I remember being a kid and struggling with my mother every Sunday about what I was going to wear to church. Church was a reason to get dressed up, but all my nicer clothes were uncomfortable and I didn't like the thought of being trapped in them every week for even a few hours. While I liked the concept of the frilly dresses and whatnot, the shoes and tights were uncomfortable. I couldn't wait to get home to get all that off of me, to the point where I am not so sure I was paying much attention!

Holidays are one thing--kids get stuffed into nice dresses, tights and miniature suits for a few hours at a time, tops. Once they hit their own homes, half that stuff usually comes off and they are free to run around in more comfortable attire. Depending on where you live, the clothes can get more or less formal. IN New York City, for example, our kids are nothing if not fashion plates. No one seems to bat an eyelash at spending $100 on an outfit her kid is going to wear exactly one time for one special occasion. The good news is the mom usually knows at least one other family to pass the garments on to, so the item does get Miltie-wear.

In other parts of the country jeans are seen as acceptable. Throw a nice sweater on top of it and some decent shoes (which for a child can be unbelievably pricey) and the kids are good to go. They're probably more comfortable, too. Not sure if jeans are considered acceptable, at say, church, but they do fly at brunches and holiday gatherings in general.' Given the current economy, I wonder if kids' clothes will continue to become less formal as folks turn towards wardrobes they've already amassed.

What do your kids wear when the go out? My kid? Well, he wears whatever I mine from the gloriously wonderful clothes my friends lend me from when their sons were that age. We have a little network of lending going so the clothes we do buy get maximum wear.

When it comes to parenting, don't feel the need to follow or even listen to everyone else's advice.

I read an article on babble from a mother who decided, along with her husband, to not send her child to kindergarten this fall. Instead the couple are planning on home-schooling their son, along with a group of other New York City-based parents with the same idea. Upon initial read of the article, I didn't really get much of a takeaway. In fact, it seemed like homeschooling better suited the lifestyles of the parents than serving as a decision based on the child's needs. That said, it seems like parents know their children better than anyone else, and therefore should know what method of learning is best suited for their kids. The author had her reasons for doing what she did--or, rather, not doing what she would have--and she should be given cred for making such a decision.

Some of the other parents in the homeschooling group felt that the schools were too focused on testing and not really teaching kids what they needed to know, etc. Standardized testing really has taken hold of our community, and both parents and teachers have felt the uncomfortable crunch. Parents are starting to feel their children aren't being taught how to learn anymore, just what to learn. I can see a real argument for homeschooling.

But, is that the right reason to pull a kid out of school? Is any reason good enough? Or, to the contrary, do the schools need to start proving to us they can offer more than what we as parents can do for our children? If schools aren't listening to the needs of parents and children then what is the point? I personally don't know enough about proper education and the education system to be able to make a decision as hard as keeping my child out of school. Others seem to have it all worked out, down to ordering specific, home-based curriculum to teach their kids themselves. Some prefer to let the child learn more freestyle, and eschew more traditional methods. I'll tell you right now the last thing my kid needs is for me to be his main teacher! It's terrifying to me to even begin to think about everything I think he ought to know, and then how I would get all that knowledge to him. He'd be better off learning from our weiner dog!

So who's right? Do parents know enough to be able to make decisions like homeschooling for their kids? Does the education system really serve our needs and is it really preparing our children for the future? I think the answer probably lies somewhere outside both those things, but only time will tell.

Blame it on The Cure. Blame it on Edward Gory. Whatever you do, though, you can't deny the Goth. The culture, the fashion, hey, the eyeliner. It's alive and well now as it always seems to have been--at least since the late seventies/early eighties. And it shows no signs of slowing down. Eyeliner sales must be through the roof!

The New York Times has a funny article about one author's personal history with the Gothic culture, which could pretty much be any of our own histories. I grew up in the middle of the country, in Louisville, Kentucky, and even those well-manicured lawns and competing mall-lifestyles were susceptible to an outbreak of Goth every now and then. Perhaps we were a more likely target for Goth style because of all that sameness. No matter where you went as a teen, it seemed, there were some Goth kids hanging around comparing weird jewelry and competing for who could don the most dark apparel.

So what is the point, you ask? If Goth has been around for so long, and none of today's teens are exactly reinventing the wheel, why bother with the eyeliner (so to speak)? Why has Goth culture endured? Fashion historian Valerie Steele (who shares a name with my best friend), who was interviewed for the article, says Goth, which originated in the Victorian era by way of mourning garb, that while it started out representing death and abuse, now it's just about plain old rebellion. How rebellious can you be though, when everyone else is wearing the same thing? Show up to school in a white suit or a gold lamé cocktail dress and we'll talk!

Goth pic by alanejohnson006.

For first-time parents, the thought of bringing another life into the world--and being responsible for it--is daunting enough. Add to that all the advice, the stuff people tell you that you need and the endless lists of such things and becoming a parent can seem less appealing than ever. Then there's the matter of labor and the trip to the hospital. If you haven't done it before--and, for some, even if you have--the hospital can be the scariest part. Just how do you prepare for such an event, especially when you haven't the slightest clue about what will REALLY happen once you're there?

Lists are great for a lot of things. And there are plenty of lists of things to pack for the hospital out there on the web, some better than others. Ultimately, what each woman (and/or man) needs is going to be different, based on his or her comfort level and lifestyle, but there are some things it's a good idea to have in the hospital when the time comes. The first thing to do is to pre-pack what you think you MIGHT need. You never know when your child will arrive, and the last thing you want to be thinking about when your water breaks is whether or not you packed your house slippers as you scramble toward transportation.

Rather than tell you what you do need at the hospital, I can provide a short list of what you DON'T need. For example, in my experience at least, you do not need extra underwear. Nope. They give you these giant maternity underwear to wear over the giant pads they give you to help with...well...leakage. Sure, you may wish to wear something different home from the hospital, but I had a totally regular, easy delivery and I still was very thankful to have those giant honking underwear--which, by the way, are made out of some sort of mesh--they gave me.

(Think that's shocking? Click the photo to see who set the record for identical births!)

A fifty-nine-year-old French woman has given birth to triplets after seeking fertility treatment. The new mom, unnamed at press time, sought fertility treatment in Vietnam after she was denied assistance in her home country.

In France, it is illegal for medical practitioners to provide fertility treatment when to women who are considered past the age of being able to procreate naturally. As a result, the pregnancy, once it became known, drew harsh criticism. from many in the French community. In other parts of the world, however, women are having children at ages much higher than fifty nine.

The woman gave birth to two sons and a daughter via C-section last Saturday. Mom, boys and girl are reportedly in good condition. In the United States women are free to seek fertility treatment whenever they want, as far as I understand. It certainly isn't illegal to provide such treatment, although some would say it is unethical.

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Some rag is claiming that the hot mess that is Lindsay Lohan is keen to be in the motherly way. The rag in question is the UK's News of the World who has exclusive information from one of those "sources" we're always hearing about who claims to be close to La Lohan and her girlfriend, Samantha Ronson.

According to this source, Lohan wants to do it the old-fashioned way and has petitioned Sam to let her get the donation from an ex-boyfriend. No word on whom that would be, nor whether or not he'd be willing to rise to the challenge. The magazine goes on to claim Lindsay wants a child to cure her of her drug and alcohol problems. Hah! If anything, being a mom has driven me FURTHER to drink.

I kid, I kid. I'm also sure there is little truth to this report, but it's fun to think about...I guess. Everyone else in Hollywood seems to be part of the baby boom, so why not Lindsay Lohan too? If it is a baby she wants, then good luck with that. Let's just hope she's more choosy about who would be providing the sperm than she is with her recent film roles.

Recently we all got a good laugh, intentional or not, from a mom who posted on Craigslist looking for a nanny. For those of you unfamiliar with Craigslist, it's a now international site where one can post or look for anything from a job to household goods (used baby clothes too!) to a hot date, and everything in between. Hence, it should come as no surprise that someone would post looking for a nanny.

Finding a good nanny, especially in a city as big as New York, can be daunting at best. Sure, there are many to choose from, but they're expensive and trolling through their credentials can be arduous. All the good ones seem to have been snatched up by a neighbor uninterested in doing a nanny share. Finding affordable daycare, however, can be twice as hard. There are waitlists and questionnaires long enough to boggle the mind. All the good ones are very expensive, and few if any actually provide a discount for siblings (often they will give your child preference over another if you already have a child in regular attendance).

I find myself in this very situation right now. To live in New York, I have to work full-time, so childcare is a necessity for me. I am a Brooklyn mom so things in my part of New York should be less expensive than, say, the Upper East Side (from whence the poster looking for a nanny hailed), but it's still eyepoppingly absurd how much everything costs. If I were to put both my kids in daycare it would cost more than my new mortgage. Yep. So a nanny seems like a good idea, if I could just find a good one that wasn't too expensive and that didn't need to live with me. I, too, have thought about posting on Craigslist. Perhaps not in quite the manner in which the other mother posted, but it's certainly crossed my mind. After all, folks post for everything else so why not?

Would you post for a nanny on Craigslist or any other site or is that a crazy idea? Also, if you happen to be a nanny or know of a good one in the New York area, please let me know. My kids are NOT a pain in the ass. They're cute.