Insights gleaned from the playground

D shared with me a conversation she had with some of her friends last week. M was lamenting, "The boys always just hit us or kick us when they play."
T replied, "M! The boys basically just act like we are their toys...we might as well just dress up as toys for Halloween."
Now that struck me as rather insightful. The boys play with the girls as if they were their toys. And does that ever really change? Does the objectifying start then? Thankfully, our girls are not pushovers. The ones that do play with the boys certainly hold their own. The ones who don't, make it known it's because they just aren't interested in being punching bags. All good traits for our girls.
It's really interesting to me how this particular class has such strong girls. Despite the ratio being 14:8 boys: girls, these girls are strong. In games class, the teacher had boys against girls and the girls tied and tied two times and just last week, they actually won! Now that must've been a good feeling. #girlpower

Orangetheory

Have y'all heard of Orangetheory? I discovered it through two separate friends who had been raving about this new fitness studio. One friend lives in Colorado and the other in Seattle and they don't know each other! So, when they both highly recommended this particular workout and I saw that they have some fitness centers out by me, I checked it out.

The picture of the 9/10 year old

We just had our class meeting. I love our class meetings because our teacher always gives us a picture of where our children are developmentally. The 9 year change is a big one - the children start realizing that they are an individual, they recognize mortality. Many will start saying things like, "No one likes me."

Infidelity

Here are my thoughts on infidelity and why our current common response as women doesn't serve anyone or our offspring coming up behind us.
Lately, I've heard a lot about infidelity. You know, husbands cheating on their wives...this seems to be a common scenario:

A motto for my 9-year old

My 9-year-old is getting on my last nerve. She is very privileged and lives a pretty good life. And while I'd hoped that these "privileges" would result in gratitude, it hasn't. I mean, of course, why would it if she hasn't learned what gratitude is? I guess when you're not around poverty or scarcity, how would you compare to learn about gratitude?

Crazy Rich Asians

Crazy Rich Asians debuted last weekend and hit #1 at the box office. We had plans to go camping Thursday through Sunday so we made sure to get to the theater on Wednesday, the opening day of the movie so that we contributed to box office numbers. Apparently, the last major Hollywood picture with an all Asian cast was Joy Luck Club...25 years ago. That was major back then, but this is definitely different!

Home Alone

Every year around August, I get to stay home alone for a weekend. The hubs takes the babes and they go camping with another family. This started as a father daughter thing because one year, the mom of that family couldn't go so I happily stayed home. Consequently, the mother does join them every year and I still, happily, decline.