Strollerderby : motherhood uncensored

Move Over Kid -- Making Room for Your Spouse

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:02:00 GMT

Kristen Chase over at Motherhood Uncensored has a wonderful and touching essay up about what can happen to a marriage when one or two or more kids enter the picture:

"Truthfully, the instant my daughter arrived, she took up most of my heart. I moved her over to make room for my son. And I'm only now starting to allow my heart to grow, not just because I'm adding another little one into the mix, but because after pulling myself from the wreckage that has been a very trying past four years, I realize that my husband really does deserve some space of his very own."

The essay got me thinking about the thousand things I do for my own daughter but left me feeling a little queasy when I considered what I've done for my wife lately. It's a nice reminder, as Kristen says, to keep making room.

5 Things Not to Get Him for Father's Day

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:16:00 GMT

Men often have the reputation of being easier to please than women, especially when it comes to Father's Day. But I think it's all a lot more complicated than that.

Here's a good place to start. 5 things NOT to buy him for Father's Day:

1. Manties - Why should women have all the fun? Though honestly, if you've seen a leopard print man-thong European bathing suit it's clear that the boys have tons to celebrate.

2. Old Spice Hair and Body Wash or any three-fer products - If it washes hair, cleans tubs, and spritzes his balls, it's probably going to cause burns and resentment.

3. MANicure - Men may enjoy facials or pedicures or even the occasional beauty treatment but they often don't want you to acknowledge it. Then again, some men pretty much beg for a certificate, so who knows?

4. Navy Seals Pull-Up Bar - I have it on good authority (thanks little brother) that men, like women, do not enjoy gifts with a strong subtext. If you give him workout gear and he's a little fluffy, the message will be received and Daddy won't be happy.

5. Ties, Socks, Handkerchiefs - These gifts pretty much yell out "Who the hell are you?!!" They might be ok for granddad, but today's younger smarter daddy probably won't appreciate them.

Any to add?

How High Is the Cussing Alert in Your Homeland?

Jessica Ashley (Sassafrass) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:21:00 GMT

Oh, how I'd like to begin this post with a string of curse words. But that would be too easy. Fun but too easy. You see, I'm pretty good at cussing. I refined the skill, not because I have degrees in wordsmithing in various formats, but because I spent several years in the restaurant industry serving overpriced pasta and cocktails to ingrates and then buzzing to the back of the house to speak unkindly of them with my peers. Ditto that for the years I was a college instructor, nanny and nonprofit consultant. While I'm not ready to clue my 3-year old into these particular skills, I do admit that it sometimes pains me to rein in the swearing when I am speaking of irritating drivers, current federal administrators and even certain playgroup mommies.

But I do it. I swallow the big five and instead blurt out nearer-to-niceties like crap, effing, fuhreaking, and the trinity of Good Lord, Good God and Jeeeeebus that apparently (from various looks and/or shooshing I've received from my husband and mother-in-law) don't cut it for some full-on censorship around children kind.

The conversation about what words are acceptable is on at Motherhood Uncensored where the question has been raised: What constitutes a cuss word? As you might expect, tons of muhfuckers (oh Jeebus, that feels good) are responding with their own bomb-dropping boundaries. While I do think a kid who swears is not cute and is quite uncomfortable, I just don't think crap registers as the forbidden flavor of adult vocabulary. Perhaps this all calls for a hierarchy of cursing, maybe even a chart based on the homeland security alerts.

Red alert could call for parents to run to the bedroom where they spew all kinds of f-words into a pile of cashmere sweaters. Orange alert could call for simply mouthing the offender, yellow for watered-down swearing with a raised fist shaken with moderate fury, and so on. Even as such, no matter how extensive your (or your child's) vocabulary is, sometimes there is no better way to express frustration over a new work policy or science grade than "That's total crap yo." And eventually, no matter how much you dookie up your bullshit conversation, everyone in the room knows exactly what you're getting at.

How high alert are the potty mouths in your house? Seriously, betches, let's put our skills and charts to real use and talk this shit out.

Strollerderby Playdate: Doodle Wars

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 11:31:00 GMT

The mamas of the blogosphere have returned from BlogHer a little bit funnier than usual. Something about mamas being gone has inspired children across the nation to take to their Magnadoodles, papers and crayons in a bid for anatomical independence.

Mom 101's daughter drew some serious male anatomy
Motherhood Uncensored's kid rendered a cylindrical man part (pictured right)
Suburban Turmoil's sweetie apparently wouldn't be outdone by either of her mommy's blogging friends.

If you don't want your child expressing him or herself, hide those doodle-pros away. Otherwise, heaven knows what they'll come up with next!

Mother's Day Ideas from "Cool Mom Picks" Make Shopping a Breeze

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 18:02:00 GMT

Cool Mom Picks founders Kristen Chase (Motherhood Uncensored) and Liz Gumbinner (Mom101) have devised a genius method for making Mother's Day (or any other gift-giving occasion) easy, unique, and guaranteed to please the mom in your life. The Cool Mom Picks Mother's Day Guide is filled with gifts ranging from jewelry, to baby bags, to sweet mementos, to relax and renew sets for moms-to-be. These hand-crafted, non-Target gifts are great for the crafty, sentimental, environmentally conscious, jewelry-loving, and unusual mama or grandmama in your life.

Cool Mom Picks tracks down wonderfully unique gifts so you don't have to. They focus on non-mainstream, often handmade by moms, products filled with love and attention to detail. Honestly, go over and take a look. Better yet, go buy yourself something and REALLY have a great Mother's Day! Now that is what I'm talking about! Me? I'm eyeing the custom birthstone necklaces from Urban Dencity Jewelry.

Times Online's List Of Ten Great Parenting Blogs

Patti — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

UK news outlet The Times Online's Alpha Mummy blog has posted their list of the ten great blogs that every working mum should read--good to know that the US doesn't have the market cornered on the assumption that to be a parent means to be a mother, and the qualifier "working" is somewhat puzzling, as their list is not at all specific to working parents.

The list features a few of the usual suspects: Dooce, Parent Hacks, Kiddley. Also included are a couple of blogs that aren't necessarily parenting blogs per se, but that a parent could definitely benefit from reading: Lifehacker and The Happiness Project. Alpha Mummy rounds out the list with fellow Times Online blogger India Knight's Isn't She Talking Yet, the Wall Street Journal's Juggle, and new-to-me reads MamaPop and Motherhood Uncensored (sometimes I don't know where I am when everyone else is blogging great stuff).

Oh, and the top of the list? Just a little site called Babble.

And now comes the best part of any top-something list: What's Wrong With It. Who's missing from Alpha Mummy's top ten? Is this list really what it claims to be, the top ten blogs for working parents (at least one of the blogs, MamaPop, is written by self-described stay at home parents)? Where all my daddybloggers at?