Vocation

I am not desirous of disparaging our brave military personnel. They put their lives on the line every day to protect freedom.
I will, however, bring up the question of women in the military. I think of the line from The Pirate Movie where the father says, "With women leading our armies, we'll never have another decent war again." I'm not saying women don't have the ability; however, is it something they should be doing? Take this case: why should women have to choose between family and military? I don't think we should point the finger at the military, however. One who enlists basically knows what they're getting in to, and families will have to be left behind. There seems to be a growing trend of single moms enlisting because of the economic benefits; yet, what about the children left with others while mom goes into potentially deadly situations. Sure, dads do that too, but usually there is a surviving parent. Not so with single moms (ok, sure the dad may be around somewhere, but obviously not involved with the child's life).
Those who push for women to be equal to men (not equality but EQUAL) would reject this antiquated notion, but just because "we girls can do anything" doesn't mean we should. Maybe that's just another sign that my thinking hasn't evolved.

Clothing Wars

Rating: MS
I read an article in the Lifestyle section of this morning's paper entitled "Grandma, tween debate clothes." It talked about a grandmother who took her 9-year-old granddaughter clothes shopping. The article spoke of the two trying to come to some sort of mutual agreement when it comes to purchasing clothing that is a compromise between the child's style and the grandparent's allowability (if that's a word).
There were a few lines in this article which stuck out--"sexed-up tween fashions" and "Often, the kids have a stronger say in the purchase"--but one sentence really struck me: "Which is not to say that parents should impose draconian standards that strip any individuality or experimentation out of their child's control." Perish forbid.
[Okay, I admit, I had to look up draconian first because all I could think of was the character Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter books--draconian means "excessively harsh" in terms of laws.] Yes, the studies show that parents who are extreme in being too strict or too lax will have problems controlling their children. The children with too many rules will rebel, the ones with not enough rules will never learn better. That's aside from the point.
Any parent reading the line about not stripping individuality will read into that as "don't tell your kid what to do." No. . . Love and Logic talks about shared control. Sure, give your child a chance to pick out what he/she wants to purchase to wear; just remember, you're the mommy or the daddy and you have veto power. You, as a parent, have the right--not to mention the responsibility--to say, "no way."
Maybe the easiest way to solve back-to-school-shopping woes is to encourage your school to invest in uniforms. They're cheaper, cover more than some of the trendy fashions, and contribute to a better learning environment.