I’ve been seeing a lot of hot parenting topics on the news lately on which I would love to write full blog posts, but life intersects and they don’t get written. Tonight I thought I would highlight some of them here so that I don’t completely miss the boat and can share what I think are some important messages coming from a variety of places.

• Mom Plans Meals For Entire Year — there’s a woman in Texas who has mapped out her family meal schedule for the entire YEAR. She says it saves her time and money. Check out her 2009 meal plan.
• Defining the line of communication between teachers and students. Is it OK for teachers to use social media to connect with students? It’s unrealistic to think that a high school coach won’t send a text message to the baseball team notifying everyone the game has been delayed. Schools across America are dealing with boundary issues for social media. Does a district have to say “no Facebook, no texting, no Twitter following,” with any students. Period. What makes the most sense? Read about teachers texting students here.
• It was nearly impossible to have the TV on without hearing how a trainer was killed by the Killer Whale at SeaWorld. This is a place where families go to learn about and see animals up close. I have to admit that we avoided watching the TV, but I’m not sure that was the right thing to do. Admittedly, it was easier. We plan to go to SeaWorld later this year and I don’t want my son to be afraid the workers (or worse, he or a member of the family) will be hurt or killed. How did you handle the news with your kids?
• A  house with two working parents is a tired house. It’s a house where jugging children’s schedules along with the parents work schedule is exhausting, frustrating and sometimes impossible depending on your job. Morra Aarons Mele writes a great account of how hard this is. She mentions other’s who have written on the topic and how hourly employees are sometimes “one sick child away from being fired.” It’s a tough situation to be in, but one that many parents have to deal with on a daily basis.

Photo credit: adjustafresh.

I’m not a good cook. Partially because Food TV didn’t exist when I was growing up, but mainly because I didn’t want to learn how to cook. I tried desperately to not confirm to the mold that the woman had to cook. I figured if I didn’t do it well, I would have to do it. I never had an Easy Bake Oven, nor did I want one. To me, it represented the typical stereotype of the traditional woman’s role at home.

My mother forwarded me an interesting article from the “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette” newspaper about kids and cooking. It has stuck with me and makes me quite irritated. Is cooking and baking just for girls? Yes, say major manufacturers of children’s baking toys, according to the article.

The article, entitled, “Boys at home in the kitchen: Yet makers of cooking-related toys still market almost exclusively to girls” discusses the growing number of boys who are interested in cooking and baking, yet how everything is marketed to girls. They cite the popularity of cooking for boys is because of shows on television that feature men like Duff Goldman from “The Ace of Cakes.” He’s a tattoo-d, goatee-wearing, manly man, who bakes cakes for a living.

Mr. Goldman had Easy-Bake Ovens when he was a kid. So did Rick Bayless, recent winner of “Top Chef: Masters” and chef and co-owner of Chicago restaurants Frontera Grill and Topolobampo.”

Back when Goldman wanted a toy oven, I’m sure it was unusual for a boy to have a typical girl toy. Fast forward 20+ years and nothing has changed — a boy today who might want an Easy Bake Oven must get one that has a girl featured on the front of the box, thus telling that child that it is, essentially, a toy for girls. What’s worse is that the marketing on the Easy Bake Oven Web site states that it is, indeed, for girls.

The large promos says:

The classic light bulb oven still delights with a girl’s first real baking experience!”

There is so much wrong with this picture and I get infuriated when people make these assumptions about what a boy should want to do and what a girl should want to do. Why not have a photo with two kids (a boy and a girl) on the front of the box?

Today I spend more time in the kitchen and enjoy it. I’m trying to learn more skills so that I can offer better meals at home. I also love spending time in the kitchen with my son — he won’t let me bake anything without his help. As my daughter gets older I’ll spend time in the kitchen with her too. We’ll all learn to cook together — without any stereotypes.

Boys and girls need to be able to grow up being whatever they want to be.

What do you think?

Related:

• Read the full Post-Gazette story here.
  
• Easy Bake Oven Web site
• Take your kid to a children’s cooking school: Young Chefs Academy Cooking School
• Get in the kitchen with your kids and start cooking. Here’s a Web sites that offers quick and easy recipes to prepare with children: Children’s Recipes
  
• Top 10 Children’s Cookbooks

On “The Oprah Winfrey Show” today, Taylor Swift said she doesn’t need a boyfriend. She was interviewed by the sweet, 11-year-old Jordan (a big Taylor Swift fan), Oprah’s “co-host” for the show. Jordan asked Taylor if she has a big crush right now and Taylor responded by saying that she doesn’t have a boyfriend and doesn’t feel the *need* to have one. She explained that she’d rather be single than in a relationship just to be in one.

How refreshing.

As a parent, and now to a girl, it’s great to hear. It’s especially important coming from a young woman that so many tween and teen girls admire. Taylor is beautiful, talented and rich. Any man would want to date her, yet she’s choosing to fill her life with other things, saying she’d make room for a relationship if the right man came along.

It’s great for 11-year-old girls to hear. Too often I see women, not just girls, dive into relationships that are wrong. They are always in a relationship, moving from one boyfriend to the next without taking a break just to “be.”

Last year I wrote a post inspired by the people at Dove who continue to promote the importance of teaching a sense of self esteem in girls. They said, “only three in every 10 girls feels worthy.” Wow. It’s important to teach girls, from a young age, how important they are. They don’t need a boy or a man to feel worthy. That while being in a relationship can be a great thing, it shouldn’t be the only thing in your life.

Maybe Taylor will inspire young girls to have confidence in themselves and to be comfortable with who they are — boyfriend or not. If it’s cool for a pop star like her to be single, maybe other girls will not put so much emphasis on whether or not they have a boyfriend. We need to shift the focus on needing a boyfriend, to wanting one if it allows them to continue to be who they are. And, that if they don’t have a boyfriend, they are OK.

After watching Ted Kennedy, Jr. give his father’s eulogy, I’m reminded how important it is to teach our children everything we can.

Ted, Jr. emotionally spoke of when he lost his leg at the age of 12 and his father, Ted Kennedy, was there to inspire him to get up a hill he was having a hard time climbing. His father said the words that I long for every parent to tell his/her child,

“I know you can do it. There’s nothing you can’t do.”

These are words that every single child in the world needs to hear. They are powerful and insightful words, and mean the world to children. As parents, it’s our job to teach our kids so many things … how to tie their shoes, how to treat others, how to do well in school, how to be provide for themselves. All important things. But it’s the intangible lessons … the gifts of inspiration that I find so important.

Ted, Jr. goes on to talk about how his father also said, “You can do anything.” Other lessons … work hard … be prepared … persevere.

Great lessons for any kid.

Watch the full eulogy here:

Read the text version here.

I got this in an email today (thanks April) with the subject “all parents and children need to watch this.” It’s pretty moving. I think there are multiple lessons in it. Let me know what you think.