When it comes to uncomfortable conversations, few topics beat out the teen-parent sex talk. One mother, who had an incredibly open and frank conversation with her 17-year-old daughter on the topic, has now shared many of those details. Over lunch at a diner, these two covered pretty much everything - - a little second-base action, birth control, a friend's pregnancy scare... When her daughter said that neither she nor her boyfriend knew what he was supposed to do when it came to him to performing oral sex, the involved mom explained it all, sparing no detail. While some are applauding the mom's honest approach, others say that a safe sex talk between mother and daughter is one thing, providing oral sex tips is quite another. How have you handled "the talk" with your kids?
Hey, girls -- with a little airbrushing and heavy use of Photoshop, you too, can look like a movie star! The British government thinks this is the wrong message to send young girls. That's one of the reasons Britain has banned glossed-over L'Oreal ads featuring Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington. A member of Parliament has said, “Do we really want every photo, every image that we see to be actually so removed from reality that even someone like Julia Roberts or Christy Turlington are deemed not quite beautiful enough to go on an advertisement without extensive retouching?” A couple of years ago, a politician in France, who was sick of her teen daughters being exposed to altered photos, went so far as to propose that warning labels be placed on every advertisement featuring a photo that had been retouched. On behalf of little girls everywhere, we say, bravo!
Stylist to the stars, Rachel Zoe, has proclaimed "My rule is: I do not hold my child in heels." Aside from consigning little Skyler to perma-nanny care, what's a fashionista to do?! She's certainly not going to auction off her enormous collection of seemingly 8" heels on eBay. We're sure she'd "die" at the thought. No, instead she has devised what some might call a rather impractical and burdensome solution -- taking off her heels and jewelry every time she wants to hold her little guy. This, of course, has us wondering two things. One: what does she plan on doing when he's a toddler and pulls a runner in a parking lot? She can't very well ask him to stop running away until she can take her stilettos off... And, Two: How do the rest of us handle the heels and babes trade-off? Have you pushed your heels to the back of your closet until your wee ones are older or have you, like Rachel, devised a work-around solution?
Parents across the country are being tempted to give Chuck E. Cheese the finger (or at least take their business elsewhere), after a photo of the company's mousecot surfaced where the rat, posing with a four-year-old boy, is seen flipping the bird at the camera. The pizzeria has explained the situation as being nothing more than a wardrobe malfunction, insisting that the animal's paws aren't well-defined and that the person in the suit was actually pointing an index finger. Why he would be pointing an index finger is as unclear as the digit in question. Regardless of the intent, perhaps it's time they consider a mascot that's a bit more appealing than say, a vermin.
Dana Macario is a TODAY Moms contributor and Seattle mom to two sleep-depriving toddlers. She is currently developing an alarm clock that will start an IV coffee drip 10 minutes prior to wake-up time. Once properly caffeinated, she also blogs at www.18years2life.com.