Thursday, April 30, 2009

Burger King's "square butts" ad -- in prime time?

OK, every day I wonder whether I'm the most freakish, old-fashioned, throwback of a mother on the planet. But! I was seriously miffed when that Carl's Jr. "Flat Buns" ad was shown before 7:00 p.m. last year--the one with the teacher gyrating on top of her desk in front of those teenaged boys.

Just now I saw a Burger King ad set to the tune of "I like big butts...," only they were singing, "I like square butts and I cannot lie..." and there were pictures of SpongeBob and the Burger King rocking out alongside these girls in tiny shorts with phone books stuffed in the back to give them big, square behinds.

Should my nine-year-old be exposed to this hyper-sexualizing of women in a cartoon featuring her favorite (normally sweet and innocent) cartoon character? Do I have to turn the TV off before 6:00 at night? And would that even work?

Look, I don't even let my daughter say "butt," preferring "bottom," much less let her watch people dancing suggestively. When did crude language become so completely and thoroughly EVERYWHERE during daylight hours and on kids' TV channels?

Does this concern others, too? Am I such a throwback? I don't need to go live with the sister wives on a farm in Colorado to find other people who care about this, do I? Tell me your thoughts below.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Co-sleeping -- dangerous?

Just saw a tweet from the LATimesCityDesk that 42 deaths of young children in L.A. in 2007 were blamed on "co-sleeping." When our daughter was an infant, there were times we were so exhausted that she slept in our bed all night, but most times I'd roll over and put her in the bassinet next to our bed.

However, I did have times when she lay between my husband and me that I'd think, "Boy, all I'd have to do is roll over and, in my complete exhaustion, not even notice I was on top of her face and that would be IT." Fortunately, being the hyper-alert light sleeper I am, it never happened.

The pros and cons of co-sleeping and the family bed are really passionate issues for many parents. As a fan of Ferber (and a slow learner who had to start the process twice before it took SO WELL), I still maintain that families should do whatever works best for them.

But that begs the question, ARE there dangers that came with co-sleeping? Any of you moms out there who might stumble over this blog and have some knowledge to share, please do so. I'd love to hear from you. And in the meantime, I'll be googling this issue myself.

Even one little infant is too many to lose.