Can you spot a mom a mile away? Is there something about our hair or our practical shoes that gives us away as the moms that we are? Writing at Mommyish, one mom, who declares her personal style to be boho chic and not at all, well, mommyish, wonders how other women her age seem to have developed a personal style that identifies them immediately as moms. She says that while most of her friends look just like "any other woman on the street," she sees women whose look just screams mom. She's not sure if it's their coiffed hair or their nylons, but somehow they wind up just looking like the moms they are, rather than the childless women they once were. Do you think your style has changed since you became a mom? If so, do you miss your old heels or dangly earrings or whatever it was you changed?
Dad stands up to bullying teachers
The father of a 10-year-old autistic boy has released an emotional video, condemning what he calls the bullying actions of his son's teacher and teacher's aides. As MSN reports, the dad, who couldn't figure out why his son was acting out at school, decided to send his child to class wearing a wire one day. What he heard horrified him. The dad explains that the kids in the class all fall somewhere on the autism spectrum and have limited communication skills. He believes that this has led the teachers to have inappropriate conversations in front of the kids, as well as to bully them. In the six-and-a-half hours of audio, staff members can be heard talking about drinking too much the night before and telling the young boy to "shut your mouth." This concerned dad says that the adults also called his son a "bastard." One aide has reportedly been fired for her actions that day, but the boy's teacher is allegedly still employed by the district. This angry father wants an apology and wants legislative changes made so that teachers who bully children can't keep their jobs.
No date? No dice
Prom's quickly approaching and you've got the shoes, the dress, even the tickets to the big event. What you don't have is a date. If you go to Archbishop John Carroll High School, that means you're out of luck. Most girls whose date bailed on them shortly before prom would probably spend the night at home with some movies and Ben & Jerry's -- those guys would never let a gal down like that. 17-year-old Amanda Dougherty, isn't most girls. After her date canceled on her, she planned on going to the dance solo. After all, she'd been looking forward to her junior prom for years. But, as CBS Philly reports, school administrators told her to make other plans for that evening, because without a date she wasn't welcome at the dance. “For them to say not that we’re not good enough to go unless we have a guy standing next to us, it’s just kind of sickening,” this plucky teen said. Plus, she's already forked over close to $1,000 on prom accoutrements. While the school wasn't willing to talk about Dougherty's case, they did issue a statement saying that they hold several dances throughout the year where kids don't need dates, but that they "view the prom as a special social event where a date is required to attend."
Lap babies -- okay on airplanes, not okay on slides at the park.
Aah, the scene of a parent happily sliding down the neighborhood park's slide with their small child sitting on their lap. So charming and idyllic, it's a poster image for good parenting. Except, new research shows that a lot of kids are winding up with broken legs as a result. A study found that 14 percent of pediatric leg fractures were the result of toddlers sliding with a grown-up. According to the New York Times, sliding with parents can be hazardous to a toddler's health. It turns out, kids' shoes have a tendency to get caught on the sides of the slide and the force of a parent's weight behind the kiddo can cause the leg to break. Solo-riding tots on the other hand, are able to stop or just twist their little legs free, before continuing their ride. Sorry kids, from now on, when you slide, you slide alone.
Beyond the jeans, is there a "mom" look
Can you spot a mom a mile away? Is there something about our hair or our practical shoes that gives us away as the moms that we are? Writing at Mommyish, one mom, who declares her personal style to be boho chic and not at all, well, mommyish, wonders how other women her age seem to have developed a personal style that identifies them immediately as moms. She says that while most of her friends look just like "any other woman on the street," she sees women whose look just screams mom. She's not sure if it's their coiffed hair or their nylons, but somehow they wind up just looking like the moms they are, rather than the childless women they once were. Do you think your style has changed since you became a mom? If so, do you miss your old heels or dangly earrings or whatever it was you changed?
Kiddie Microchips
On a recent episode of The View, the ladies turned to the topic of the Etan Patz disappearance back in 1979. One of the first child disappearance cases to make national headlines, the story's been back in the news lately. When talking about the case, Whoopi Goldberg wondered aloud if it would be too creepy to install microchip-tracking devices in our kids, as well as our pets. While the other gals on The View didn't think it was too creepy, some other moms certainly do. One of Whoopi's co-hosts, Sherri Shephard, hopes that they'll develop a chip that will dissolve when kids turn 18, while Elisabeth Hasselbeck wanted "extra tracking" once her kids reach the legal age of adulthood. But, one mom, writing over at BlogHer, thinks the idea is plenty creepy. While she acknowledges that there will always be tragedies and crimes against children, she thinks microchips are the wrong way to go. She believes that tracking devices in our kids would be an invasion of their privacy and would violate their human rights. She worries that by tagging our kids like we tag our dogs, we might be keeping them safe but we'd be depriving them of a lot of life's great adventures and experiences. Do you think micro-chipping kids is a good safety precaution or is it a worrisome over-reaction?
Dana Macario is a TODAY Moms contributor and Seattle mom to two sleep-depriving toddlers. Once properly caffeinated, she also blogs at www.18years2life.com.