By Carla Mundwiler
It’s the funny thing about politicians. They’re supposed to represent our best selves, and work for all our collective best interests. Ideally, our kids look up to them. The reality is a little different.
If you’re looking for a modern way to “Aesop” your kids, look no further than the cornucopia of recent political blunders (that’s plural, folks).
Lest we call into question those well-worn phrases our parents and grandparents were so fond of, the following schoolyard morality tales for the very young, based upon political meltdowns circa 2013, remind us that age-old wisdom holds true.
Lesson #1
“The Biggest Bully is Usually the Most Insecure on the Inside”
Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford is the embodiment of this saying. Read more...
News + Culture
Check out this safety manual from the 1950s. It takes safety to an extreme. Like guts spilled everywhere extreme. Like no matter what you do, you’re going to die extreme.
This is the safety advice our parents’ or grandparents’ generation was raised with – things turned out pretty okay, considering.
Deceptive safety manual cover
Don’t get trapped inside a fridge – especially if it’s in an alley
Don’t play around parked cars – you’ll lose your hat and die
Try not to hide in a pile of leaves on the road
Don’t sit next to the double-jointed man in the pink shirt
Gymnastics and bike-riding don’t mix
Elmer should never have loaned his bike to the healthy boy.
All of this makes us wonder what things from 2013 our future grandchildren will be making fun of. Ideas? Read more...
True or false, guys?
When your house is a disaster and your kids are playing tug of war at the top of the stairs with your favourite scarf, chocolate helps.
True.
When you’re late for soccer and you can’t find your keys, chocolate helps.
True.
When you’re a blubbering mess packing up the last of the baby clothes, chocolate helps.
True.
When you need your kid to be quiet for five bloody minutues while you’re on the phone, chocolate helps.
True.
Weekday breakfasts are the most fun ever.
Yeah, so totally false.
Chocolate can help.
We’re pretty stoked about the new Kraft Chocolate Philly cream cheese. Not only is it our two favourite things together at last — seriously, what took you so long, Philly? — but the kids love it too. Read more...
Get Outside
It’s Victoria Day in Canada: the day where, all across the country, neighbour motivates neighbour to shake off old cobwebs, clean up the old leaves and make their garden beautiful once again.
But we know. You’ve got kids. You’re busy. Your house is a mess.
So what?
We’ve found some super easy garden ideas you can do with the kids – with stuff you likely have lying around your messy home anyway. (Psst: These ideas will work for a balcony too!)
Make Wind Chimes Out of Painted Tin Cans
Raid your recycling bin and up-cycle tin cans to make your garden sound and look beautiful. For how-to-instructions, go here.
Make a Planter Out of an Old Shoe or Boot
Got some old shoes around the house you haven’t gotten around to donating (or, if they’re in really bad shape, chucking out) – turn them into flower pots! Drill holes in the bottom for drainage – and for added colours, let the kids paint them. Read more...
Queer as Moms
By Meri Perra
Before going back to finish school a few years ago, I spent the summer at home with my girls – aged one and three at the time. It was one of the best summers of my life. We lived at the wadding pool, played in our sprinkler – and took long, slow walks on shaded streets in our neighbourhood.
Everyday we picnicked on our green blanket. Putting them in day care and returning to school that September was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
News + Culture
On May 17th, 1992, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from their International Classification of Disease.
Now on, May 17th, activists from around the world mobilize to draw attention to homophobia and transphobia – so that everyone from policy makers, to the media to the general public will pay attention to the cause. And it truly is a global phenomena – with op-eds appearing in the media, and actions happening just about everywhere in the world.
Here’s what’s going on in Toronto:
- Fight the homophobia web virus - rights for queer and trans folk have come a long way in our country – but read online comments on sites such as Facebook or YouTube and it’s an entirely different story. Nohomophobes.com reports that the word “faggot” can appear up to 250,000 times a week on Twitter. Want to do something about it? Go to homophobiaday.org for tips on cyber actions – such as declaring your Facebook page homophobia free.
Wild City
By Deborah Monique Buehler
I sometimes feel like I am living in two worlds. The whole “work-home balance” thing is more like a teeter-totter. I shift back and forth between work and home, investing my resources where they are most needed. When a deadline looms or I have to travel, my resources are dedicated to work.
The week before this year’s Spring Bird Festival, my resources were firmly invested at home. After several days of fever, five-year-old Ray found that he could not walk. We spent seven hours in the emergency room for acute viral myositis.
Stay with me, Mami. “
I squeezed Ray’s hand, as we lay together in the narrow hospital bed. As he slowly drifted to sleep, I listened to the sounds of the pediatric ward of the ER. It was 1 a.m. and all around me parents were comforting their children, speaking to doctors, doing all they could to ensure their kid’s recovery and health. Read more...
News + Culture
There was much nasty propaganda deployed in the battle against the suffragette movement. And, it seems when illustrators ran out of ideas for how to draw buck-toothed, red-faced, screaming, women they turned to – cats.
Cats represented the domestic sphere, and thus symbolized women. They were portrayed as stupid and incompetent in an attempt to portray suffragists in the same light. See if it worked.
Clever word play on “suffragette”
Men can’t even boil water without burning the cat and freaking out the baby
These cats don’t care if they vote
But this one does
We’re confused – is this for or against women’s suffrage?
Ok, our point is that stupid sexism has been around for a long time – and sometimes, it’s ridiculous. Meow.
source: exp.lore.com
Summer’s on its way, and it’s time to protect your family’s skin from Mr. Sunshine.
Cause the Tan Mom look is so 2000-and-never.
Even though the product has “baby” in the name, Aveeno Baby Sun is also the perfect solution for mom and dad (and we always support anything that satisfies the needs of the whole family = less bottles to carry around in the purse, people!)
AVEENO® Baby is the #1 Pediatrician Recommended Brand, with proven efficacy, gentle and natural ingredients. Aveeno Baby Sensitive Skin SPF 50 Sun Formulated with ACTIVE NATURALS® Oat Extract and mineral ingredients (Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide), this sunscreen is a more natural option than many others.
Have you ever tried your baby’s sunscreen on yourself?
News + Culture
When you’re a single mom, trying to establish yourself in a career is beyond difficult.
But for participants in Woodgreen Community Services’ Homeward Bound program, it’s another story. A story that CBC Radio’s Matt Galloway described yesterday as: ”It’s not charity, it’s an investment.”
Homeward Bound is a four-year program, which, due to support from an industry council, guarantees that graduates find work with incomes of around $40,000 upon completion.
The program breaks down many of the barriers, which prevent single women from making it: free housing, child care and recreational programs for kids, counselling for women (many of whom are survivors of domestic abuse and homelessness) along with training and post-secondary education in a marketable skill. And it’s not just the women and their families who benefit. According to research by a Boston consulting group, for every dollar that’s invested in Homeward Bound, society gains four dollars back. Read more...
