I saw this headline on a news feed and was immediately enraged. Turns out it was simply a blog post written by a Mom whose two-year-old was demanding to go outside in her flimsy bathing suit cover-up.

It did however; touch a nerve since I have been recently aware of how the girls in my son’s 1^st grade class tend to dress. On Halloween, we had a sexy, short-skirted super girl. On any day of the week, we might see barely covered tummies and dresses worn sans shorts and considered suitable for hanging upside down from the monkey bars.

With Christmas coming, dresses at such popular mainstream retailers as Macy’s border on the absurd. This might just be me, but, I find it hard to understand why parents agree to sexually provocative outfits for their young girls.

This article in the L.A. Times, Sexy Halloween Costumes For Little Girls, quotes author, Diane E. Levin, a professor of education at Wheelock College in Boston and co-author, , of “So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids.”

Since television was deregulated in the early 1980s, marketing strategies have taken over all aspects of kids’ lives. From bedsheets to clothes and shoes to the lunch box they carry — they’re all linked to media, to popular culture. The message is, this is what’s desirable, this is what you should be.

And look at what they were offered: For boys, there was GI Joe, He-Man, Transformers, Ninja Turtles, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. For girls, there was My Little Pony, Care Bears, Disney’s princesses. Gender roles were very much part of that marketing. There was a whole new escalation in gender division when children began to become a market.

Kids are trying to figure out from an early age, “What does it mean to be a girl, or to be a boy?” They look at the most dramatic examples they can find to figure that out. Marketers are making it the most extreme they possibly can for that reason. Sexy is part of that marketing to girls — just as macho and violent has become the way to market things to boys.

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My family always creates handmade Christmas cards for each other and extended family members. Sometimes we also make special gifts for each other. This year the money crunch is on and I think handmade will be the norm and not the exception.

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Are you sending out Holiday cards this year? I don’t usually, but these fabulous cards (and gift wrap) from Green Field Paper are causing me to reconsider.

The company offers three options in earth friendly card giving. First is the traditional Grow A Note cards, which are made from 100% recycled paper infused with wildflower seeds.

Another fun option is the Junk Mail Joy cards, “We take our junk mail and add it to post consumer pulp to make this truly unique paper, We have now used our recycled joy design to create this truly unique 110% recycled card.” (From the website).

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I used to send my kids to local camps over winter break so they could do something constructive while I was at work.

But now that they are in the double digits, they groan at the idea of another organized activity. Fortunately I found something fun for them to do and they have actually agreed to it.

Publix has opened a cooking school in Boca Raton called Apron's. They are doing a Kids' Survivors Camp Dec. 29 and 30, in which kids can learn some basic recipes and cooking skills.

How could they say no to learning to make (and eat) pretzels, blondies, brownies, empanadas and churros?

Cost is $70. For more information, click here.

I am a baby wearing advocate, and no, I never needed to take Motrin as a result of baby wearing.  I understand baby wearing is not for everyone, but I loved wearing my children and wore them year round on my daily hikes.  In the winter, I would try to bundle them up, and I felt my body heat was keeping them warm, but I wish I would have had the Peekaru.

What is a Peekaru?  Peekaru is essentially a fleece vest you wear over a soft baby carrier, such as a Baby Bjorn or Ergo Carrier.  The fabric is stretchy, so it fits comfortably over you and your babe, and best of all, the fleece is made from 85% recycled material!

Made from 85% recycled high quality Polartec fleece, each Peekaru Original saves approximately 25 plastic bottles from reaching the landfill. In addition, Polartec fleece is Oeko-tex Standard 100 “for textile products of all types which pose no risk whatsoever to health.” Feel good knowing that while you are holding your baby close, you are also helping the environment.

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