For some reason, I only recently Google street-viewed my own home.  I mean, I know what my own house looks like, right? So I felt no urge to look at in on the internet.

But, lo and behold, what did my eyes see on my front lawn?

A bunch of crud that the Munchkin left out (he has a horrible habit of not picking up all of his outside toys, or maybe he was still playing with them for all I know) that makes our house look less than, ah, dignified.  Nope, that large neon yellow dump truck doesn’t stand out one bit!

Compare that to the pristine lawns of my neighbors, and it is clear that one of these things is not like the others.

Thanks, dude, thanks.

You may have already heard about the Alicia Silverstone video where she chews some food for her young son Bear and feeds it to him via her mouth as a bird would to their young.

Wow.

Talk about dedicated parenting.

All you lazy moms out there who selfishly watch as your kids chew their own food, you’ve been shown up something good!

42% you take only a half hour to 45 minutes to get out the door, and an impressive 21% take only 15-30. 15% of you were split evenly between less than 15 and 45-60. I’m going to count myself in that last cohort due to the fact that I have a toddler. She’s a convenient excuse for almost anything.

A friend and I were recently at a party, and we briefly discussed allowing our same-aged sons to walk to a nearby park (she lives in the neighborhood).  We went back and forth for a bit, but eventually decided against it.  Then we started talking about how it seems in our memories that we had a lot more freedom way back when than kids do now.  Is that pretty much a given? Or are we just old and our memories are faulty?

How had I never heard of this book?

I don’t remember exactly where I first found out about it, possibly on Amazon where they recommend books based on previous purchases.  Which can sometimes be annoying, and can sometimes be handy.  It tends to be a wash.

Anyway, I bought it for my 9 year old, and after he read it, he claimed it was now his second-favorite book after the Harry Potter series, which is high praise indeed.  When asked how many stars he would give it out of ten, he offered fifteen.

So, just know that this book is about a group of boys led by Mac (whose real name is Christian) who runs a very specialized business out of the fourth stall in an abandoned school bathroom.  He and his best friend Vince are partners and trouble begins when an older boy begins attempting to take them down from the inside.

There is violence.  Kids get beat up.  Kids do all sorts of things that you would think an adult with half an attention span would notice.

But that doesn’t make this book any less fun, even for forty-year old me.

It reads slightly like a film noir, slightly like The Godfather, and something akin to The Body.

If you’ve got a reluctant middle school reader, this book might be an excellent solution to that problem.

At least, that’s what I hear.

My nine year old son, though I love him dearly, has become a serious pain in the boot-ay. He doesn’t listen, he enjoys a bathroom humor a bit too much and at totally inappropriate times, has started talking back more, is maddeningly lazy, and is unable to interact with his sister without making her cry.

Sigh.

I’m told it’s fairly normal nine year old boy behavior, but I am already completely ready to sell him to the circus. OK, if they just offered to take him off my hands, I’d totally consider it.

I was talking to a friend of mine whose son just turned thirteen, and when I complained about the Munchkin (who is not so Munchkin-y anymore) she just laughed the hearty laugh of someone who knows that the worst is yet to come. For both of us.

We figured I’ve got at least ten years of frustration in store for me, and offered her bar-tending services should I ever need them.

Yeah, tomorrow sounds good.

via

Now, don’t worry about where I’ve been. It’s all better now, I promise.

For last last week’s poll, many of you seem to have a poor opinion of attachment parenting, with 33% of you not even bothering to think about it.  Ever.  28% think it’s great, and 19% don’t like it at all.

I blame the militant wing of attachment parents for this.   For me, attachment parenting echoes what dgm said in the comments section about not “forcing” anything on anyone and adjusting as you and your child go along.  I consider myself to be an attached parent, but never wore either of my kids in a sling.  It just didn’t work for either of them, but that doesn’t mean I am some kind of attachment parenting fraud.

So today I want to know how long it takes you to get ready in the morning…

Hey, the real Ben Browder won! Good for you, real Ben Browder!

Now the real Ben Browder is going up against a big-time music mogul and billionaire.  Who just so happens to be married to Beyonce.

VERSUS