Weekender (With Some Mothers I Respect, Somewhere In There)

1) The latest in animal exploitation! Clever ads involving animals. SO much better than animal testing…. especially now they have photoshop.

Panda selfie

Panda Selfie is my absolute favorite because endangered animal + cellphone selfie = Interesting World Our Kids Are Growing Up In Today.

This one is an ad for hand soap – “you are what you eat”

(But really it’s here because it brought back memories of my hamster-rearing days – they always seem to look like that (facial expression) when you put them in things – pockets, through toilet rolls, in cups… It’s weird – if you’ve ever had a hamster you’ll know what I mean; Have Rodent Will Develop Compulsion For Putting Them In Things)

And this last is because I KNEW there had to be a use for all those pictures-of-dogs-diving-for-balls

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2) Title on Buzzfeed says 28 Unbelievably Dumb Questions That Still Need To Be Resolved, but I really don’t think some are that dumb…

It was really hard to pick just one…

So I didn’t 🙂

But this one is sad… Because I’m thinking HORMONES 😀 (for real though, sad because she just had a baby and thinks the dad might be cheating…)

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3) You guys remember Fashion By Mayhem, from one of my TGIF posts? 

“…We began making paper dresses for fun. We continued making paper dresses for fun. And as long as it’s fun, we’ll continue to make paper dresses….”

“…There’s a reason we haven’t done many interviews or appearances…. …The immediate response from the TV media when our story went viral was EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE and that was a MAJOR turn off for us… …Nearly everyone who reached out wanted Mayhem to create a dress “on the air” for them. And I believe the quickest way to destroy her creativity or desire to continue to make dresses is to force her to do it…. “

Respect her self-restraint. That’s why this is here. We are parents first, especially when the kids are so young. 

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4) This Mother Catches Her Own Daughter Being A Bully. Here’s What The Mom Did Next…

Wasn’t sure about putting up the picture of her daughter, but anyway it includes her holding up a message that says:

“My name is —-. I am a kind, caring, smart girl but I make poor choices with social media. As punishment I’m selling my iPod and will be donating the proceeds to the charity Beat Bullying in hopes of changing my behavior as well as bringing awareness to bullying. Because bullying is wrong.”

The mum received some criticism; because as you all know it is much easier to sit back, not post, not put yourself out there, and criticize. I hope any serious critics at least signed their real names. Otherwise – cowards. People write because they believe in something. (Rightly or wrongly, but to put it out there and know gutless armchair critics will have a field day is to believe enough in something to sign your name to your words.)

Anyway the mum’s response:

Now, KNOWING NOTHING ELSE beyond this article, may I applaud her mother?

Over here in this part of the world, not a few mums-of-kids-older-than-the-Miss have told me of a rising trend they’ve noticed, in leaving off correcting kids “too much” because they want to “build self esteem.” People want their children to speak up and be confident. Of course. We all want this for our kids. The problem with not correcting (or fake, lip-service correcting) your child’s little misdemeanor against another child is, it’s at the expense of the other child. I mean, it’s not always that bad where you have to sell a bully’s iPod, sometimes when your child has taken all the bricks/ crayons/ whatever for the umpteenth time, you’re just tired. We all stumble sometimes.

My closest mum friends are – how you say, really not fake-correcting parents. Y’know, the difference between parents who pay lip service, “No ah, now don’t do that ah” but they don’t really stop the child, vs those who really do (and I don’t mean rotan :D) Just it’s not easy to catch every single time, is all. But certainly some try harder than others.

And so I believe unselfishness in parenting to be a phenomenon worthy of huge respect. Everyone needs encouragement, even mums. Being a mum on a meltdown day can be like a real blackhole of energy and enthusiasm – no light escapes, the 15 minutes your child is screaming their freaking lungs out. It’s not even like you catch your tired reflection in the bathroom mirror and at least you’re dressed nice because you had to go to work with real people :D. 

From the mum who praises the other child for their patience which her own child is still learning, to the mum who is determined to fix bullying – when her child is bully, not victim – rrrrespect.

(And please, please let someone not email me and say the mum is actually a witch and using child support money for drugs or something <ducks head>)

5) Enough words. Eye candy.

Benjamin Vong’s shipwreck shoot using real divers who can hold their breath 3, 4 mins at a time. There’s a “making of” video in link too…

6) This week’s Miss Skit is titled “Something’s Not Right Here.”

Things that make ya go Hmmm.

Like, we never come here, but on a less regular errand recently…

The Miss tried to put back the toy she got out of the machine

It’s just not right… Why should we be getting toys for the pleasure of inserting coins in a machine?

Thought for the weekend…

Have a good one, dears…