“Boys have penises and girls have vaginas!” Who can forget the adorable little boy on Kindergarten Cop who informed Arnold Schwarzennegar of the anatomically correct terms for private parts? Granted, his father was a gynecologist, but many people choose to teach their own children to use the medical terms instead of making up nicknames. I was raised to call our female parts “popes.” Don’t ask why…I haven’t the slightest idea. However, when I married into a Catholic family and had a baby girl, it would have been like spitting in Pope John Paul’s face to refer to my daughter’s privates …read more

What would you do if your son wanted to wear a pink dress to school? Cookie magazine featured an article in its January issue, that illustrated one mom’s struggle to allow her son the freedom of wearing a dress to school. The mom, Sarah, decided that her son’s freedom of expression was far more important that the possibility of ridicule and reactions to his demonstrative protest of social norms. To her son, Sam, it was just a dress. I’m sure that he thought nothing of the symbolism behind his desire. But Sarah knew what her son may face as a result of …read more