Bag it, Mom!

Urgent text from sixth grade daughter tonight after I had dropped her off at friend's house for trick-or-treating: MOM, CAN I PLEASE USE A DIFFERENT BAG?

turns out, the cute, Lillian Vernon, monogrammed pumpkin bag that I spent WAY too much money on 6 years ago had finally come to pass.

For the first time, P was allowed to go out alone with friends on Halloween.  I dropped her off in her totally awesome "Nerd" costume. At the time, she walked in with said cute pumpkin bag and seemed fine. Apparently it was too cute. Not sure if someone commented on it, but i did notice other girls' bag were the totally understated, yet, cool: lulu lemon bags, abercrombie shopping bags, etc.

I relayed this story to one of the moms there (who also has an 8th grader) and she laughed at my naivete. Wow. Why did I not get the memo?

The thing is, P didn't flinch when I gave her the bag earlier today. It was only after she was with her friends that she became self conscious. Not so sure she is ready to grow up, but clearly, she feels like she has to.

I am ok with changing Halloween bags.. but it feels like we are at the beginning of a very long road.

She was a darn cute pre-teen "nerd" tonight, but I sure miss the days when Snow White was her m.o. and pumpkin bags were all the rage.

My new column in Seattle mag!

Hey, ya'll.. I have a new gig writing for Seattle magazine. It's a monthly column called "Parental Guidance." Check out the first one here.  Oh, and be sure to read the rest of the mag, as it has a great feature on Seattle's coffee culture.

Bullying Sucks

It's National Bullying Prevention Month. Check out this video from the Today show. No matter how you may have felt about the reaction of the dad from Florida who berated kids on his daughter's school bus after finding out they were bullying her, you can't help but empathize with their whole family. It will break your heart to hear Chatari Jones describe her bullying ordeal.

Too many kids get bullied and feel like they can't tell anyone. Chatari is a hero for having the courage to tell her parents.