Picture Dump

Humans of New York

This picture is a portrait done by Humans of New York.  Check out creator, Brandon Stanton's work at www.HumansofNewYork.com or Facebook Humans of New York.  

"I want to change the world, but I don't know how."

"Do you mind if I give you a piece of advice?"

"Sure."

"Read books by people you disagree with."

Gender About Town

Out and about town, these are some things I found pertaining to gender.  Tell me your thoughts in the comments because you're about to read mine (I hope!).

 I took this picture because the piggy banks are clearly gender specific.  The female targeted piggies are princesses or shoe funds, whereas the male targeted piggies promote physical fun (sports).  I think it's interesting that no one would give (much) notice to one of the boy specific banks being in a girl's room, but many eyebrows would rise if a boy had a "shoe fund" or cupcake piggy. It makes me reminiscent of the Madonna song "What it Feels Like for a Girl."

"Girls can wear jeans 

and cut their hair short

wear shirts and boots

'cause it's okay to be a boy

But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading

'cause you think be a girl is degrading..."

These were some interesting finds!  I found these in the little girls section of Ross.  These are underwire (to hold up what exactly?) bras that having padding in them.  They are marketed to ten and under.  Really?  Hypersexualization of little girls much?  Someone call Peggy Orenstein.

This experience made me shake my head:  I was having a hard time finding the Women and Gender section at my local Barnes and Noble.  Usually, it is either in the Politics and Current Affairs section or right next to it.  I searched and searched.  I even asked an employee for help.

Then, I found it.

I had to chuckle (and then facepalm) when I realized that the women studies and feminist reading was not only not in the political section, it was a subsection of the Gay and Lesbian reading.  While I am pro both reading sections, one doesn't equate the other.  Thoughts?

Dinner Time (but more like sleeping time)

I don't think I have posted this one yet, but it's one of my favorites.  Listen closely and you can hear him snoring.  

API: changing our yes environment

We're practicing our positive discipline (One of the eight principles of attachment parenting) with our soon to be one year old.  At this stage in Baby's life, creating a "yes" environment is one of the only forms of discipline that we see necessary (We are pro-discipline and consequences, but anti-punishment*).  However, it is a BIG necessary.  In our home we have lots of stairs, animals, drawers, and cabinets (in descending order of danger- however, Baby is more a danger to the animals than the other way around).   These are all things that are commonly blockaded by child gates and safety locks, not just in our house but in most houses with a small child in residence.  We go a step further by keeping things that are not dangerous but generally not child friendly out of reach as well.

This sounds pretty simple, but I think a big deterrent for parents in following through with this is that the house doesn't not look as put together as pre-child.  For us, we have a function over aesthetic value mentality; for example, we constantly have chairs in front of the china cabinet blocking access to the silverware drawers, game drawers, and other stuff that is not for Baby.  Is it pretty?  Not so much, but it works very well.

Something I have personally had to work on is being flexible.  I recently came across a quote that said:

"When nothing goes right, go left."

That's pretty profound in our lives, and I have decided to embrace that a bit more.  This past week, Baby discovered the books on our wall of a bookshelf.  The top shelf of DVDs has always been an interest of his, but not so much a worry of mine.  He would take them down and play with the cases, but it was an easy clean up with no damage to anything.  The books, however, get bent, ripped, and eaten.  It seemed this problem got really bad very quickly, so one night I began removing all of the books from the bookcase.  I couldn't think of where else to put them;  I was pretty dismayed at how apart it felt like our house was. Then it was like a light came on, and I decided to put the changing table and the pack and play in front of the bookshelf.  This seems like a Duh moment, but we have had the changing table in the same place for so long.  It didn't not occur to use it to solve a problem.  This is what I mean by being flexible.  What worked yesterday might not work today, and likewise, what works today might not work tomorrow.  

*I am often asked the question "How can you provide discipline without using punishments or even the word 'no'?"  I have heard way too many cases of a child's first word being no.  I think it is said way to often.  A friend of mine a while back said she wanted to say "Yes" as much as possible so that when she did have to say "no," her kids would know to take her seriously; that it wasn't some casual thing she just felt like saying no to.  The more I thought about it, the more that idea grew on me.  With Baby, we do use "no" for important (usually dangerous) things like licking electrical sockets.  Everything else, we tend to default to saying "not for Baby" or "Ouchie!  That will hurt!" or "Yuck! That tastes bad!"  Even at a young age when he doesn't know exactly what our explanation and words mean, we're getting in the habit of trying to explain that there is a reason behind the rules.  This is our concept of discipline.