk doesn’t seem to increase that risk at all. The AAP says they will be looking at additional studies to further confirm their findings.

According to the WSJ, the AAP said the evidence so far suggests there is no discernible difference in the amount of estrogen found in organic milk vs. conventional milk.

They did caution parents however, that conventional produce (and to some extent, conventional meat), far outweighs withholding those foods if you can’t afford organic varieties.

So, what do you think? Does this information change your mind on organic food?

She looks like a gigantic baby. Like one of those creepy adult fetish babies they show on those shock-main-street-porno documentaries on HBO:

If you can’t resist the temptation to “redneckognize” this Halloween, it can be yours for $74.99. That’s a lot of snickers bars.

Words are important because they have meaning. Photo via Sarah Maravelias.

This weeks dust up is coming from a father who wrote a blog post on  Babble about how he likes his older son, 5-year-old Zacharie, over his 2-year-old son, Charlie, and when it comes time to split up the kids for purposes of running errands, he always picks Zacharie.

Some moms on the Internet thought the declaration of having a preference for one child over the other was super shitty. And it is pretty super shitty when you think about it.

It’s shitty because it’s inexperienced and rude. Of course a 2-year-old is less engaged and mature and a little less interesting than a 5-year-old. Duh.

Furthermore, it’s shitty because the father, who posted as “DADCAMP”, gave examples absolving him of guilt and granting him permission to support his writing about his favorite child online in way that suggested,  ’Hey! Everybody does it. I’m just writing about it’.

Writing about it online makes it worse to the 10th power because now his toddler son has his runner up placement already carved  in his father’s life and he lives it out infamy, for the world to see and cite and for friends to reference when he gets older.

It’s also shitty because, unlike this supposed grown-up and contrary to the father’s beliefs, Charlie will catch wind of this. While DADCAMP said that he loved both his sons the minute they were born, he also makes it clear that he’s not ashamed to admit that he has “a favorite son”.

He goes on to ask his readers to look themselves in the mirror and admit they have a favorite too. But why? Whose purpose does it serve? Does it help the child who is not the favorite? Does it make that child feel more ashamed, and therefore the father and favorite child get a little schadenfreude from it?

So, unless the lesser liked son learns with the understanding of selfish adults, in a way mature beyond his years — understanding and forgiveness is totally presumptuous. This father has no way of knowing if his declaration will have a long lasting impact on Charlie. It’s hardly a stretch to think that this could very well affect his self esteem and self confidence.

And for what? Pageviews?

Now before I delclare this father asshole of the year, I must admit he did clarify that he simply enjoys hanging out with his older son because he’s not that into the baby stages. He says his wife is, but he isn’t.  He claims to enjoy the age when kids can interact with adults, instead of changing diapers, shaking shiny objects and making sure they don’t stick their finger in a light socket. Okay. I can get behind that. That makes sense and is completely unoffensive and understandable and common.

But that is also back-tracking on his original point — that’s it’s okay to have a favorite and announce it to the whole world. If it were only a case of liking children more when they can interact more than when they are so reliant, it would not have been offensive and sad.

I have personally witnessed families torn apart by “favorites”, with siblings so resentful and angry that they wind up hating their “favorite” sibling or worse, the “favorite” winds up bullying the other child when the parent isn’t looking, knowing they have an elevated place in the house and they can simply bat their eyelashes, claim the other one is lying and they get away with murder. If the parent isn’t there to witness it, they will likely side with the favorite. It’s just the way it is, especially to those who openly state a favorite to begin with.

Furthermore, there is a reason making a definitive statement on which child you like best is considered boorish. It’s called boundaries. It’s called being a parent and not always saying everything you think. It’s about self control and it’s about trying to overcome your preference as a parent and working hard to seem completely love-neutral to your kids because your kids didn’t ask to be born and they didn’t ask you to be their parent. It’s your job to keep you lesser liked child protected from every single thought you have in your head, the same reason you try to keep yourself from calling your child an “idiot” when your child does five dumb things in a row.

Every parent makes mistakes. It’s gonna happen, but failing to see it is to the determent of your kids…not cool.

The article seeks to look at pedophilia objectively, asking the philosophical and scientific question — is pedophilia an act of evil or merely a sexual orientation and preference? Shockingly, the article makes the case for the latter. It presents pedophilia as benign and uncontrollable as liking brunettes, tall men or athletic builds. It also makes the highly controversial and perhaps, highly dangerous suggestion that pedophilia and pedophiles are unfairly persecuted.

For many years, pedophile advocates have organized in such a way that they have their own unique lobbyist groups who work to minimize pedophilic behavior as benign while organizing public relations campaigns to mitigate the seriousness of prepubescent attraction.

From the Gawker article:

“Imagine a world in which admitting your attraction to busty women or tall men led to alienation, jail time, or your murder. Older gay men can probably remember such an era, but nowadays most sexual appetites have been mainstreamed to the point of banality. Pedophiles, for obvious reasons, don’t enjoy the same kind of tolerance, and thus it seems as if they may be locked forever in a sexual prison from the moment they’re born.”

The article goes on to validate pedophilia as a sort of physical or mental disability, much like early onset dementia. Much of this research has been done in Canada, where researchers are trying to to pinpoint its origin, pathology and potential treatment of symptoms. Gawker cites Dr. James Cantor, Head of Research in the Sexual Behaviours Clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada, whom they say has been trying to better “understand” pedophiles for the last 12 years.

Cantor’s research so far has led him to believe that pedophilia is a brain disorder, affecting the frontol temporal lobes. Also of note, a much higher amount of pedophiles are left handed compared to the general population. Cantor says, ”The only other groups that have rates of non-right-handedness that are that high are schizophrenics, people with bipolar disorder, people with autism.”

Again, the information provided in the article has a gentle persuasion towards sympathy instead of what most Americans think of pedophilia, as something completely awful, heinous and WRONG.

Further illustrations of a pedophiles trials and tribulations in life, Gawker quotes Dan Savage, a sex advice columnists who tells the story of a pedophile who never acted on his urges and how lonely of a place that is for people (mostly men) who can’t help but be attracted to children. One such pedophile said while people always say to other people, there is somebody out there for you — for the pedophile, “I walk around every awful day of my life knowing that there is no one out there for me.”

The author, Cord Jefferson, claims to be a progressive looking to welcome pedophiles into the ranks and protections of other minorities.

Jefferson says:

“The old adage is that the true mark of a society is how it treats the weakest in its ranks. Blacks, women, Latinos, gays and lesbians, and others are still in no way on wholly equal footing in America. But they’re also not nearly as lowly and cursed as men attracted to children. One imagines that if Jesus ever came to Earth, he’d embrace the poor, the blind, the lepers, and, yes, the pedophiles. As a self-professed “progressive,” when I think of the world I’d like to live in, I like to imagine that one day I’d be OK with a man like Terry moving next door to me and my children.”

Terry was a gentlemen Cord started out saying was a meth head who initiated sexual contact with his young 7-year-old niece, played porn videos for her and masturbated in front of her but apparently was a good guy because he chose not to have intercourse with her or something like that.

While Cord has responded to comments saying that nobody is saying that pedophiles should be allowed to have sex with children, it’s hard to argue that the editorial piece doesn’t have an agenda — to normalize and legitmize pedophilia as a sexual orientation and disability rather than a perversion and crime.

Pedophiles are on a mission to normalize their behavior, decriminalize it and get the word out that they are not monsters but burdened with a no-fault preference they were born with,  similar to any other sexual orientation. They want you to believe its just like being gay or straight, only they like babies, toddler and children. They believe the more they say it, the more Americans will become desensitized to such a suggestion and the tide will turn in their favor. Pedophiles systematically try to get into positions of authority and spread the word through pop culture and gentle propaganda, to get Americans to view them differently.

Where will your compassion lie? Will it be at the hands of grown man who wants to have sex with an innocent child or the children themselves?

Who are the real victims here?

A civilized society should be ashamed to have to ask the question. We are only as good of a society as how we treat our children.

You can go here to read the piece for yourself.

Furthermore, there is no evidence that therapy or drugs help to curb child sex predatory behavior.

This piece needs to be taken down. They won’t offend anybody by doing so, except pedophiles, or should I say, those with pedophilia desires? We wouldn’t want those who dig “pedophilia” to feel bad, right?

Mayim Bialik goes off the attachment parenting rails.

In case you haven’t heard, Mayim Hoya Bialik, the former child star of Blossom and current co-star of The Big Bang Theory is really into attachment parenting. She took time off from acting and earned her Phd in neuroscience and then she wrote a book espousing the benefits of attachment parenting after she had her two sons, born in 2005 and 2008. Never mind that there is zero proof that attachment parenting produces perfectly functioning and healthy children (as opposed to those who don’t don’t use AP methods) Bialik uses her degree to purport that “intellectually” attachment parenting makes sense.

So, co-sleeping, breastfeeding and extended breastfeeding, home birthing, baby wearing, toy banning (what a kill-joy), diaper banning and gentle, child led discipline is the method for “intellectually” superior folks.

What I find so hypocritical is that Bialik claims that she was less of a mother when she followed a rigid, traditional style of parenting and how baby wearing, co-sleeping and breastfeeding for 20 years (okay, I exaggerate) created the cohesive family unit and zen she was looking for. Good for her, but  it’s still a rigid path. It’s a narrow, self aggrandizing, subjective viewpoint which is totally unproven.

Letting your baby, toddler and child determine how to raise themselves, eating only organic food and breastfeeding for 20 years and letting kids shit wherever they want  is just as much of a plan as not doing those things.

It’s like, what’s your plan?

“Nothing?”

That’s your plan? “Nothing?”

“Yes.”

Okay, so I guess your plan is nothing.

But that’s not even why I’m writing this today.

I’m writing this because I saw a story on Bialik and about how she’s going back to work on The Big Bang Theory which made me wonder how long she’s been at that. (I don’t watch the show.) Apparently, she’s been working outside the home on this show and many others since at least 2009. Her second son was born in 2008, so that means, gasp, that Bialik didn’t have her sons attached to her 24/7.

I don’t know what it is exactly, but the bitch really annoys me.

I mean really, who cares what Blossom thinks. Who cares about Blossom’s parenting methods? Why is her life any more interesting or credible than anybody elses?

I think I’d much rather be in Team Heather McDonald (comedian) than Team Blossom anyway.

McDonald recently said in a New York Times article:

“Being a mother is part of who you are, but it should not be all of who you are. There is no parenting secret that ensures that your children will grow up and be successful adults. So why would you want to sacrifice your career, your financial security and oftentimes your happiness all in the name of motherhood? To me that is putting all your eggs in one basket, pun intended.

No, I did not breastfeed, make organic baby food or co-sleep with my children. I instead slept with their father, and I am still happily married to him today.”

Families who eat together, stay together. Photo via Lotus Head.

Not to throw a curve ball to my consistent apathy in parenting, but I have recently become concerned with the lack of family meal time in my life. As a hurried, chaotic family of two teens and a husband who is currently working night shift, learning how to slow down is a ginormous obstacle.

We also live in a very small space, sometimes it’s all that I have to prepare dinner and get the kids to eat it without some sort of criticism and get them to get out of my way. Every evening feels overwhelming, while my mind still races with a checklist of things to get done today and then tomorrow. None them fun. All of them fundamental, repetitive and mundane, but necessary none the less.

After dinner, there is laundry, dishes and organization to be had. After a day at work and coming home to teen spats and smelly dogs, opening a can of spaghetti sauce  and boiling water seems like a challenge of Herculean proportions. I’ll admit, it’s easier to hand plates the kids while they file downstairs and further immerse themselves in digital mediocrity and unhealthiness than it is to set the dinner table and pry my daughter off Facebook.

After a long day at work and running errands on the way home, I just want to veg. Sit in front of the TV and watch the shows I recorded from the prior evening and missed because I fell asleep in my arm chair. Having two teenagers, sometimes it’s easier to pretend they’re above all that hand-holding and togetherness, then to risk ruining my zen over the mind the mind numbing story about the girl fight at school.

But lately, I’ve had this overwhelming guilt. I grew up at the dinner table with a mother who was arguably faced with more challenges than me (although she didn’t work). I looked forward to it as a sense of calm and safety. This is something that I feel I’ve really missed out on with my kids. I feel like a failure and not in a warmhearted, humorous, blog-about-it way. With one child who’s graduating next year, I have very little time to change their habits. Habits that were formed and reinforced by me.

Why have I not seen this up until now? The family dinner table.

And it’s something that would provide the same relaxation and time to organize the family’s to-dos for the next day or week had I just committed to it. My kids have only experienced such gatherings during holidays, birthdays and frequent restaurant jaunts, but this is unacceptable.

But we’re not the only ones.

According to Time Magazine, less than half of white and black Americans eat dinner with their parents for most dinner meals while Hispanics are much more likely to eat with their parents.

Of kids who eat with their families on a regular basis (or dinner), they are 40% more likely to get As and Bs. Who knew?

So let this be a 2012/2013 school year resolution. We are eating together as a family dammit and the kids are gonna like it. This is the last year before my oldest gets shipped off to college. It’s now or never.

So let this serve as inspiration to those of you who wish — it’s never too late to start a good habit. It’s never too late to change our imperfect ways.