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ilona
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Sure I do. One of the things I've always resented about schools is the way they render our children completely unavailable to us for 6 hours of a day.
Two of my three kids went to a school which had phones in the classrooms -- I could call the class direct. I called perhaps twice a year, but it set up the expectation that it was reasonable to have immediate access to my child. (Imagine.)
I don't abuse it, and I give my kids the same sorts of instructions you do re: consideration of those around them and of their teachers and the learning environment. If they follow my instructions, I see no harm.
Confession
Cell Phones in School This is sort of an embarrassing thing to admit because, after all, I'm a grownup, and I really do know better. Let me just come right out and say it: I text my kids when they're in school. Go ahead, tell me what a horrible mother I am. How, instead of being part of th...
I'm an intelligent, well-read woman in her forties, and the only reason I know is because my grandfather explained a certain scene in the movie to me as a child. (He was raving about the beauty of the music chosen for a pastoral scene, I believe.) I've neither read the book nor seen the film... though now I want to do both.
Creampuff's "Obscure Reference" Poll
Yesterday, during a script workshop, my dramaturge made me cut the "soylent green" joke in my piece because he said that only he and I would get it. The actor, an intelligent, well-read woman in her forties, had never heard of it. I was shocked. Do we not all know about soylent green?? I must kn...
I don't see this as one, or even two talks. It's an ongoing dialogue, that starts when the child is a toddler and learning the (medically accurate!) terms for their parts, along with eyes, nose, toes, and bellybutton. Many age-appropriate chats over the years, done in a casual and natural way, open the channels of communication so that it never is a BIG HUGE AWKWARD deal. It's just talk.
I did buy my daughter a vibrator, but not as young as 14. She got hers for Christmas when she was 17, six years ago now. (And no, I didn't put it under the tree! I gave it to her privately.)
My reasoning? I didn't see the Oprah show, so maybe this was discussed there, but for me, it was about empowerment and information. How can a young woman know how to tell her sexual partner what feels good if she doesn't know herself? We aren't assuming a teenage boy is going to know, are we?
She was a *little* embarrassed, but not so much that we couldn't have a giggle over it together. "The gift that keeps on giving" is how she phrased it.
The Ultimate How-To (talk about sex with your daughter).....
Today, Dr. Laura Berman, sex therapist, spoke to Oprah’s predominantly female (when is it not?) audience about The Talk. You know, that wonderful moment when you sit your twelve-year-old daughter down and tell her about the birds and the bees. Except, in Dr. Berman’s opinion, you should be ha...
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