Big Kid

Mom Moment
While Boy Scouts Decide the Future of Gay Members, Parents Have a Decision to Make Too

posted by Janelle Harris Thursday at 5:51 PM in Big Kid

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Next week, the Boy Scouts will hold their National Annual Meeting which, like most events of its kind, is an opportunity to put pressing issues on the table for discussion. And when they do, they’ll make a decision that weighs the future of the organization against the regulations of its past: whether or not to lift an existing ban on gay members. Boy Scouts is one in a thinning crowd of holdouts still practicing this brand of exclusionism. At least on paper, other entities have stepped up to support—or, at the bare minimum, tolerate—the LGBT community. If the Scouts’ powers that be move to accept gay boys, it probably will be less because of some great sweep of sensitivity and more due to public pressure and bias-shaming (because we don’t already have enough terms that have “shaming” tacked onto the end).
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School, Sports & Social Event Mania -- Help!

posted by Kate Gosselin Thursday at 1:37 PM in Big Kid

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As I was sitting here, going over today's "TO DO" list, I found myself spending a good 30 minutes texting my tween girls (who were riding the school bus on the way to school) and then emailing with their friends' parents in order to RSVP to the many, many social events for them that, in recent years, seem to stack up at the end of the school year. Whew! Suddenly, I felt like their secretary or assistant!
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Say What!?
Overprotective Mom Attends Grade 5 With Her 11-Year-Old Every Day

posted by Jeanne Sager Thursday at 1:02 PM in Big Kid

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It's never easy finding out your child is being bullied. As parents, we're supposed to be their protectors. But just how far do you take the mama bear role? For Jill Trahan-Hardy, being her daughter's advocate has translated into attending school with her 11-year-old every day, shadowing her in the halls like a bodyguard.

Moms and Dads, has it really come to this? Do we really need to give up our own lives to keep our kids safe?
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Heartbreaking
8-Year-Old Who Was Surgically Turned Into Girl Is Paying Hefty Price (VIDEO)

posted by Adriana Velez Wednesday at 4:11 PM in Big Kid

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We've seen a few stories about transgender children who feel strongly about dressing and living as the opposite gender they were supposedly born as. But what about children with an intersex condition -- kids born with the genitalia of both genders? Who gets to decide what their gender is, and when? One couple is suing their state social services for deciding that for their adopted son when he was just a toddler.

Mark and Pam Crawford say that their son, now 8, wants to live as a boy. But before they adopted him, when he was 16 months old, South Carolina Social Services gave the child sexual reassignment surgery that made him a girl. The suit calls it "dangerous and mutilating surgery" that took away the child's right to choose his own gender.
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Rant
7 Things Moms Shouldn't Let Their Kids Wear to School

posted by Jeanne Sager Wednesday at 2:24 PM in Big Kid

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It seems like at least once a week, a story crops up in the news about a school trying to enforce a dress code that's a little out-of-control. Calling kindergartners' skirts out for being too short (when they're wearing tights!). Banning long hair on little boys.

They make me as crazy as any mom. But if I had to be honest, I feel for school administrators. Because for all of us parents just trying to apply common sense to how we dress our kids, there are the parents who go off the rails.

Take, for example, the mom who lets her 6-year-old wear high heels to school. I shouldn't have to tell you that's inappropriate, but apparently it has to be said.
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Rant
Disney Princess Merida's 'Sexy' Makeover Doesn't Worry This Mom

posted by Michele Zipp Wednesday at 10:50 AM in Big Kid

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Most of the time when people get makeovers, it's a happy thing. A boost to the self-esteem. A stellar moment bringing out a better you, in turn giving you more confidence. But when a Disney princess gets a makeover, some kids might shed tears, and parents, well, we do what's expected of us -- have an adult-sized temper tantrum.

I'm the one who loves Tattoo Barbie and Drag Queen Barbie, so I'm not going to have an issue with Brave's Merida showing a little more decolletage. But her makeover is more than just a little more skin.
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Ewww!
11-Year-Old Makes Movie Exposing School's Terrible Food (VIDEO)

posted by Kiri Blakeley May 14 at 4:48 PM in Big Kid

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Schools have supposedly made a huge effort in the past few years to offer healthier food options, but one little food critic says that effort is failing miserably. Eleven-year-old Zachary Maxwell, a fourth grader in New York City, who sounds like a combination of Morgan Spurlock and Jamie Oliver, made a 20-minute documentary highlighting his school's woeful lack of nutritious meals -- and even accused the school of false advertising. After his parents told him that they wanted him to eat school lunches -- considering how great they looked on the school's website -- Zachary argued that the online menus did not depict reality. Then he did what any precocious kid would do these days. He got out his video camera.
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Say What!?
Rich Moms Hire Disabled 'Family Members' So They Can Cut Lines at Disney

posted by April Daniels Hussar May 14 at 1:28 PM in Big Kid

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Wow. Just when you think nothing can surprise you: rich Manhattan moms are paying actual disabled people to pose as family members so their little poopsies don't have to wait in those mean old lines at Disney. Can you even??!

Some seriously shameless woman told the New York Post that she paid a "Dream Tours" guide to escort her, her husband, and kids (a 1-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl) through Disney World riding a motorized scooter with a “handicapped” sign on it. Much to their joy, the "family" got to head straight to the handicap entrance of every ride, bypassing all those schlubs without a crippled, fake Aunt Ida. THE MAGIC OF DISNEY, FOLKS.
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Breast Cancer Awareness

Inspiring
Angelina Jolie Gets Double Mastectomy to Make Sure She's Around for Her Kids (VIDEO)

posted by Julie Ryan Evans May 14 at 10:43 AM in Big Kid

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Last night in an editorial that has left the world stunned, Angelina Jolie announced that in February she underwent a double mastectomy. She said that after her mother's death at 56 from ovarian cancer, she got tested for the BRCA1 gene, and when it was positive, she decided to do whatever was necessary to prevent her six children from losing their mother too.

In the powerful and brave piece, the 37-year-old actress wrote, "I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer."
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LOL
12 Things Kids Love But Parents Can't Stand

posted by Jeanne Sager May 14 at 10:32 AM in Big Kid

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I have been a parent for almost eight years now, and some days I feel like I know as little as I did way back in 2005 when I was still waiting for my baby to arrive. But there's one thing I know for sure. Kids are WEIRD.

My kid. Your kid. All kids!

There's an equal opportunity state of strangeness that exists for the four-foot-tall and under set.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Just consider some of the things kids can't get enough of ... but we adults just barely tolerate.
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