The school year has started in Texas, and this year, public high schools there will be required to teach students about the Bible.

Even though the courses are elective and are supposed to focus on how Christianity in general and the Bible in particular have influenced American history and society, some parents are furious. "I don’t want anybody teaching their religious beliefs to my child unless they want to send their child to my house and let me teach them my religious views," one parent told Texas news station KLTV . "There is no difference."

Which, I’ll admit, was my immediate reaction, too. And then I thought it over.
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Like so many people I know, I went and bought a copy of the most popular work-out DVD of the moment, 30 Day Shred. It’s sitting on top of the TV console, still in the shrink wrap.

I want to get in shape. OK, I need to get in shape. But not because of a desire to look better in a bathing suit or because my 20th reunion is rapidly approaching — those both of those things are actually true. I want to get in shape because my lovely, fawn-like, reed-thin 4 1/2-year-old daughter hugged me a few weeks ago and said, “Mama, you should run around more. So you can get un-fat.”

Out of the mouths of babes, right?
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My youngest children’s preschool recently hired a male teacher, and I couldn’t be more pleased. Our last experience with a male caregiver, at my kids’ previous school, was so positive that I was as sad as the children were to see him go.

Other parents don’t feel the same way about a male professional taking care of their young children, though. In a heated discussion a few months ago at Parenting.com, the parent of a preschooler wondered about a new male teacher in the toddler “potty trainer” room. The school hired a man to work in the 4- and 5-year-old classroom, which raised a few eyebrows, but this parent is particularly nervous about having a young man help her 2-year-old daughter in the bathroom. “I just don’t understand why a young man would want to be a daycare teacher,” the parent writes. “It makes me think they have an ulterior motive or something.
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I don’t know any parents who really expect to feel well rested while their kids are young. In fact, once you become a parent (whether through birth, adoption, or marriage), the phrase “a good night’s sleep” takes on a totally different meaning.

As our kids get older, we assume that they’re getting plenty of sleep. But how much sleep do they really need? And what happens if they don’t get it?
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What I was doing yesterday: Working from home.

What I my day was really like yesterday: Fed breakfast to 4 children, fed the dog, dressed 2 children, made 4 lunches, packed 3 backpacks, did 2 children’s hair, dropped 1 child at camp and 2 children at preschool, bought groceries, bought cold and flu medication at the drug store, put away the groceries, edited 2 articles, emptied the dishwasher, reloaded the dishwasher, went to the craft store after finding out (when I dropped 1 child at camp) that tomorrow the group will be doing tie-dye, and I had no articles of white anything, worked a little more, scrubbed the kitchen floor, prepped dinner, picked up 3 children from various location, took 1 sick teenager to the doctor (diagnosis: pneumonia, and boy is she pissed), made dinner. 

What I feel like I should’ve been doing, since I was at home anyway: laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming the rest of the house, stripping the sheets, remaking the beds, cleaning off the kitchen counters, putting away the mountain of shoes in the entry way, picking up the toys from the floor of the family room, taking the clothes I culled out of the kids’ closets months ago to the Salvation Army, donating the old toys, and feeling guilty because 1 child complained that “it’s sooooooo *dirty* in here!”

What didn’t get done yesterday: Enough work.

I’m sure you can relate. So please share: what did you do yesterday? What didn’t get done? 

Forbes magazine has figured out the best cities for working moms, and the results are surprising.

New York City – also known as the most expensive city in the country, where $60,000 buys you about as much as a $26,000 annual salary in Atlanta — comes out on top, followed by Austin, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, and Portland, Oregon.

I’m a little confused. What do those five cities have in common, and what makes them great for working moms in particular? A high concentration of moms who work outside of the home? Family-friendly companies? Spectacular, affordable childcare? Jobs with flexible hours?

Don’t know. Forbes didn’t focus on those things.
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The neighborhood kids are out on their bikes, and my youngest two want to join the fun. But my little son is only 2 1/2, and my tall daughter just 4 1/2 — younger than any of the other kids by at least a year, in spite of her height.

So I helmet them up and let them grab her scooter and his trike and push them into the cul-de-sac, and I stand there, by the mailbox, watching them try hard to keep up with the others. They can’t, of course — the difference between 4-1/2 and 5-1/2 can be steep, for some things — but they’re not discouraged. They try, and I watch, and then I notice… I’m the only adult out there.

Overbearing or just cautious? At what point can you — should you — stop hovering?
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I try to watch what my kids watch, which means that the commercials I sit through are geared mostly either to kids (Toys! Games! Candy!) or to moms (Body wash! Convenience foods! Cleaning products!). Or, I should say, “moms,” because really, a commercial pitched to directly me, and most of the working moms I know, would involve wine and sleep.
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