Creating a family with Sean has been a never-ending adventure in egalitarian parenting. When I watch Sean with Sally, whether he’s teaching her why ice formed on the puddle from this morning or why the moon changes shape, my heart feels warm. And when I watch how much Bobby adores Sean, with his gummy smiles and happy squeals (Bobby’s, not Sean’s), I can’t help but smile. We’re a team, Sean and I, a team with two junior partners.
Why are women a great deal more likely to have custody of their children after a divorce than are men? Are men discriminated against when it comes down to child custody? What do feminists think on this issue? In this post I respond to a comment blogger Sheldon made in response to a post I wrote about feminism helps men men, and discuss both why women are more likely to have custody than men and the chance feminism offers to change this.
While at Sean’s parents’ house over the holidays, I made the mistake of asking Sean if he had started our laundry.“I’ve never done laundry in my life!” Sean’s father announced, leaning back and smiling as if his comment were funny. The atmosphere in the room tipped and I felt the brunt of everything that was going unsaid. I was being typed as the overbearing and selfish woman who forced her emasculated husband to do “womanly” tasks like laundry.
An afternoon shoveling snow brought my mind to the ways patriarchy serves to harm men as well as women.
Do you know what I realized this year? The way I celebrate Christmas with my family today is really very little different from the way I celebrated Christmas in my family of origin growing up. Given that I grew up in a devout evangelical family but that my husband and I are not religious, this at first seems rather odd. In the end, though, I think it simply highlights just how secular Christmas is for most Americans, even those who are religious.
I remember Christmas when I was a kid. The music, the cookies, the decorations, the gifts. We didn’t do Santa, but it was still a very magical time. I remember how much I looked forward to Christmas. It always seemed like it would never come!
What nobody told me as a kid is just how much was involved in creating that magic.
Visiting my parents’ house is always strange. There are such happy memories around every corner, mixed in some weird way with memories of pain and heartbreak. And then there are my younger siblings, the majority of them still at home, still living the life I knew growing up. Others have grown and left home, but still return for the holidays.
Thanksgiving is upon us. In this post I share some of my family’s traditions and encourage readers to share some of their own.
From his comment about “binders full of women” to turning a question about equality in employment into a discussion of cooking supper, Mitt Romney made it clear once again in last night’s debate that he is simply out of touch on women’s issues. In this post I will pull out three Romney quotes and discuss what they reveal about Romney’s views on motherhood, working parents, and poor women. I invite my readers to contribute additional quotations as well!
Sally and Bobby are growing apace. Sally is talking in full paragraphs (forget sentences!) and Bobby is starting to scoot himself around the floor. I consider myself lucky to be the mother of two such awesome kids. And so, I thought I’d treat you all to a bit of an update on them, and a few stories and antics as well. Enjoy the ride!
“I grew up in Australia, going to a Baptist church. We listened to Christian music, read James Dobson, wore WWJD bracelets, and were very focused on “having a personal relationship with Jesus” – although we never really got round to defining what that meant.These days, I’m still a Christian – but my beliefs are much less conservative, much more inclusive, and much less immersed in “Christian culture”. I go to an Anglican church, and disagree with about a quarter of what they say.”
“I am Angie, a 24-year-old recent college graduate who is married. When I was around 5 years old my mom and dad became involved in the Church of God denomination; they became more and more involved as I grew up and my father served as youth pastor to our church during my teen years. My parents were “Pentecostal holiness,” which is part of the fundamentalist movement with a focus on “old-fashioned values” and gender standards from an older time. I grew away from my parents’ beliefs in college and am now an atheist.
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