Sometimes you come across a story that you just can’t believe, and here is my gasp-inducing story for today: From the Today show (hat tip to poynter.org, every journalist’s must-read) comes an amazing story about increasing trend of pre-teen girls getting BIKINI WAXES! OMG, it’s bad enough when you’re a grown-up to have to worry about “unwanted hair,” but how many ways can we come up with to make our daughters feel bad about themselves? There’s even someone quoted in the story about how if you wax “virgin hair” (can’t believe I’m even typing those words), you can get rid of it permanently in 2-6 treatments. That means waxing has to start at 8. Gawd.

I know that the place I get my pedicures has “Little Ms. Diva” manicures, and though I get why they are fun, it still seems like trying to make little girls into big girls too soon. But this? Can you imagine letting your tween daughter get a bikini wax? Maybe I’m just out of the loop … what do you think?

As you read in my column Sunday, my son and a baseball had an unfortunate collision. More traumatic for Mom than for him, and it looks like he won’t lose any teeth. At the end of the column I asked readers to share a time they hurt for their kids … this from Vickie Sweeney … Read the rest of this entry »

Wow, the celebs have been pulling out all the stops on the baby names lately, huh? Just this week we’ve had Sunday Rose Kidman-Urban and Levi Alves McConaughey. I think this latest round of the unusual was precipitated by Gwyneth Paltrow & Coldplay’s Chris Martin naming their daughter “Apple.” Yes, Apple Martin, who you just know is going to be called “Apple Martini” when she gets to be a teenager.

Jason Lee’s “Pilot Inspektor” and Penn Jillette’s “Moxie Crimefighter” are silly in the realm of “Moon Unit Zappa.” David Duchovny and Tea Leoni naming their kid “Kyd” and Rob Morrow choosing the name “Tu” (get it? Tu Morrow) makes you wonder if heavy doses of Demerol were involved.

I kind of like Honor (Jessica Alba) and Harlowe (Nicole Richie). A recent celebrity trend is the name “Jagger,” which has been used four times this year alone and I think is totally going to be my next Starbucks name. Read the rest of this entry »

Finally. Some good news.

I read a lot of newspapers online everyday, and the headlines have not been pretty lately. “US Diplomats Attacked in Zimbabwe” “Continental Airlines to Cut Jobs” “Boy Drowns While Napping in Carolina” Don’t even get me started on the local crime report. Or OMG! Gas prices! And then I stumbled upon this: “Risky Behavior Declines Among Teens.”

As the mother of a boy who will be 15 this summer, this comes as very welcome news. The report, which comes from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says that fewer adolescents are drinking, smoking and having sex than their counterparts did in 1991. The report actually said that TEENS ARE STARTING TO ACT MORE REPSONSIBLY. Which I’m pretty sure is one of the first signs of the apocalypse. Read the rest of this entry »

You’d think I’d be getting use to it by now: The lurch in our lives that happens at the end of each school year, when schedules change and books get put away. Here’s my take on the end of third grade. What’s the most difficult for you as you look at the end of your kid’s school year? What has gotten easier?