LA Moms Blog

Save Homeboy Industries

I wrote a post recently about Arizona's backward, potentially racist immigration law. In reading the comments and other blogs, I was reminded how many people associate illegal immigrants with rising gang violence regardless of whether there's any truth to that or not .

Okay, if you're one of those people and you believe that gangs are taking over the streets of L.A. then I hope that means you are willing to open up your pocketbook and help save Homeboy Industries.

Homeboy Industries has been a national leader in gang intervention and has created programs to keep gang bangers off the streets and give them job training. It's run by Father Greg Boyle who has tirelessly run Homeboy's programs for 20 years, even during a bout with cancer a few years ago.

Itchy and Scratchy

I love my kids and I feel like I'm a pretty tough mom, but if my kids come home with lice I'm going to move out.

I don't know what it is about lice. I know there are other bugs living on our skin, but I can't see them or feel them. I've been puked on and peed on, I've had my son rub his eye lashes on my eye lashes and two days later puss was oozing from my eyes. I've experienced what it feels like to swallow razorblades after my older son came home with a mild case of hand, foot, and mouth. I've been sick more in the last 6 years than the prior three decades. It's fairly disgusting living with two little boys (and one husband).

Come on, Arizona. Really?

I'm from Tucson and I feel like I'm constantly defending Arizona. "It's a dry heat." "The desert is beautiful". "The people are lovely." But I can't begin to defend the law passed last week that legalizes racial profiling.

The governor of Arizona signed a law that forces police to ask anyone suspected of being in the country illegally for their paperwork. If that person doesn't have his paperwork he can go to jail.

As a Mexican-American, a mother, and a human being, I find it appalling that in 2010 a state in our country would legalize racial profiling by the police.

What does an illegal immigrant look like? Well, in Arizona,if you're not white, it's you. And if you're walking your dog and don't have your social security card on you, you could spend the night in the pokey. Well actually, it could be longer because you would need to be cleared by immigration.

President Obama denounced the state law this week. The Los Angeles City Council is calling for a boycott of Arizona, and the San Francisco City Council looks like it will soon follow suit. Mexico issued a travel warning saying that visitors could face harassment if they visit the state. Even the Republican Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, said that there are significant "civil liberty issues."

The iPad as a Harbinger of the Decline of Western Civilization

A couple of weeks ago the husband and I sat down to watch our new favorite show, Modern Family. It was the one where Phil wants an iPad for his birthday. At the end of the episode Phil starts stroking it and says, "I love you."

I turned to my husband and said, "You want one now don't you?" His answer? "Kind of."

As luck would have it, the family had planned a trip to the Bay Area to spend Easter with my sister, the same weekend the iPad was released. The husband suddenly wasn't sure he could get away from work to go with us, and flights were so expensive (we were driving and he planned to meet us there). Did we want to spend that kind of money? Apparently, "we" did because he bought an iPad and some accessories.

I tell this story because (it pisses me off? no) because I'm overwhelmed by the way brands and product placement have taken over our lives. The minute he saw it he had to have it. Before he saw the episode, he thought the iPad was for Mac obsessed techies who are even geekier than him. Now he takes it to bed and looks at it with teenage-crush-love.

It's this unabashed love of stuff that worries me with our kids. We don't let them watch television with commercials, but they see ads everywhere.

Don’t Bother Mommy, She’s Under Attack

Sunday's New York Times article "Honey, Don't Bother Mommy. I'm Too Busy Building My Brand," bothered me in so many ways.

First, the headline (which I know the writer didn't write, but still) makes it sound like all of us mom bloggers are going around telling our kids to shut up and go away so we can send messages on Twitter. And the graphic illustrates this with extreme contempt.

Yes, I'm working hard to build my brand, but in no way am I neglecting my children. I make them three meals a day. I take them to and pick them up from school, where I volunteer. I even assistant coach their T-ball team!! I'm pretty sure they don't want to see any more of me than they already do.

Should He Stay Or Should He Go Now?

I feel sorry for anyone who has school age children that gets within 10 feet of me. Because if they do, I'll bore them to death about my dilemma of whether to send my younger son to Kindergarten this Fall or hold him back a year.

He'll turn 5 at the end of the summer so he could definitely go, but the question is, "Should he go?" And if I do or don't send him will I ruin his academic career forever?

A Snack Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry

A curious thing happened the other day. We had a play date at our house with a child who has been over several times. His mother packed him a snack and three juice boxes.

I thought this gesture meant one of two things: It was either, "My son is starving at your house and so are your children." or "My kid isn't a 60-year-old hippie. He doesn't want your homemade granola and probiotic cheese."

I try not to be a holier-than-thou foodie, but I'm thinking that's how I come off. Unless we're having a party, I don't buy juice boxes. It's so much waste and too much sugar (even if it's 100 percent juice. They eat plenty of fruit). And the snacks I give the kids are of the whole grain or homemade variety.

As Jennifer Steinhauer pointed out in a recent New York Times article, "Snack Time Never Ends," parents are feeding their kids snacks all the time and everywhere.

One Mother’s Struggle to Get Adopted Daughter Out of Haiti

My friend Lorraine is desperately trying to get her 9-year-old daughter Samantha out of Haiti. The girl she's adopting lived in an orphanage just outside of Port-Au-Prince. The orphanage was destroyed in the aftershocks of Tuesday's devastating earthquake and now the 150 children, ranging from babies to preteens, are living outside in the yard.

The two American women who run the orphanage, Jamie and Ali, tell Lorraine that they will run out of food and water today. The walls surrounding the grounds have toppled.

"Now that this has happened, looting and rioting is inevitable," Lorraine said from her home in Playa Vista, California. "It is known that it's an American run orphanage. People will think that they have supplies."

Jamie and Ali were out buying supplies when the earthquake happened. The store they were going into collapsed in front of them. Now they desperately need food and water, but more importantly they want to get the children out of Haiti, Lorraine said.

Life Lessons I Hope They Don’t Remember

A couple of months ago I thought our pet lizard was close to death. We hadn't seen him in a day and it appeared that he had crawled under his plastic rock to have his last hours.

What would I say when my 4 and 5-year-old asked me why the lizard died?

I thought about the "sensitive" way my dad told me our family dog had passed away. "The dog's dead. I took him hunting and he got bit by a rattlesnake so I shot him."

I was sure I'd do a better job than that.

Nobody Walks In LA

I constantly go back and forth between loving and hating LA. When I have to drive somewhere at 4 p.m. on a weekday, I hate LA. When I go running at the beach on a perfect fall day, I absolutely love it here. But lately, it's running that has made me go back to hating this god-forsaken place.

Being a pedestrian in LA means taking your life into your own hands. When I moved here 4-years ago I really wanted to believe that this was a walking neighborhood. We live near restaurants and shopping, bookstores, and coffee shops. Fabulous.

But just because I want this to be a walking neighborhood doesn't mean the people driving in their cars care a hoot about that. And just because you're pushing a stroller doesn't mean anyone will stop their cars.

Once I had the boys in the double stroller and we stopped at a 4-way stop. I let a car go first, and then I started to walk. A man in a BMW (or some such car like it) hit the gas and then slammed on the brakes. "Women with kids always expect you to stop for them," he shouted at me. Well, yes, asshole, when it's my turn and I'm on foot and you're in a car, I would expect you to stop.