Orange County Moms Blog

Are children colorblind?

My mom loves to reminisce about my childhood – what mom doesn’t? In one of her favorite stories we are sitting around the dinner table and I ask her and my dad with the curious bluntness of a 3 year old “Mommy. Daddy. Are we Chinese?”

For those of you who don’t know what I look like, the picture to the left is me around the time of the “Chinese” question. I couldn’t be more vanilla!!

While my family looks at this childhood quip as hysterical, it also raises the questions – Are children born colorblind? Do they have innate racial biases?

Being a 4th Generation Orange County Gal from the suburbs, my upbringing wasn’t very “colorful.” I was part of the majority, so I can see why I had no clue what being Chinese meant. I’m sure the circumstances would be different for an actual Chinese child in the OC. (But I’m not really sure… thoughts?)

So when does the “I’m different looking than you” thing start? When do the negative stereotypes cement themselves in our kiddos?

The one where I get schooled..again

Homeschooling can be a lot of fun. What? Stop laughing, no really. I mean, the times I lie awake at night worried that my son can't do Algebra and my daughter can't read well enough are just a million laughs. The stress and responsibility I feel when it seems the kids cannot function academically, socially or behaviorally the way I believe they should, well, it makes me want to drink. And I am not talking about Tang or Milk here, either. Send Mama a martini!

Often, though, when I feel like I have reached my limit…when I think I am doing my children a great disservice by schooling them at home and that they would be better off in a public school setting, with all of its weaknesses and the lack of placement for higher-functioning autism/Asperger's? Well,the kids go and make cognitive leaps, seemingly overnight. Almost like they have to prove me wrong. They show me that it isn't that bad, and that it always gets better. Or, you drink. Something the kids didn't show me. And just an aside, I talk about drinking, but do very little of it. It doesn't make a very good coping mechanism, to be honest. Karate works better. And yoga. And screaming. In the car, with the windows up. By myself. I tried it once with the kids in the car, and they flipped out. Thought I grew two heads. Note to self: save the theatrics for alone time, mama!

Food Just Tastes Better Off the Floor

Sometimes you just have to go with it.  You pick your battles, and go with what you believe are the important ones, and then let loose on the others. 

Our 2 year old used to be a champion eater.  Last year, when she was 1, people would do a double take, "Is she really eating, THAT?!" As she plowed throw chicken enchiladas, no matter how spicy.  Thai soup, bring it on, breakfast burrito, "Bite mama? Bite??"  So when the picky eating started I was shocked. 

I've always served our Littles the exact same things we eat, just smaller bite sizes.  Don't get me wrong, lunches consist of super kid friendly food, but at dinner, we all eat the same thing.  Overnight, she started picking out certain things from her dinner and refusing to eat it.  Or would take a bite and then land that bite right back on her plate 30 seconds later.  YUM!  Yeah....not so much...

Strike a pose? My school's about to strike.

Orange County's Capo teachers (CUSD) are about to strike any day it seems. I don’t know what to think or what to believe, but I know that talk of substitute teachers who’ve never been fingerprinted is enough to make me do shots (my 2-minute Martini Monovlog above).

I just can’t imagine dropping my kids off with picket lines. Can’t we all just get along, already? It’s been going on for months! Who’s really got the kids’ best interest at heart? Kids or cash? LA's Bill Handel had some usual frank talk yesterday on his KFI radio show with OC mom/reporter Hannah Scott (worth a listen: click OC Teachers on 4/1).

The story is all over, at MSNBC and more. So with all the chatter, why am I—and so many of my fellow Mom friends—still disengaged?

I wonder: are your kids in Capo, do you care, would you picket at Capo or if it hits your district? 

This is an original Orange County post. You can keep up with Debbie, strike or not, at her OC e-zine site at PeaceandMom.com, or on Facebook, Twitter, at Debbie's Hot Topics or DebbieLavdas.com.

I'm a Serial School Changer.

Now I’m not talking about switching my kids to a new school because of a new job or house, I’m talking scooping them from stability simply because of the curriculum, philosophy, teachers, lunch menu, paint colors or whatever the reason this time. I jest on that last part, but you get the idea. 

My kids are four and six, yes, I’ve had the same hairstyle longer than my tikes have had their school mascots. Between them, I've had at least five school changes/ordeals/transitions/freakouts. The private schools, public schools, charter schools ...

So is it just me? I don’t know, as so many OC moms around me seem to have a backup school in their back pocket. Sure, we give the Stepford wave and smile at dropoff, but we’re calculating a better plan before the door shuts.