This week we cover dealing with boy-themed undies for girls, a baby inspired dance, children as your friends, and Sasha and Malia at the inauguration. What were some of your favorite things you found this week?
“I like boy things.” That’s what a friends daughter said when she chose a Batman Band-Aid instead of a princess one. I promptly told her that Batman is for girls, too. When my niece was potty training, she didn’t want princess underwear, she wanted Thomas the Tank Engine underwear. So for her birthday, I bought her some from the boy’s section. In is post on Huffington Post Parents, originally published on the Good Men Project, Tom Burns shares his experience with buying “boy-themed” underwear for his daughterand wonders why underwear manufacturers aren’t profiting off making superhero undies for girls.
In her mind, “Star Wars,” Pixar, and superheroes aren’t just for boys, so wearing them on her underwear doesn’t feel odd at all. But, thanks to stupid gender marketing, there are whole generations of girls being told that these creative properties that they love are not for them. And, again, that’s sad and strange and seems to be leaving a whole lot of money on the table for the underwear manufacturers.
One of my friends recently shared this Facebook video of an interpretive dance inspired by a baby. As an adult, do you consider your parents your friends? Do you think they consider you friends, or just their children? Michelle Blake over at Motherlodewrites about how her relationship with her kids changed from a parent-child relationship to her children becoming her friends.
As an adult, a parent, a college professor, I do my best work when the young people I raise and teach understand our relationship. I’m there to help them, not the other way around. And they don’t owe me anything except simple human respect. Caring for the young is a duty I adore; it is not about reciprocity.
But something lovely has started to happen over the last year. Slowly, without thinking about it, I am becoming friends with my children. I suspect it began when I realized it was none of my business how long my son waited to start looking for an apartment when he was about to begin a new school year in Manhattan. And when I understood that some personal decisions my daughter made, which I may or may not have loved, had nothing to do with me. I try not to offer advice where it isn’t invited, and I find myself asking for their advice more and more often.
Did you watch the inauguration on Monday? We did, and we can tell you that Sasha and Malia stole the show. BuzzFeed listed 23 reasons why they were the main focus, especially when the cameras captured Sasha’s yawn while her father was speaking. Our favorite show-stealing moment? Malia’s photo bomb. 
