Archive for January 2012

Legos for Girls: Let's Focus the Discussion on the Right Issues

A week ago, I had the pleasure of debating the pros and cons of Legos for Girls on NPR with two intelligent, opinionated women.  Is the new line of Lego Friends, marketed specifically to girls, pandering to girly stereotypes, or is Lego simply responding to market demand, because there is nothing wrong with girly girls... Read more »
By Carrie Goldman,
January 30, 2012 at 2:45 pm • 

Celebrate the Chinese New Year with Your Children Adopted from China!

Celebrate the Chinese New Year with Your Children Adopted from China!
Happy New Year!  For those of you who have adopted from China, you probably know that the Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar.  The Chinese year 4710 begins on January 23, 2012, and it is the Year of the Dragon. This is an opportunity to take part... Read more »
By Carrie Goldman,
January 23, 2012 at 11:25 am • 

Choosing Hope on MLK, Jr. Day

Choosing Hope on MLK, Jr. Day
Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is one of our favorite family holidays.  We kicked off the morning with a discussion of how Martin Luther King, Jr. had similar ideals to our sixteenth president.  Annie Rose and I snuggled together on the couch and read a book about MLK, Jr. Later today, I will head to... Read more »
By Carrie Goldman,
January 16, 2012 at 10:21 am • 
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Pretty Won't Earn You Checkmate

I am sitting in a gym that is packed with waiting families.  Moms, dads, sisters, brothers—we are all settled in haphazardly, surrounded by brown bag lunches, newspapers, discarded winter coats and hats and gloves.  Practice chess boards are set up on some of the tables, pieces scattered mid-game. The girls are in the other room,... Read more »
By Carrie Goldman,
January 14, 2012 at 3:06 pm • 

Whose Child Is She? Well . . .

There has been a discussion on my blog’s Facebook page about the importance of acknowledging the roots of our adopted children.  Here is a post (now updated) that I wrote exploring my thoughts on this issue two years ago: It was early evening, and I was talking on the phone with my daughter’s birthmother, M. ... Read more »
By Carrie Goldman,
January 12, 2012 at 12:57 pm • 

If You Don’t Think Bullying Is a Problem . . .

If You Don’t Think Bullying Is a Problem . . .
If you don’t think bullying is a problem, consider this: Two days after Christmas, fifteen year-old Amanda Cummings of Staten Island killed herself by stepping in front of a bus.  Cummings, who was suffering from a romantic breakup and who had also been ruthlessly bullied at school by a group of mean girls, lingered for... Read more »
By Carrie Goldman,
January 7, 2012 at 9:43 pm • 
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The Fallout

The Fallout
We knew it was coming.  Katie and Annie Rose held it together when Cleo got sick in Jamaica.  They held it together when Andrew and I took Cleo back to the U.S. and left them in the loving care of their grandparents.  They held it together when our vacation got blown to hell. And then... Read more »
By Carrie Goldman,
January 4, 2012 at 2:49 pm • 

Vacation: All I Never Wanted

Looking back, the first sign that something was wrong was when C rejected her bottle. Our pediatrician had been advising us to wean her anyway, since she is now eighteen months old, but we were planning to wait until after the trip to Jamaica.  Call it lazy parenting, call it indulgent parents of a third... Read more »
By Carrie Goldman,
January 1, 2012 at 10:24 pm •