You’re dashing through Kroger and stuck in the check-out line, you’re tapping your foot as your eyes settle on headlines in the news stand, you’re trying to look away but the words are impossible to ignore. You know the ones – those that blare the sluggish (dare we say, nonexistent) job growth during the […]
Stacked
Looks? Sure, they matter. Health? Naturally. Money? Stuff? Of course. We all have to eat, right? Yet I look around my little house and the way I count my riches has to do with stacks of books on my bedroom floor – eighteen of them – an assortment of references and magazines that have overflowed […]
Does Watching Television Shorten Your Life?
Don’t you just love the tidbits you pick up through social media? I couldn’t resist reading this one last evening – an article on how television shortens our life span. Except of course, it isn’t that TV shortens your life span. There is no causation to that effect; it’s the association – a connection or […]
To The Manor Born? Child Support, Money Magic
This was too juicy to pass up. Apparently 46-year old supermodel Linda Evangelista is asking for $46,000/month in child support from the father of her 4-year old son. Who is dear old dad? None other than François-Henri Pinault, the current (billionaire) French hubby of the ravishing Salma Hayek, with whom he also has a 4-year […]
Women, Education and Parenting: Tough Choices, No-Brainers
Work. Kids. Priorities…
Apathy Into Action
It’s Saturday morning. It’s raining. I’d love to linger in bed and turn my daily writing exercise to flights of fancy, or the latest tales of teenage folly around my little household. But given the discussion this past week – of very real and pressing social ills that affect millions of us – I prefer to point […]
Challenging Kids, Knee-Jerk Reactions, Band-Aid Responses
Who doesn’t want to scream when it comes to their kid? At least now and then? In the past 24 hours, one of my sons tried my patience over a long-running issue. I lost my temper – though he admits to seeing that I was holding back – but I went for a more hard-line […]
Healthy or Unhealthy? Cultural Commentary: A Conversation
“Why should my tax dollars pay for your medical care?” she says. Her blue eyes are piercing against her softly tanned skin. Her eyebrows are raised, and her lips pursed in annoyance. At first I think she’s kidding. But she’s not. She is about thirty, and we know each other casually. She’s healthy, single, in […]
Big Bucks For Kids, Statistical Confusion?
I’ve commented previously on the cost of raising a child. At the time I did, the figures I used referenced newly released 2010 data, estimating $222,360 per child, on average (for middle income families), up to age 18. But this morning I took a look at another reference to the same originating document which is […]
Are You Fat?
Are you fat? Oh, I’m not talking about five or ten pounds. I’m not talking about feeling fat – which is another issue altogether. I mean getting on a scale, trying on your clothes, looking in the mirror – and facing it – excess weight for your stature, body type, age and sex. Worse – […]