I’ve been studying parenting for about a decade now as a sociologist. I always strive to contextualize families and their parenting decisions by thinking about both the micro and macro structures that impact people’s everyday lives. Now that I’m a mom that hasn’t changed. I know that not everyone will make the same decisions that [...]
As I sat down on the exam table for my twelve-week ultrasound and pulled up my dress I asked the technician, “Any chance you’ll be able to tell us the sex?” She patiently explained that it was unlikely, but possible– though even if she could make an educated guess I shouldn’t go shopping for any [...]
I suspect that most everyone who applied to college this year was a pint-sized phenom in their own way– but especially those who made the cut at the most selective schools, which were more selective than ever this year, as I wrote about earlier this week. But you don’t just have to be a bookworm [...]
Testing and Tiaras are back. Earlier this month TLC’s Toddlers & Tiaras returned with new episodes in Season 5. And last week Toddlers & Tiaras “superstar” Eden Wood premiered her own show on Logo; Eden’s World follows Eden into her post-pageant retirement life (which still involves pageants– as she and her mom serve as child [...]
It was 40 years ago this week that a woman first ran in the Boston Marathon. In 1972 Kathrine Switzer was an athletic pioneer, running among the men– even when a man tried to stop her. The picture is much different 40 years on thanks to Title IX and changing societal attitudes. Women are bona [...]
This first appeared on Moms Team Blog (The Trusted Source for Sports Parents) on April 9, 2012 as part of April’s National Youth Sports Safety Month. To read it on their website click HERE. As a sociologist my work has focused primarily on the family and the educational system, two powerful institutions in childhood socialization. [...]
This past week I was thrilled to appear on NECN’s Morning Show to talk about issues in the lives of today’s high schoolers (from the celebratory to the traumatic)– and what parents and educators can do to help. Bullying is a major issue for kids today, and the new documentary Bully was the impetus for [...]
It’s a good time to be a female athlete. As the NCAA women’s basketball tournament winds down, we are left with the stories and legacies of serious athletic stars like Elena Delle Donne (with her interesting and brave back story) and Stanford’s Ogwumike sisters. Notre Dame’s Skylar Diggins has emerged as a star who transcends [...]
Being French is very au courant these days. Thus far Bringing Up Bebe is the parenting book of the year. Paris Fashion Week just ended. And, now, a French report offers several suggestions on how to fight against the hyper-sexualization of young girls. While those last two sentences may seem contradictory, given that France is [...]
This article originally appeared on The Huffington Post Books. “My life has been one big audition.” This is the first line of Elizabeth Eulberg’s latest young adult novel, Take a Bow [Scholastic, April 1, 2012]. Take a Bow follows four young performers–two songwriters, one singer, and an actor–through their senior year at the fictional New [...]
