From the category archives:

Mothering without a licence

On censorship and potty talk

15 June 2010 Life in Ottawa

How can you not roll your eyes at this story? Apparently, Ottawa author Kevin Bolger, who wrote a kids’ book with the snicker-worthy title of Sir Fartsalot Hunts the Booger, was stopped a few minutes into his reading at an Ottawa elementary school yesterday and pulled aside by the principal, who then canceled the rest [...]

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The blog post that wasn’t

29 April 2010 Mothering without a licence

I have a lot of blog posts in my head, a few in my drafts folder, and one scrawled on a receipt from the post office and stuffed into my wallet. And you won’t be treated to any of them tonight because I’ve decided that rather than stay here with my nose pressed to the [...]

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Compelling parenting issue of the day

7 April 2010 Mothering without a licence

Okay, bloggy peeps, here’s your compelling parenting issue of the day. This one is on my mind as I cycle through the boxes of boy’s clothes that I have stashed in big blue plastic bins in the closet, each carefully labeled with season and size: Hand-me-down underwear? Yay or nay?

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On Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution

27 March 2010 Life, the Universe and Everything

I admit, although I’d heard of Jamie Oliver before yesterday, I had only the vaguest idea who he was. A friend of mine cooked up some of his recipes for a dinner party once, and I was impressed. But I’d heard he called feeding your kids junk food child abuse, and I was not impressed. [...]

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Maternal ADD

18 March 2010 Mothering without a licence

I‘ve been trying to figure out if this is just one of those things you have to accept when you’re a mother of three boisterous little boys, or if it’s something I can control. Lately, I have noticed that I am perpetually unable to complete a single task uninterrupted. I open the browser window and [...]

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Five ideas for Family Literacy Day

26 January 2010 5 things

Did you know that Wednesday January 27 is Family Literacy Day in Canada? From the Web site: Family Literacy Day takes place every year on January 27. ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation and Honda Canada created the day in 1999 to encourage families to read and learn together. [...] Literacy is more than books. There are [...]

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The most patronizing thing you can say to me

12 January 2010 Mothering without a licence

As you might have guessed from the longevity of this blog, I like to discuss parenting issues. I’ll compare notes with any parent, any time. I often find it’s the first area of common ground I establish with someone — do you have kids? If not, there’s always the default – do you have parents? [...]

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On crib recalls and baby sleep

24 November 2009 Mothering without a licence

Did you see these news items from yesterday? Over one million cribs recalled, and a world-wide ban on drop-sided cribs. Wowza! We don’t have a Stork Craft crib, but we do have a drop-side one that has served us well through three boys. It was made by a little mom and pop outfit in Quebec, [...]

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The “Moms fight the flu” blog tour

21 November 2009 Mothering without a licence

When I was approached by Mom Central Canada to participate in a blog tour promoting the H1N1 information provided by the Ontario Ministry of Health, I was more than happy to sign on.* As Mom Central noted in their original pitch to me, “The Ontario Ministry of Health is the reliable source for up-to-date information [...]

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NurtureShock: A book review in two parts (Part 1)

9 November 2009 Books

Back in early 2007, the blogosphere was a-cackle over an essay that appeared in New York Magazine. The gist of it, from what I could glean, was that we were over-praising our kids, and that too much praise was a bad thing. I never did get around to reading the source article, but I frothed [...]

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