I, like most girls, love a good proposal story. And, also like most girls, I have an idea of what I’d like mine to be like. Personally, I wouldn’t want it to be cliché (think fancy restaurant with violins in the background), or too casual (“Honey, wanna get hitched sometime?”), but I’d like it to be personal, definitely original, and maybe reflect some aspect or anecdote of our relationship. Got that, future husband?

That might seem specific but compared to what I’ve heard from other women, I’ll be a breeze to propose to (my sister for example, wants incorporation of the floating lanterns in the sky as seen in the movie Tangled). Somewhere along the way, proposals have become almost bigger and more important than the engagement (and dare I say, marriage?) itself! A topic I’ve been thinking of writing about, it became reinforced today when I read an article titled “click here to read whole article and make comments

In this day and age, we are surrounded by amazing and ever-changing technology. It’s great in some ways, as it can be very educational. But when it comes to kids and technology use, I’ve always tended towards keeping them from over-doing it. It turns out that my theory may have some basis - according to a recent article, kids as young as four are starting “digital detox” therapies to overcome their technological addictions.

It seems that removing technology from these kids makes them “distressed and inconsolable”, as well as provoking withdrawal symptoms like those of alcoholics or heroin addicts. Scary! But it also completely makes sense, considering how surrounded they are by gadgets from birth. A crying child is given something that draws them into themselves rather than a toy or “blankie” that still allows for human interaction. I’d wager that phones are the most common pacifiers these days. Yes, it’s an… click here to read whole article and make comments

Four years ago a seven-year-old boy was taken from his parents as the family boarded an international flight. Armed police seized the boy, although they did not have arrest warrants, and he was placed in a foster home. The boy has still not been restored to his parents, and for three years they have not been allowed to see him at all.

What on earth could these parents have done to their child? Had they abused and starved him? Neglected him and damaged his health? Psychologically tortured him?

No, none of those things.

So where could this nightmarish scenario have occurred – North Korea? Afghanistan?

No, Sweden. Family-friendly, social-laboratory-of-Europe Sweden.

And the crime of Annie and Christer Johansson? Not sending their son, Domenic, to school. (Family pictured right.) They insisted on educating him at home. That’s illegal in Sweden – or it is now; amazingly, it wasn’t when Domenic was first taken into… click here to read whole article and make comments

So, I’m sitting here writing this at almost 38 weeks pregnant. I would normally be asleep at this hour, but the typical discomforts associated with pregnancy have defeated my will to sleep yet again. I have given up trying to fight it this morning. I will nana-nap later. I am sure of it.

I bet you like hearing about how uncomfortable I am. Not for any narcissistic reason, but simply because as a culture we seem to be drawn to negative conversation, negative ideas, negative opinions. I know this because of late, the most common line said to me by close friends and strangers alike has been “Oh my gosh, you must be SO over it!” and “You must just want it out already!”

My response?...Um, no actually. I’m not. And I don’t.

Why are we so fixated on the negative? Why do so many women claim to hate being pregnant? And to… click here to read whole article and make comments

Parents around the world talk about the importance of what happens in the home to raising children with good habits and values. (There are some English speakers!) The latest from the Homemakers Project.

A newsletter arrived in my mail yesterday that reminded me that I have not been to a classical concert for quite some time, and listening to the odd bit of Mozart or Vivaldi on the car radio is really not much of a substitute. A (good) live performance stirs the soul in a way that the most sophisticated electronic sound system cannot and reminds you that beautiful music comes from the loving work of real live artists. To enjoy it with others can produce a sense of social harmony that is perhaps not too common now.

So, with winter coming up I’ve decided to schedule a couple excursions to the orchestra, using some tips provided by New York violinist Alice Trimmer in the above-mentioned newsletter as a refresher course. You might appreciate them too:

1. Your enjoyment will be increased greatly if you are a bit familiar with the music.… click here to read whole article and make comments

Remember Psy and his “Gangnam style” hit? Well he’s decided to grace our radios again, with another incomprehensible and yet decidedly sexist song. Named “Gentleman”, I am yet to find a link between this title and the song content. I decided to take a look at the translated lyrics and video clip to save you all the trouble. So here goes.

Let’s start with the lyrics. The chorus features a repetitive “I'm a mother father gentleman”. Apart from the crude phrase that it sounds like, my question is - what on earth does that mean? Maybe there isn’t even any point in asking. I looked to the verses to investigate further, but once more was treated to a garbled bunch of ridiculous sentences. There are references to oh-how-attractive Psy knows himself to be, a quick mention of a girl’s attractiveness, and plenty about all the fun they are going to have (need I… click here to read whole article and make comments

Quite often when we think of divorce, the blame seems to lie with the man. He has been unfaithful, unloving, or has taken to drinking too much. But interestingly, according to recent reports, it seems that over the last five years there has been a huge increase in marriages that have broken down because of the woman drinking too much.

Dubbed as “sex and the city” drinking, it seems that a large number of women are turning to alcohol to combat stress or sadness. Some get home in the early hours of the morning after a stint at the pub, and there are others who drink alone at home. The causes of this trend seem obvious enough, with drinking being more acceptable for women nowadays than it was in the past. Hard-core feminists might say this trend is great, as something that shows our growing equality to men.

I disagree. A… click here to read whole article and make comments

Have you ever argued with a friend on Facebook? Blocked or deleted them after a virtual agreement? Well, it turns out that you're not alone. It's actually a thing!

It doesn't surprise me at all that relationships - whether with friends, family, lovers - have been ruined thanks to social media. According to a recent article, 78% of people surveyed have reported increased rudeness online, and most have no qualms at all about forgetting their manners in the online sphere.

Yes, online media connects people, but it is also fosters people who are less thoughtful. Think about it; it's much easier to express an unpopular opinion or mean comment over the internet than to a person's face. That disconnect of not being in front of them means we often end up treating them with less dignity than they deserve.  

I think this is what happens: social media makes people a bit like… click here to read whole article and make comments

Reproduced from Viewpoint, Dick Cleary's blog:

MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry is not shy about telling us how liberal/progressives view the family, and particularly how they feel about your quaint notion that your children are yours:

At least as far back as Plato the left has been demanding that children be seen as not belonging to their parents but to the state. They are a kind of communal property and how children should be raised and what they should be taught should be determined by the state.

Marx believed that the traditional family was a bourgeois institution that needed to be discarded. B.F. Skinner envisioned in Walden II a community in which children were taken from their parents (as Plato advised in The Republic) and raised by the community. Numerous others have expressed similar aspirations.

Such ideas are usually confined to academic circles, however, because to promote them publicly would be to to invite derision and… click here to read whole article and make comments