If You Disagree With Me, You're WRONG

A blog-lullaby by The Wife

When The Girl and The Boy were both infants, we had a family bed, with both kids sleeping with us until they were each about 20 months old. Because they are 24 months apart that meant that, while we always had a child sharing our bed and room, The Girl graduated to her own space before The Boy came along. Initially The Girl did quite well on her own, but The Boy didn't adapt as easily. We found rather quickly that he always slept much better with someone else. So while they both have their own rooms, every night they eventually share one. Usually The Girl's because she has a full sized bed. (The Boy has a twin sized bunk bed set that belonged to Uncle Walter when he was a boy.)

Over the years we've established a nighttime routine that mostly works. At 7:30 p.m. the kids go to their respective rooms. Since they each have their own TV, they usually have a movie on (The Girl likes to watch shows off Netflix Streaming). For the next 1 1/2-2 hours they watch TV, read books, color, play with toys, whatever, to keep them occupied yet relaxed. This is supposed to provide me with some badly needed personal space, and Uncle Walter time to relax after work.

At 9:30 the TVs go off, the kids climb into the same bed, and the lights are dimmed. Then I sit on the bed and read a couple of stories and sing songs. Once that's done, I turn a radio on, dim the lights all the way and leave. Theoretically that's night-night time, and on a good night they don't disturb us. Some nights there are many interruptions, but as they get older, those nights are (thankfully) getting fewer and farther between.

Right about now you're probably asking yourself what on EARTH this post could be about. I mean, sure, you now know our bedtime routine.  Um... thanks?  Right? Thing is, I got to thinking about the songs that my kids ask me to sing, and even about the fact that I sing to them at all. Not many parents do. I started it because my own father sung to me and my siblings. I initially followed the trend by singing my now 20 something year old niece to sleep when she was a baby. But I didn't want to just sing lullabies. First of all, they're kind of freaky. Second of all, there just aren't that many pretty ones that are easy to sing along with. So I started singing her contemporary songs, as well as the songs that my father had sung to me. And with my own kids, I have continued that tradition.

So, for your entertainment purposes, here are some of the songs that I sing to my kids each night:

A special birthday wish list...

The Girl is about to turn 8.  This is a momentous occasion, of course.  How exactly does one go about making her birthday a happy one?  See, last year her generous grandparents bought her exactly what every 7 year old needs: an iPod Nano.  What?  Your 7 year old didn't get a Nano for their birthday???  Clearly they are not one of the cool kids.  The Girl is just that awesome.

The problem with getting presents like that is that you then raise expectations.  Grandma and Grandpa asked The Girl for a wish list this year.  She made one out with 4 items:

1) Barbies -- a very appropriate gift for an 8 year old, even though she has DOZENS of them all ready.  But whatever.

2) Costumes -- why not?  Lots of girls like to play dress up, and she's finally outgrown most of the dress up clothes that we'd gotten her 4 years ago.

3) A make up set -- well... okay, I know there might be some contention here, but I see nothing wrong with it.  She can't wear the make up to school (against the rules), so it's not like it would be an every day thing.  Mainly I think of it this way...  If something's forbidden, it becomes *necessary* and thus something that a child is likely to pursue.  But if something is made to be okay, seen as "regular," when the time comes that she is old enough to actually wear make up, she'll be comfortable with it... and thus won't slather it on with a trowel and look like a whore.

4) Dresses -- hey, The Girl is a girly-girl and she likes to wear pretty dresses.  Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, despite my own tom-boyish tendencies.

So she turns over her list to the GPs and continues on her merry way.  Then she was confronted with something Grandpa had.  A very cool gadget.  And The Girl fell in love.  She sneaked back upstairs and amended her list (which, for some reason, was written on the back of a paper plate).  What could she have asked for?  I'll show you (warning: she wrote the list in pseudo French):

Well, sure, they suck, but why all the hate???

I am the kind of person who rarely pays attention to the news.  Mainly because the only thing that happens is I get upset.  Either I know what they're reporting as fact is, in actuality, at best misleading, or I see that they aren't reporting what should be talked about. To be fair, it's also because the news is boring.  I mostly know what's going on in the world, though.  Uncle Walter will sometimes tell me the gist of a story, which I can then look up if it is of particular interest to me.  Or, through my connections and experiences in the wider world, I'll hear of something of interest and pursue it on my own.

A while ago on Facebook I saw HATE groups popping up... about a pop band!  I couldn't figure it out!  I mean, sure -- they suck.  But plenty of people like sucky bands.  UW likes Barry Manilow and country music!  So why the vitriol?  I even did a cursory search on the band to see if they'd done anything particularly gauche, a la the Dixie Chicks a few years back, or particularly unsettling (a la having to see Billy Joe Armstrong naked *shudder*).  Nothing!  They still seemed sucky, but nope, clean as a whistle!

So really... tell me... what's so bad about Beck???

ETA: Apparently I didn't quite get my point across...  The groups are about... Beck.  But, um, not knowing about news and such, and thus not really knowing who that was, I *thought* (at first) that they were about the band.

Kanye West, PETA, and 12 year olds being raped; or What the hell is wrong with us???

On the same day that everyone was talking about a spoiled, rich, pseudo talented musician who has no tact or common sense, this article was posted at CNN.com.  A 12 year old girl died while giving birth to her 24 year old HUSBAND's stillborn baby.  Her parents sold her off to a pedophile so they would no longer be burdened by caring for their own child. 'Cause girls are worthless, of course.

Why are we not more horrified about this?  Why are we standing idly by and allowing young girls, practically infants, to be abused in such a horrible manner?  Not just the U.S., either.  Where are the other "civilized" nations while this is happening?  When does it become terrible *enough* to warrant our attention?  Whose palms to we have to grease to get some justice for children?  

We're supposed to be one of the most "civilized" societies on the planet.  Other places so claimed are European nations, or Canada.  Where are they, too?  Why are they doing nothing about the children around the world whose lives are being destroyed?  Why isn't Britain setting up funds or opening their borders to these children, just like we should be doing?  Why aren't they, and we, offering them asylum?

People fight for animal rights with more passion than they fight for the rights of a human being.   Are the rights of an animal so much more important than the rights of child?  I would rather an animal suffer than a child. People claim that *someone* has to speak up for the animals, because they have no voice of their own.  But neither do these young girls (or the boys forced into military service, or placed in the sex-trade themselves).  While I agree that we shouldn't be cruel to the animals in our care, I do believe in most forms of animal testing.  A lot of people wouldn't be alive if it weren't for its use.  At least something good comes out of it.  And for people like me, who can't eat vegetables and fruit, the animals provide some of the only sustenance we can get.  But what purpose does the rape of a child serve?  How can someone spend their time and money to protest eating meat, while ignoring the plight of PEOPLE weaker than they are, not to mention defenseless?

If the celebrities who lend their fame to other causes would, instead, lend a bit of their cache to the most defenseless of our peoples, then the world would be a much better place.  Whether you like  Angelina Jolie or not, I have to admire her, not for her beauty, but because she practices what she preaches.  She's seen the countries first hand.  She's adopted children who needed homes.  She donates vast amounts of her time and money to helping those who need it.  What the hell are most other actors and actresses doing with the many millions of dollars they're receiving for putting on a show?  Blowing it on blow.  Buying as many luxuries as they can.  And buying those stupid little dogs that live in purses, whose wardrobe costs alone could feed a medium sized nation (the kind that my daughter desperately wants thanks to people like them). 

So you know what?  I'm SICK of stupid-ass celebrities trying to tell me what my politics should be, what my opinions should be, and how to spend my time and money.  They're mostly morons and they should just STFU.  Until such time as they actually bother to help the people who need it, they might as well ALL be Kanye West: Gay Fish.