TMZ Reporting
I love how in some of their stories, they refer to this woman as "The Octo." Because judging from their other stories, they could never differentiate between starlets by using a nickname like "The Cleavage."
Anyway.
"
Octomom" is in the news again for alleged child neglect. According to her peroxide/pirate hairdresser, the kids are half-dressed and their hairdos are all bad so you can't tell who's a boy and who's a girl. And they have potty seats everywhere and she locks the kids into their rooms.
OK.
If you had 14 children and many of them were toddlers, how many potties would ever be enough? And would YOUR house ever be clean enough to meet decent standards unless you had some help? How much help does she get? Because if I had 14 *little* children with me constantly, I might have to lock them in their rooms a sec while I opened the stove or took a shower. I don't know. I really don't. I've never dealt with that. Though I'm thinking she has disgusting decorating skills with the graffitti everywhere, and it sure looks like there are things she could improve on, but let social services sort it out.
Maybe it's a real and serious situation, but this hairdresser seemed a little overeager to speak on camera to my mind. Though yeah, spending over $500 on hairdos when your toilets don't work is prolly not so wise.
Remember Triptics?
I do. When we'd go on a super-long roadtrip we'd call ahead and order Triptics from our AAA Office. Then we'd wait in line to get them the following week. It would have a flip map from beginning to end of trip and construction sites hand-stamped in there. Oh yeahhh. It was like MapQuest, only... 1970's/80's version on paper with highlighter.
Does anyone else remember doing "let's go down this road and see where it leads?" These new dashboard thingo-s remove all the mystery. I still want one, though.
I am going to
Iowa this weekend with Elf and Emperor. We'll be riding with my friend and her son who plays at our club. It will be fun to get away and play in a new place for a tournament.
Frederick Douglass
A friend was blogging about a child whose essay about how Douglass relates to students today touched a bit of a nerve. Today I gave Emperor an excerpt of Douglass's book, about how Frederick Douglass got an education. Emperor returned the book to me this morning with a smile. "That kid was so smart," he told me.
Yes, he was. I am surprised at how little the local public school children know about Frederick Douglass, but then I reason that they're trying to prevent exactly the sort of situation Andrea blogged about.
Measles
I am so flippin' tired of all the judgment.
Calling parents crude names because they don't do something you think is important for their children's health is NOT going to convince them to do what you want. It's not. And I love how they place the blame for children contracting diseases on the parents who don't vaccinate.
I'm not a doctor, but lemme tell you something. Sometimes people go out in public with germs and they really should be staying home. They infect others and sometimes people die because of their inconsideration. That's the first thing. The second thing is that blaming parents when children get sick means that you somehow think parents are godlike and can protect their children against disease.
They can't. I got a medically documented case of the measles and my parents vaccinated me PLUS gave me all the "going overseas to Australia" shots. Nobody blamed my parents because I got sick with the measles. Nobody blamed parents for a lot of things back then. I wish I coulda parented in the 1970's! It sounds like a parenting Golden Age or something. Only look at the dopey outfits parents got away with dressing their kid in. Without judgment! It was even considered GROOVY!
But somehow? If one of my children got sick with the SAME measles and I hadn't vaccinated? Bad mom. All your fault.
Also? I want you to know that I have lost track of how many times people have asked me why my children are autistic and did I vaccinate.
EVERYTHING is my fault, people. I admit it. Earthquake? Tornado? Pestilence? That's me, too. Okayy, maybe just the "pestilence" part. :/