Alrighty friends,
On Saturday I did the Parenting hour on Newstalk ZB, and we wound up veering off my area of expertise and stumbled into the realm of having conversations about sex with your kids.
Now, I’m quite comfortable having such conversations, and I’ll offer my opinion where appropriate, but FRIENDS I am NOT an expert! That would be Jo, she’s the expert. Nonetheless, I did my bit (*which is to say, don’t think of this as “a talk”, but think of it as many low-key talks over many years! There are biology talks to be had, but there are also consent convos, and then the all important PLEASURE bit!). And that’s without even getting started on the weirdness of modern porn, which also deserves a conversational spotlight!
Anyway, there I was, on the radio … talking about sex. I actually used the words “magical penis” within the first five minutes. Lord, give me strength. (*quick sidebar – I find myself craving emojis when I write, these days. Face-palm right here) AND we talked about how reductive and stupid it is to use euphemisms like “birds and the bees”, which is just confusing.
Ornithology and apiarists? What do they have to do with intercourse?
Then … whaddya know … the episode is released as a podcast episode with the title “birds and the bees”. FFS, y’all. I mean, I know clickbait is a thing and we are all feeding the machine, or whatever … but LORDY I felt so shamed out.
Never mind that in the final third of the show I was able to pull the kōrero back to the things that are important for me to discuss; like technoference, and parent-infant relationships, and babies’ developmental trajectories … the flipping show is published with a dumb flipping title. And my name right there with it.
I also talked about so many interesting things about the bigger systems influencing families: economic forces and the attention economy (regretfully: stopped short of “it was capitalism all along”). How’s the irony that it will be the attention economy that informed the title. Yawn.
humbug! I’m hoping that not many people notice, tbh. But I’m shining a light on it here cos I know that if you’re reading this you are the sorta soul more likely to offer me some grace …
What else?
Yesterday we rewatched the excellent documentary Long Time Running as a family, as it was the ten year anniversary of the Tragically Hip’s final concert. I wept the whole way through. RIP Gord Downie.
I cut the dickens out of my right thumb … (eew through the nail vom ) … slicing onions through newly teary eyes in irresponsibly low lighting. Think of the productivity gains we’d have if we avoided injury by prioritising task lighting! I feel a new public health campagin coming on.
And then I longed to rewatch the Canadian figure skaters’ routine to the song of the same name as the documentary, so I did. I remembered boo-hooing through it at the Winter Olympics in 2018. And now you can, too: HERE it is. Just beautiful.
In other news, I’m hoping this link gets you behind the paywall so you can read this compelling account of a Minnesota teacher’s tech-free classroom experiment (*with a heartbreaking ending about ICE raids … jeez …) and this is a link to some fascinating (and depressing, and important!) research highlighting how policy and the implementation thereof directly affects infant wellbeing.
I have almost cleared my huckery cold so I can get back to recording the Feeding Companion Podcast, which is essential and vital and crucial and crushing!! One of the topics for the week … cradle cap … some babies do and some don’t!! And may I end with a shout out to Whāraurau for an excellent online training last week about working with adults who have autism, specifically during their perinatal period. ’twas uplifting, interesting, and all-round much appreciated! I am also grateful for their having highlighted this super important report, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2026-2036, which I pledge to spend some time with, getting to know if at least just a weenie bit.