NYC Moms

Who's Parenting in Hollywood?

After seeing the recent Vanity Fair cover with Milie Cyrus, I think it’s time to remind Hollywood parents of appropriate 15 year old girl old behavior. It’s disturbing to think of any 15 year old minor being positioned as a sex symbol on a magazine distributed to adults.  And it’s even more upsetting to imagine our eleven and twelve year old daughters aspiring for similar attention.

However, I’m sure it’s difficult to keep things in perspective in Hollywood.

As I live my non-celebrated life in New York City, it’s easy for me to be outraged by the semi-nude photos. After all, I’ve never received a phone call from the powerful Vanity Fair Editor, Grayden Carter, requesting my child to grace his magazine cover as well as be photographed by the infamous Annie Lebowitz.

Milie is obviously NOT calling the shots here. Her parents who were part of the photoshoot and the magazine editors are making decisions on her behalf.   Even if we assume that she is remarkably comfortable with her body, she has yet to come to terms with her sexuality.  I’m sorry, no young girl can handle being a national sex symbol at only 15. Who is responsible? Her faded rock star parents or the greedy magazine editors?  Both.

Humility Lessons from a Perfect Mom

I love to be humbled. I find humility in the funniest situations. My kids bring it out the most, however a perfect stranger gave me my recent dose.

The moment came over breakfast with my two younger boys. The three of us were enjoying breakfast at the local diner. Henry was madly munching on a chocolate chip waffle and Wesley struggled to keep up with his big brother.

We were happily chatting about nothing when out of the corner of my eye I saw one of THOSE super fit Tribeca moms. You know them-- moms who have terrific abs and are now obsessed with their gluts...They seem to all sport around in Lycra to show off their hard work while carrying a water bottle and yoga matt. Although I haven’t worn spandex in years, I am always surprised with my envious reaction of any mom who finds the time to work out and look amazing.

I watched as she and her two super cute girls bounced into the table next to ours. My choice of a chocolate chips and waffle breakfast was a stark contrast to her freshly squeezed orange juice and poached egg diet. My morning deflated a bit. Her healthy lifestyle and seemingly Zen-like presence annoyed me to no end.

The Few, the Fortunate and the Secret of one (Not Really) Public New York School

I moved to New York City almost 21 years ago, post college. When I was single, I never considered raising a family here-- Or worse, sentence my future kids to public school!

Yet since having kids, not a day has gone by when I haven’t thought about or talked about EDUCATING my kids. It’s true. New Yorkers are obsessed with getting a good education. The real question for our neurotic parents is ...are we thinking about our educating our kids or are we more interested in how a the educational badge of honor we publicly wear on our sleeve?

New York conversations typically go like this, “My son goes to blah, blah, blah school…” And, if it’s a well known private school, we easily make the assumption that their child is bright and the parents wealthy. If it’s a known public school, we determine that the parents live in the right part of town and they are cool enough to support the public school system.