Strollerderby : Meredith Viera

10 Year Old Author Alec Greven Is Back

Brett Singer — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:30:00 GMT

Remember Alec Greven? He's the kid who wrote How To Talk To Girls last year. This time when I say "kid", I don't mean someone under 25. I mean kid. Because he's 10 years old.

Now Alec has written two more books. How to Talk to Moms and How to Talk to Dads.

In this interview with The Today Show, the young Mr. Greven tells us that "Dad is more lenient." There is an "80% chance that dad will say yes to little stuff when mom might say no."

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"Moms love hugs and nice notes." They especially like it when you "admit [that] you make a mistake [and] write a note that says I'm sorry." Helping out around the house is also a way to make mom happy.

His advice about dads could be taken the wrong way. Alec says that "dads have a good side and a bad side," and that "staying on dad's good side depends on your mood and attitude...If you have good behavior, you stay on dad's good side." This sounds a little bit like what an abused child might say on an episode of "Law & Order." Not saying there's anything weird going on, but it sounded funny to me. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Examples of "bad behavior" that will get you on dad's "bad side" include: "tattletaling" on dad to mom (Alec says that he caught dad drinking out of the milk carton, told mom, and dad was not pleased), and also "fighting with your brother."

For their part, "moms don't like it when you bring snakes and spiders into the house." Alec says that he doesn't do this sort of thing, but his brother (the one he fights with, I suppose) does; he says that his mother often finds "rolly pollys" in his brother's coat pocket. (I had to look up what rolly-pollys are, apparently they're pill bugs. My wife and I would be equally annoyed if either kid brought those into our house.)

Under intense questioning from Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera, Alec admits that his advice is based on personal experience, but he did do some research because "parents have their own little tricks and stuff so I had to make sure other families did it to."

On the one hand, I'm happy for the kid. He seems nice enough, and says that he has donated some of the money he's earned to a cancer charity. He also started a school writing contest, and hopes that he has inspired a lot of other kids to write. "Without writers we can't have books to read," he says. "Without books, we can't learn."

Alec isn't resting on his laurels. For the holidays, he will give us "How To Talk To Santa," and he might do "How To Talk To Teachers."

On the other hand, WHERE'S MY BOOK DEAL? Or more to the point, why aren't my children writing books, earning money so I can relax? Huh? HUH?

OK, I think I'm mostly happy for him. Although I may have a little chat with my kids tonight. Perhaps they'd like to pen "How To Talk -- All The Time." Could be a bestseller.

Source: MSNBC (click the link if the embedded video doesn't work), Amazon.com

Image: Nerve.com

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Red eye? Nope, eye cancer

Brett Singer — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:00:00 GMT

You know those people you've befriended online? Never met them, but you trade baby pictures? It's all just a little casual thing, right? A way to connect with people who are experiencing the same things that you are.

For one woman, that seemingly casual connection actually saved her baby's life.

Megan Santos of Riverview, Fla. and Madeleine Robb, of London, were online buddies. They gave birth the same day and swapped photos of their bundles of joy. The U.K. mom noticed something odd about one of little Rowan Santos' eyes.

It wasn’t easy for Madeleine Robb to send an e-mail to another mom warning that her baby might have a deadly form of eye cancer. But she’s glad she did it — and so is the mother of 1-year-old Rowan Santos.
…
Just hours after reading the e-mail, Megan Santos of Riverview, Fla., learned from a doctor that Rowan has a potentially deadly form of childhood cancer called retinoblastoma.

WOW.

(For what it's worth, "retinoblastoma" isn't on my spell-check.)

Here's a video report from the Today Show:

source: NBC

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Moms Too Drunk to Tackle Today Show "Momtini" Debate?

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 14:24:00 GMT

The last time the Today Show ran a segment on mother fuddlers, the blogosphere lit up with heated debates about mixing alcohol with playdates. Personally, I mix my alcohol with gin, but to each her own. This time around, however, all seems quiet. For now.

Maybe that's because Today Show guest Stefanie "So Hot She Must be Anorexic" Wilder-Taylor yesterday debunked some people's perceptions that moms who drink around their kids are loutish lushbags. She was funny. She was intelligent. She asked for more beer. Who wouldn't like her?

No one that I could find. And I searched -- I swear to god. In putting together this list of the blogosphere reaction to the latest segment, I couldn't find an anti-drinking stance anywhere following the show yesteday. Maybe, and most likely, I'm just a moron -- but I'd like to think people have come to see this issue for what it really is: B.S. Who doesn't drink in front of their kids? Who doesn't drink because of their kids?

Z Recommends offers blogger solidarity with "Mothers for Social Drinking " blog badges. Go get one. Now!

IzzyMom has had enough of the non-debate. "Christ…it’s no wonder we’re NOT all self-medicating after dealing with such nonsense for two weeks in a row."

A Mommy Story believes moms can, gasp, make their own damn decisions. "Personally, I don't think moms are scared of being called a bad parent. I think we're sick of being told that anything we do could make us bad parents, as if we are incapable of making reasonable and sane parenting choices."

Suburban Bliss Melissa Summers, who got unfortunately railroaded when she was on the Today Show the first time this topic came up, rejoiced when host Meredith Viera was asked her opinion and stumbled. OK, rejoiced is a weak word. "I think I had an orgasm at that point."

Desperately Seeking Sanity has no problem with a few drinks, just watch what you say: "Just please refrain from telling me I’m a horrible mother….I might have to console myself with lots of alcohol and that would endanger my children and it would be all your fault … KIDDING!"

MamaKBear loves her some Jose Cuervo.

Elizabeth McDonald at 451Press wonders when parents will stop judging each other and start teaching their kids to make awesome margaritas.

To include some type of counter opinion, Viera herself defended her role in the debate, saying last week she thought making a comparison between moms and babysitters was fair - although she does enjoy a drink "from time to time."

The way I see it, drinking occasionally isn't her problem. Not drinking all the time is.

I'm sure I've missed a lot of great voices in this debate, so if you're not sick of it -- let me know about them and I'll update this. I'd especially like to hear from the anti-drinking side, if only to silently mock you.

(Photo from I'm Not a Wino, Not Yet a Girl -- check her out.)

Cocktail Playdates: What's the Big Deal?

Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 18:15:00 GMT

Did you catch the Today Show this morning? Melissa Summers was on with Meredith Viera discussing the "cocktail playdate" phenomenon.

When Melissa told me she was going on the show, I was worried that the producers would try to paint those of us that might like to have a cocktail or glass of wine at playdates (no, not every one, and not at 9:00 AM although some days...) as a bunch of irresponsible alcoholics, but my impression was that it was a very balanced segment.

The moms they interviewed were all women I'd be happy to have over some afternoon to share a bottle of wine. And Melissa is right, if you have a problem with that we probably can't be friends. And people that criticize moms who drink responsibly BECAUSE WE'RE ADULTS, are just looking for an excuse to critize, well, anything.

The Today Show polled iVillage members and 57% disapproved of "momtinis." I think the numbers would be different if they polled on a site like Babble. So what do you think? Have you ever shared a bottle of wine or mixed up a batch of mojitos with other parents while your kids are around? Or should alcohol never mix with children?

[graphic credit: Suburban Bliss]