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Wow. Sex & the City sure can bring out the heartfelt opinions.

Either the ladies illustrate all that’s good about girlfriends, or they’re personally responsible for the whoring of America.

Either they’re strong, independent women, or they’re too reliant on men for their happiness.

Either the fashion is fun and inspired, or completely unrealistic and silly. (Seriously. Was that bird on her head supposed to recall Bride of Frankenstein? It’s like they invited the comparison.)

Whatever your opinion of the show or the movie, it had a huge opening weekend, with an estimated $55.7 million take. They’re calling it the largest opening ever for a  romantic comedy. The only part of that that surprises me is that they’re calling it a “comedy.” Read the rest of this entry »

As I may have mentioned once or twice, today is my 15th wedding anniversary. I don’t write much about my husband. It’s kind of like an unwritten blogging rule that we’ll yak about our kids all day long but tiptoe around our significant others. I try to respect his privacy and probably won’t ever write about him. Except today. The one day a year that instead of focusing on what’s wrong with him, I remember all the things that make him right for me:

1. Family always comes first. Before anyone or anything else, me & our son are the most important things in his life – top of the list – family means everything to him.
2. He’s an excellent provider. Yes, he’s a workaholic. There are worse things. Like a husband who refuses to get off his ass and take care of his family. Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a new pill on the market. It was created especially for kids. For when they need a little more than a kiss to make their owie go away. It’s called “Obecalp.” That’s “placebo” spelled backwards.

I think I took these once. They came in my Fisher Price doctors set.  I downed the entire bottle immediately upon opening the packaging. Was that dangerous? I don’t think so. No one promised me anything with my sugar-pill prescription. I knew it was really just candy.

The mom who created Obecalp says that she cares about our children and the future of children around our world. Which seems a bit grandiose considering we’re talking about sugar pills. She’s not exactly curing cancer here. And anyway, is it possible she’s doing more harm than good?

I have to wonder, is it ever ethical to use a placebo? Isn’t that kind of like…LYING? Or is it one of those innocent lies we tell kids – like Santa Claus? Does the end justify the means as long as everyone just STOPS CRYING OMG WOULD YOU JUST STOP CRYING!!!!

Is sending kids the message that a pill can cure all that ails them a good message in today’s world? (Let’s not forget, someone once thought it was a good idea to sell candy cigarettes to kids, too.) Call me crazy, but I think it’s important for kids to learn that some hurts do actually heal all on their own.

“I don’t buy the argument that a placebo pill is just like putting a ‘Band-Aid on a boo-boo,’” says Douglas Kamerow, a family physician and former Assistant Surgeon General. ”We know it doesn’t make any difference, but we tell the kids that it does. Sure, there are kids who end up wanting a Band-Aid for every possible problem, but I have never seen an adult Band-Aid addict.”

What say you? A good idea or a disaster in the making? Would you give them to your child?

I saw the strangest thing the other morning.

I was driving on Walnut Grove Road, east of Germantown Parkway. In the mirror, I saw an SUV with what I thought was their dog hanging its head out the back window. As the truck got closer, I realized it wasn’t a dog at all; it was their PRESCHOOL CHILD. A 3- or 4-year-old boy, standing up in the back seat, hanging out the window up to his chest.

I let the truck pull up next to me and I see that the mom is just chatting away on her cell phone. So I honk at her, and start pointing to her son. Then she ends up behind me in line at Starbucks! And she acts all put out that I honked at her! And she says, “Is there a reason you were honking at me?” And I said, “Well I wasn’t sure you realized THAT YOUR CHILD WAS HANGING OUT THE WINDOW WHILE YOU WERE DRIVING.” She was all, “Well I didn’t know why you were honking.” And I couldn’t help myself. I said, “Doesn’t he ride in a carseat?” And she said, “Yeah, I already told him about 10 times to get his head in the window.”

Now look, I try not to be judgemental of other mothers. I have a friend who has a special-needs child who doesn’t appear special-needs to the casual observer. So people are always judging my friend by her daughter’s behavior. They don’t understand just by looking at her that there’s a problem.  

But is there EVER an excuse for allowing your child to ride with his head out the window? Or even outside of a carseat? I know I’m a bit of a seatbelt nazi (I would never have ridden in a car with my child out of buckles unless perhaps he was not breathing AND gushing blood and I needed to perform CPR on him enroute to the emergency room), but I just can’t think of one simple reason why a parent would allow such a thing.

Did I overreact? What would you have done? (Other than, you know…outing them on the internet.)