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• Wal-Mart Presents: Hannah Montana Wake-Up Calls!

  I take this personally—seeing as we share the same first name, and now every time I introduce myself to a girl under the age of 12, she starts calling me HaMo. I’ve been a silent victim of Miley Cyrus' rampant fame for far too long, and I’m fighting back! Today’s Washington Post had a story entitled “It’s Hannah Again. Should We Take This?” At first, I was terrified that the article would be about the popularity of the name Hannah for baby girls in the past five years. But what I found was even worse. Read More... Posted Aug 01 2008, 03:30 PM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: disney, shopping, teenagers, cell phones, Generation X, tweens, Wal-Mart, hannah montana, bad companies, back to school, miley cyrus, exploiting teens, shopping reminders, marketing to teens, phone calls, exploiting workers, wake-up calls

• 'Ira Sleeps Over' and Other 70's Faves

  The best part about reading children's books from the 70s is how authors manage to sneak in messages about girls' lib, divorce, and alternative lifestyles amid a sea of harvest gold and avocado green.  And if you've never appreciated the lovely comforts of a shag-rug nap, while contemplating your parents' EST circle, then I venture you're probably not yet looking up the nosehairs at 40, you sly boots, nor have you likely heard of children's books like "Ira Sleeps Over," about a boy who goes for a slumber party and finally admits to still needing his teddy bear for a good night's sleep.    Read More... Posted May 13 2008, 03:01 PM by Rachael Brownell (Redsy) with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Generation X, feminism, books from the 70s, best books of the 70s, NOW, girls' lib, ira sleeps over

• Why I Dread Mother's Day

  Mother's Day ought to be a time of celebration or at least quaffing of a beverage while sitting with one's girlfriends in pretty robes somewhere. It ought to be a time for mamas everywhere to chill, worry- and guilt- and child-free.  But often it isn't. This isn't (usually) because Mother's Day gifts don't measure up somehow.  Rather, it is because...   Read More... Posted Apr 17 2008, 02:31 PM by Rachael Brownell (Redsy) with | with 18 comment(s) Filed under: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Mother's Day, mother's day sucks

• Bribing Children: What is it Costing Parents?

  Bribing kids for good behavior, I know I am guilty of this. I usually end up buying my kids each a small toy if they are good when we are waiting at the pharmacy. Ian starts yelling "LOLLIPOP!" as soon as we walk into a doctor's office. Good trips to the grocery store are often rewarded with goldfish or apples. I come by this honestly. My Dad was one of those parents who paid us for good report cards. I got my car when I got on the honor roll in 11th grade. I was equally punished for bad grades, I had to pay my Dad for any D's or F's that showed up, but most of the time I was working, not so much for the good grades, but for the prize. I parent this way because this is what I responded to growing up. In fact, up until my kids were born I worked in sales because I needed the incentive of commission to motivate me. It is all about what I get for what I do. This can be a problem. I am not at all unusual for our generation. The Gen X parents are raising our children with a sense of entitlement that rivals our own. Are out kids just growing up doing what we want for the rewards? Maybe. Is that good or bad? I don't know. Posted Apr 17 2007, 04:20 PM by Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, bribery, Generation X, Gen X parents

• The Good, Bad, Old Days Of Childhood: Nostalgia In The Blogosphere

  Ah, memories, lighting the corners of our minds. A boomer reminisces at IRememberJFK about playing with hyper-realistic looking cap guns, and more specifically, whacking at a whole roll of caps with a hammer. At Electric City Weblog, Gen X-er Hawkeye waxes nostalgic about getting stabbed with lawn darts and other dangerous childhood games that we'd never, ever let our kids play today. Half of my husband's stories about childhood end with someone being flung over the handlebars of a BMX bike (helmets? Ha!), while in the early 1980s I was letting myself into the house with my own key (on a string around my neck, of course) and making Spaghetti-O's for dinner--I had to stand on a footstool to reach the stove knobs, since I was only eight. I know eight-year-olds today who aren't allowed to touch the can opener without supervision, much less the stove. I find myself so torn between wanting my children to have some of the benign neglect that was such a large part of childhood when we were kids and needing to conform to a socially approved level of supervision. What's stopping me? Social pressure to hover? Sky-high insurance premiums? I already know from parenting forums that I'm a rare bird for allowing my preschoolers to play in the back yard alone. Their own fully-fenced back yard! Letting them run across the street to play with the neighbor kids would be totally unacceptable unless I made calculated efforts to befriend the parents and oversee the proceedings. And it shouldn't have to be that complicated. It's not like the neighbor kids have lawn darts. Posted Feb 26 2007, 01:55 PM by Patti with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: children, toys, Baby Boomers, Generation X, nostalgia

• Top 5 Gen Ex Misperceptions About Having Kids

  Generation X is apparently much less enthralled with having children (and better equipped with birth control choices) than prior generations.  The mean age of women having children is now approximately 30 years, older still for women with higher educational attainment and incomes.  As we wait longer to have children, one would assume that our choice is more informed than prior generations. Quite the contrary.  It turns out the we, MTV generation, are relatively clueless about children before deciding to have our own.  Since we spend the majority of our early adulthood engaged in work, travel, and romping, is it any wonder? Here are 5 of the most prevalent misperceptions leading us down the primrose path of parenthood: 1. Having children will make your relationship stronger While it is true that children often impel people to stay in bad relationships, research shows that the little buggers might be the start of the whole thing falling apart anyway.  Marital quality usually declines after having children.  Seattle's Gottman Institute conducted a multi-year study to identify key factors in decreasing marital discord after having a baby.   2. Men and women share childrearing duties and parent the same.  Co-parenting works In her book "The Second Shift" Arlie Russell Hochschild points out that women still do the majority of cooking, cleaning, laundry and childcare, regardless of how many hours they put in at the office. 3. You will get your body back Read the stats on obesity lately?  It is probably unfair to blame the extra pounds on the pregnancy, but at least you can if you like.  4. Wait six weeks after the baby to resume your sex life and it will return to normal. You sex life won't return to normal (whatever that is).  You can write a book about it, talk to your friends on the sly, and do your sit-ups.  It will change as surely as your body will. 5. Having children will make an empty life seem full. Not surprisingly, an empty life will remain empty if one falls into the trap of believing your children will be your wee performing cute monkeys.  If you are a total narcissist youth-worshipper, you likely won't be amused by the lack of sleep, long tedious hours, and general other-centerdness required in childrearing. If we were properly informed would we choose to procreate?  Probably.  Even cranky parents would agree that most days, it's still worth it.  Posted Jan 16 2007, 09:00 AM by Rachael Brownell (Redsy) with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: obesity, Naughty Mommy, happy marriage, Gottman Institute, unhappy marriage, Generation X