Apparently to some of the audience Kate, from Jon & Kate Plus 8, appears to be verbally and physically abusive towards her husband; and she isn’t such a great role model or parent for her eight children.

I’ve only seen a few episodes in which I saw nothing wrong minus the fact that she was a good example of what being human was all about. I did a post on it saying that the show actually made me feel normal as a parent, knowing that I wasn’t the only imperfect one out there. There were times she wasn’t as cool as a cucumber and I saw where it appears that her and her husband don’t have the perfect marriage…but, like most - it seems they try.

One lady suggested that the show be cancelled until Kate underwent psychological treatment. Surprisingly, it didn’t appear that this woman had any children (or at least she didn’t mention how she never treated her children that way) much less eight. Having eight children in the first place might make any normal woman angry, for a while anyway! While the lady made some very valid points and pointed out examples that proved that Kate had some dysfunction and wasn’t always as loving, kind and caring as the perfect mother and wife should seem to be, I have to wonder what the point of pointing these things out was really all about?

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Tonight I showed my daughter a picture of an outfit simply to ask her thoughts. Coming from a 7 year olds I expected her face to shrivel up and to not really have anything to say out all. I was wrong. Her entire opinion of the outfit was, “That’s a popular outfit.” Oh, help me please!

I asked her to explain what exactly she meant by a “popular outfit” and she proceeded to explain to me that popular outfits are what girls that are popular wear in school. OK, so I knew that is what she meant, I just wanted to hear her, “Duh.” I was amazed that at 7 the outfit I showed her seemed perfectly OK.

I do not allow my daughter to wear outfits like the one in the picture. There is no need for a 7 year old to wear it, but for her to completely accept the look means that children in her elementary school DO wear similar outfits and their parents are obviously OK with the look.

How is it OK for a child to wear fishnets? How is it OK for kids to wear skirts so short that when they bend over you can see their underwear? I was shocked that my daughter truly liked what she saw. Why? Simply because it was an outfit girls wear to gain popularity. What happened to attending school for education? That is out the window. It is a popularity contest even for those as young 7.

I decided to take a look at some of the other clothing in the Abbey Dawn line created by Avril Lavigne, pictured and found that not all of the product in her line is depicted like the picture of her. Thanks goodness. No, I do not approve of either skirt, barely at 12 inches, not much will be covered. I’m not thrilled with the jumper either. The sad point to this, these would be the most sought out items of her line because they are flirty and fun apparently.

The line is of course for older children, tweens to teens, but I am not going to allow my daughter when she turns 12 to wear the skirt you see above. The frustrating part of this is knowing that my 7 year old completely feels that outfits, like the one on Avril, is completely acceptable. What are 7 year olds wearing?

Visit the parenting forum to join in on the discussion and share your thoughts!

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Apparently New Zealand has some pretty strange things going on with parenting laws. It’s against the law to spank children and they also have a habit of changing children’s names as well. Some parent’s who were going through a custody battle over their daughter, Tula does the Hula, had a rude awakening when a judge ruled her custody of the court in order to change her name. It’s not uncommon there for courts to do this with children who have had parents who have named them something out in left field.

Growing up, I hated my name. Hardly anyone could ever pronounce it (and still can’t) and I was always a little jealous of the girls with such easy to pronounce and common names like Amanda, Leigh or Ashley. However, as you get older and grow into adulthood you can begin to appreciate and love what’s different about you. To a kid though, who wants to just be like everyone else, having a user unfriendly name can be an irritating experience that takes a lot of growing up to be able to overcome. So from the time I was about 8, I took matters into my own hands and made sure that I was known to all of my friends as “Kim”. It wasn’t until I moved away years later that I felt it was too exhausting to keep the fraud going, and decided to just let it go & give into my annoying name Laurel. However, after years of living w/her, I’ve actually grown into my name and today would choose it a million times over a plain name like “Kim”. But I’m all for people being able to name if they don’t like it, it is their name after all.

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Today, while carrying on a conversation with my soon-to-be 13 year old son, I came to a sad realization - he has grown up. He is no longer the tiny red headed baby I was brought in the middle of the night to nurse. I am not sad that he is growing into a young version of the man he will soon be. I am sad because as I look at him, I feel like I have no clue when his face became longer. When did his eyebrows darken? When did his eyes change shape?

My son has grown right in front me. I have watched him every single day grow, but time did not stand still. He grew up so fast and I just could not keep up with the changes happening in front of me. His face has depth and age. His teeth straitening have changed the look of his smile. The shape of his eyes give him a questioning gaze, wondering what life has in store for him.

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