From the category archives:

Mothering without a licence

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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When your child gets the flu…

29 October 2009 Mothering without a licence

I swear, one of these days I will get over my obsession with H1N1 and stop talking and reading and thinking about it. Soon! But in the interim, I really appreciated this article from the Toronto Star about what to do if your child actually gets the flu. I’m not prone to panic in a [...]

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Peanut butter toast

26 October 2009 Mothering without a licence

I would like to ask you all a question, but first a caveat. This is likely to be a sensitive topic with strong feelings on either side – which is why I’d like to examine it. I’d like to make a special effort here to ask you to be respectful in your comments. Not that [...]

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H1N1 and Halloween

24 October 2009 Life, the Universe and Everything

I’ve finally made my peace with the H1N1 vaccine and decided to get the shots for our family. For what it’s worth, this Wired.com article helped me decide to do it. But I have another question for you. I heard a passing reference in the media the other day (note to self, must get over [...]

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