• Most Recent
• Highest Rated
• Hot Comments

mama sass

• Consigned to a second-hand childhood

  My 13-year-old daughter wants to wear $59 jeans from Abercrombie. I refuse to buy them. My tirades about expensive jeans being the vile creation of greedy, capitalist designers who defile denim’s American working-class origins and profit from society’s stupidity don’t dissuade her. So our compromise – because all relationships, [...]
  Share  |  Rate

• Lies I've Told My Kids

  If you say you’ve never lied to your kids, you’re a liar. Mothers tell lies all the time. To protect our kids. To make peace. To buy some time until we can think of a better answer. I impress myself sometimes with the ease and cleverness of my lies. [...]
  Share  |  Rate

• Party Training

  We indoctrinate our children, intentionally or not, with our political beliefs. At this point in their tween lives, my kids know where I stand on guns, the economy, women’s reproductive rights, gay marriage, health care, school choice, the role of government, race, voting regulations and food stamps. I try [...]
  Share  |  Rate

• The Electric Kool-Aid Hair Test & Other Hurricane Day Pastimes

  When I was a kid up north, I would wake up early on snowy, winter mornings and stay in bed holding my breath as the radio DJ listed the school systems closing due to icy roads. Those joyful snow days were spent building forts and snowmen, sledding, plotting massive [...]
  Share  |  Rate

• Why we should care about Pussy Riot

  Whether or not you like their tunes, the artist collective Pussy Riot deserves our respect right now, and it’s not just because the Russian feminist punk-rock group has made it OK to use the p-word in polite circles. Three young, female members of the group – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria [...]
  Share  |  Rate

• Help, my kids' school supply list ate our groceries!

  To paraphrase all the gripes I’ve been reading from mom friends on Facebook: Whatever happened to the days when all you needed for school was a few notebooks, some pencils and maybe a cute pencil case if you got lucky? Now that both of my kids are in middle [...]
  Share  |  Rate

• The Joy of Sharing Tween Reads

  Now that my kids are older, we seldom end the day with a bedtime story. But instead of missing those shampoo heads nestled under each armpit with a big book open in between, I’m enjoying the more independent book sharing we’ve got going on, especially now that there are [...]
  Share  |  Rate

• We don't need another Superwoman

  Will Marissa Mayer save Yahoo! and prove a woman’s worth in running a Fortune 500 company if she works through her maternity leave? Or will she set back the hard-earned rights of working moms who treasure their time off and value the importance of balancing work and family? Debate [...]
  Share  |  Rate

• Colorado turned me into a stay-at-home mom

  Thirteen years ago – after two armed students killed 12 kids and a teacher at Columbine High School – I decided to ditch my journalism career and become a full-time mom. At the time, my first daughter was 2 ½ months old. My husband, a photographer for The Miami [...]
  Share  |  Rate

• Craving 100 Years of Solitude

  After spending two weeks with my family on vacation, I came home with one overwhelming desire. I. Just. Want. To. Be. Alone. Sweet isolation, wherefore art thou? I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. Upon returning from our beach-time togetherness, my 12-year-old daughter locked herself [...]
  Share  |  Rate