Julie Pippert: Using My Words

It's a savannah out there. I was sitting in my car, by the curb, waiting for my daughter to come down the path. School was out, it's Friday, and children ran as fast as they could---not so much away from school as towards freedom. But one pair sprinted past the rest. A girl chasing a boy. In early elementary school, and often, all through it (back in my day, anyway) it always was the girls chasing the boys. My husband swears it was the other way around. But as I recall, boys would run up, tease, and run off, with a backward glance that begged, "Chase me!" And we did. Usually laughing. Usually. I knew both of the children. She's a first grader on my daughter's soccer team, and he's a neighborhood second grader. The girl had an uncharacteristically intense face. Normally she has a huge smile as she runs towards after school freedom, but today her face was pinched in a concentrated frown. The boy? He appeared to be running for his life. He spotted a tree and ...

It's easy: take the kids to Disney on Ice : Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey! Sit very close to the action: Where the kids get to see live action Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Donald and Daisy Duck. Then have a lot of awesome segments of the kids favorite Disney shows from Lion King... to Little Mermaid... to a brief moment of Mary Poppins with quick segue to Peter Pan, where you have some BIG awesome skating numbers including flying and Tinker Bell... Catch a PRICELESS video moment of your enraptured and joyful kids clapping enthusiastically to wake up Tinker Bell (then taunt the Webz with it by not showing it because well, it's your kids faces)... Include an adorable segment with Lilo and Stitch, including a rocket ship and incredible alien costumes (sorry, was too enthralled to remember to take photos!)... Then wrap up with a HUGE exciting number where all the skaters come out as the favorite characters... Take them out for ice cream afterward and you just might get...

Hi. I'm speaking from the position of a person with two kids. Not babies, kids. And trust me, that makes a difference. While they still need us on a daily basis in many ways, our kids don't need us on a minute basis. In general, that means things such as if a kid is thirsty, I can say, "Hey you know where the cups and water are..." if a kid is hungry, I can say, "Hey, grab a cheese stick or apple." if a kid wakes up before sunrise on a Saturday I can say, "Hey, go play in the playroom." if a kid is bored I can say, "Hey, go knock next door and see if your friend can play." Do you see a theme? I have more space, more choice. My kids are fairly independent, and I can baby them, or not. But they do still need me, and parent is still my number one job. Recently, there has been some hoopla about a couple of articles that were semi to very critical about breastfeeding and its antifeminist yoke. I've read several bloggy responses, comments t...

Oh they are great and wide, these swaths of our minds and imaginations. We think, sometimes, that what we know and experience is the sum total of the world, that it is what we think it is---when we are deciding things. When we are figuring out things. When we are determining. If you ever asked us, I think most of us, well, the ones I know anyway (just proving my point) would acknowledge a broader understanding of a Hamletesque world. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." William Shakespeare, "Hamlet", Act 1 scene 5 The other Hamletesque point I'd like to make might surprise you: "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." William Shakespeare, "Hamlet", Act 2 scene 2 Thinking, hmm, is that the real problem? Or is it the underlying assumptions we make about events and people that is the real problem? "I hate her! She's a mean girl!" my daughter said, very ...

I am driving in my car, with the windows down because it is a beautiful day and I don't care if the wind messes my hair. It is sunny and 60, my favorite. The sky is an even blue sheet above me, and the road is a blur below me. Lily Allen is singing "Smile" on my iPod and I do, because I am old enough to know it is complicated, how she means it, not ironic. That's what we do: we just smile. Plus it's a pleasant and light tune. I'm still in my workout clothes, fresh from the track and my laps. I sped along that track, relishing the fresh laid gravel, still damp from yesterday's rain, so the dust and pebbles didn't kick up so much. I circled past the sea twinkling back at the sun, over and over. I watched seagulls and pelicans fish the schools who risked the surface to catch some of that warm shine for themselves. The huge birds dove, scooped, then rose---the only white specks in the otherwise spotless sky. Triumphant, they tickled their full bellies alon...