Talk of the Town

"Hello pot? This is kettle."

You gotta love Abercrombie & Fitch.  They absolutely know how to kick the hornet's nest of public discourse.  Once again the clothing company is pushing the edge with their latest bad board room decision.  Or is it?  

I would like to say "Thanks A&F!"

A&F recently introduced padded bikini tops for young girls aged 7-10.  This should not be surprising to us as this is the company who also introduced thong underpants for 7 year olds with suggestive sayings written on them.  (Hold on a second while my I get my heart rate under control.)  The common comment about the padded bikinis is "why in the world would they do this?"  Well, let's see... because they get free media coverage, an increase in traffic in their stores and on line to look at these suits and most of all because PEOPLE BUY THEM!

These new swim suits are for 7-10 year old girls and unless you are more daring with the check book than I am, I would say are USUALLY purchased by the parent and not the child.  Will these suits fly off the racks?  I sure hope not, but the cold hard fact remains that we- the parents- are helping to sexualize our daughters.  This is not the fault of Abercrombie, JCPenny or WalMart.  They may sell the racy pint-sized clothing, be we are the ones who are buying it

When we were kids, we would dress up in fancy dresses, and high heeled shoes and put on some lipstick.  However we never left the house dressed like that.  These days, there are actually little girl sizes in low cut jeans, cocktail dresses, high heels and now padded triangle bikini tops.  

It doesn't stop there.  In dance classes young girls are taught some moves that make me blush.  In cheer leading groups, the short skirts flip up to expose lace.  Birthday parties now feature up-dos and makeovers.   The opportunities for six year olds to look and act like 16 year olds are endless.

As the mother of a young girl, it feels like a uphill struggle.  How am I to tell her that so many of the messages she receives every day are not true?  "Cleavage doesn't come from your swim suit sweetie.  It'll come later on, or if you're like me...MUCH later!"

So why do I think we should thank Abercrombie & Fitch for offering this awful padded bikini top?  Because it gives us a chance to think about the sexualized messages we are sending to young kids, talk about it and to do better.

 

 

"Hello pot? This is kettle."

You gotta love Abercrombie & Fitch.  They absolutely know how to kick the hornet's nest of public discourse.  Once again the clothing company is pushing the edge with their latest bad board room decision.  Or is it?  

I would like to say "Thanks A&F!"

A&F recently introduced padded bikini tops for young girls aged 7-10.  This should not be surprising to us as this is the company who also introduced thong underpants for 7 year olds with suggestive sayings written on them.  (Hold on a second while my I get my heart rate under control.)  The common comment about the padded bikinis is "why in the world would they do this?"  Well, let's see... because they get free media coverage, an increase in traffic in their stores and on line to look at these suits and most of all because PEOPLE BUY THEM!

These new swim suits are for 7-10 year old girls and unless you are more daring with the check book than I am, I would say are USUALLY purchased by the parent and not the child.  Will these suits fly off the racks?  I sure hope not, but the cold hard fact remains that we- the parents- are helping to sexualize our daughters.  This is not the fault of Abercrombie, JCPenny or WalMart.  They may sell the racy pint-sized clothing, be we are the ones who are buying it

When we were kids, we would dress up in fancy dresses, and high heeled shoes and put on some lipstick.  However we never left the house dressed like that.  These days, there are actually little girl sizes in low cut jeans, cocktail dresses, high heels and now padded triangle bikini tops.  

It doesn't stop there.  In dance classes young girls are taught some moves that make me blush.  In cheer leading groups, the short skirts flip up to expose lace.  Birthday parties now feature up-dos and makeovers.   The opportunities for six year olds to look and act like 16 year olds are endless.

As the mother of a young girl, it feels like a uphill struggle.  How am I to tell her that so many of the messages she receives every day are not true?  "Cleavage doesn't come from your swim suit sweetie.  It'll come later on, or if you're like me...MUCH later!"

So why do I think we should thank Abercrombie & Fitch for offering this awful padded bikini top?  Because it gives us a chance to think about the sexualized messages we are sending to young kids, talk about it and to do better.

 

 

"Hello pot? This is kettle."

You gotta love Abercrombie & Fitch.  They absolutely know how to kick the hornet's nest of public discourse.  Once again the clothing company is pushing the edge with their latest bad board room decision.  Or is it?  

I would like to say "Thanks A&F!"

A&F recently introduced padded bikini tops for young girls aged 7-10.  This should not be surprising to us as this is the company who also introduced thong underpants for 7 year olds with suggestive sayings written on them.  (Hold on a second while my I get my heart rate under control.)  The common comment about the padded bikinis is "why in the world would they do this?"  Well, let's see... because they get free media coverage, an increase in traffic in their stores and on line to look at these suits and most of all because PEOPLE BUY THEM!

These new swim suits are for 7-10 year old girls and unless you are more daring with the check book than I am, I would say are USUALLY purchased by the parent and not the child.  Will these suits fly off the racks?  I sure hope not, but the cold hard fact remains that we- the parents- are helping to sexualize our daughters.  This is not the fault of Abercrombie, JCPenny or WalMart.  They may sell the racy pint-sized clothing, be we are the ones who are buying it

When we were kids, we would dress up in fancy dresses, and high heeled shoes and put on some lipstick.  However we never left the house dressed like that.  These days, there are actually little girl sizes in low cut jeans, cocktail dresses, high heels and now padded triangle bikini tops.  

It doesn't stop there.  In dance classes young girls are taught some moves that make me blush.  In cheer leading groups, the short skirts flip up to expose lace.  Birthday parties now feature up-dos and makeovers.   The opportunities for six year olds to look and act like 16 year olds are endless.

As the mother of a young girl, it feels like a uphill struggle.  How am I to tell her that so many of the messages she receives every day are not true?  "Cleavage doesn't come from your swim suit sweetie.  It'll come later on, or if you're like me...MUCH later!"

So why do I think we should thank Abercrombie & Fitch for offering this awful padded bikini top?  Because it gives us a chance to think about the sexualized messages we are sending to young kids, talk about it and to do better.

 

 

Wake up, chef!

Getting out of bed in the morning is harder to do on some mornings than others.  On a rainy day such as today, it just seemed like snoozing for another nine minutes was called for.  Often times when I hit the snooze button, I don't really snooze.  Sometimes I lie there and think about the dream I was just having, or the items on the to-do list for the day.  Most often though, I think about breakfast.

I love breakfast and almost all breakfast foods, so deciding what to have each morning is a wonderful way to start the day.  But why must we choose?  Once upon a time, someone who loves breakfast as much as I do invented reasons to eat breakfast foods at all three meals; thus we often enjoy brunch and 'brinner' at our house too!

In my world, the folks who usually skip breakfast may as well have three heads.  I can't even bear the thought of skipping the first meal of the day.  When a blood test necessitates fasting, you'd think I was being asked to give up my first born.  The upside of delaying breakfast until after a medical test is that at that point, a special breakfast reward has been 'earned.' 

Today we had fresh fruit, cereal, and eggs for breakfast -quite a feast!  But for some reason, I'm starting to crave bacon...and some yogurt with granola...

Hooray for breaking fast!  What is your DREAM breakfast?

 

 

 

Checkbook game-changer

The other day I was chatting with Steve Lange from Rochester Magazine (I know, celebrity name drop!)  We were talking about money.  Specifically, how much money would you need to add to your family budget to make an impact?

This isn’t like winning a $300million dollar jackpot.  That number we determined is too high.  Adding $1000 would be cool, but aside from paying off some piddly loan or replacing a dishwasher, it wouldn’t make a big difference.

Steve proposed that $20K would be a “game changer.”  You could pay off a sizable loan, or proceed with a substantial home project like a new roof or siding.

That conversation came to mind this morning when I heard about a survey from Fidelity Investments.  They asked more than 1,000 millionaires “How much (money) would it take to feel rich?”  The answer was $7.5 million and out of these people, 42% (that’s two out of five of them) don’t feel rich!  This is because the average person in the survey was 56 years old and had an average of $3.5 million in the bank. 

I’ve been chewing on this ever since.  I suppose when it comes down to it, anyone and everyone who has more money than me is well-off.  (At least in MY mind they are.)  $3.5M would REALLY change our budget!  Yeah, I could do a heck of a job siding our house this year with that change behind my checkbook.

What would change YOUR budget?

 

 

Spring forward

The crazy high jinks of Day Light Saving Time arrives this weekend.  In addition to incorrect clocks, messed up schedules and Day Light 'jetlag' for a day or two, folks love to chew the fat about why they love- or loathe- this crazy time change.  

For some reason, the smoke detector people take the twice-a-year time change as a great opportunity to remind us to change our smoke detector batteries.  (Or maybe that's the battery people who set that up?)  It's a great idea of course, but while battery change is a good safety tip, some of the other items attached to "springing ahead" are just plain strange.

If I've got this correct, this weekend we should; change the battery in our smoke detector, flip and vacuum our mattress, replace my toothbrush, get an oil change, go on a date night with my husband, balance the check book, buy four new pair of underpants and throw out the same number, and shave my legs.

Have I got that right?

What else do you need to do when we spring ahead this weekend?

A reusable bag full of victory

As you may remember, I have a hard time with organization- be it important papers, recipes or events.  For instance, tomorrow morning my calendar shows a meeting at 10:30, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it’s for!  It’s times like this I wonder; should I really be in charge of taking care of children?

Instead of giving up on my brain, I want to take a moment to focus on the positive. 

A few years ago, when the reusable grocery bags arrived on the scene, I was excited about the prospect of cutting back on the number of plastic bags at our home.  When our son was done with diapers, my one use for plastic bags –diaper disposal- was gone.  It wasn’t the environmental angle of cutting back on the plastic bags that appealed to me as much as it was the fact that we were running out of space to ‘store’ these bags.

Of course the key to this business about reusable grocery bags is to REMEMBER to take them into the store!

I don’t know how it happened but somehow I trained my brain to grab the stack of bags out of the car on my way into the store.  Hooray!  The businesses seem happy too.  Depending on the store you’re in, you might get five cents a bag knocked off your grocery bill.  That’s nice, but I think a more positive reinforcement would be if the clerk would give you a high-five for each bag.

The day may never come when I lead an “organized” life.  However, the happiness I feel while walking towards the grocery store with my reusable bags in hand is a momentary victory I relish every time.

What is the ‘little thing’ that makes your day?  How do you remember your reusable shopping bags?  Please share!