Words by Another

While I gather my thoughts for a Thanksgiving post, I give you this really beautiful essay on family from Babble:

"Lost in Translation: A Thanksgiving meditation on the generation gap" by Kevin Keck

I hope to be back tomorrow with something even half as articulate as that.

Making Memories

Babble has come out with "The 26 Most Disturbing Kid Movies Ever."  

I was somewhat relieved to see that my kids have only seen five of the movies on the list and I'd have to say "Dumbo" was more traumatizing for me to watch than it was for them. But they were pretty freaked out by "Wizard of Oz," only not so much because of the witch or the monkeys, more by the idea that a tornado could just scoop up your house...it figures they'd fear the most realistic part of the film. Assuring them that flying monkeys don't exist would have been too simple. 

Anyway, I'm sure you'll recognize a few of the movies on the list as sources of your own childhood trauma. And if you still aren't convinced to click over and read the damn thing, please enjoy this excerpt on "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory":

The tunnel scene of this movie is the single most frightening sequence in all of '70s cinema. And we're talking about a decade that brought us The Exorcist and Alien. Gene Wilder is simply brilliant in this subversive kiddie classic. One look at him and there is no way you're believing this movie really is for children. Let me ask you, if Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka rang your doorbell, would you let him in? Didn't think so. He's the pusherman, baby. A totally Technicolor, sociopathic pimp. In one master stroke, this film says, "Hey kids, this is what dropping acid is like. The first time's free. Enjoy the '70s!"

I totally agree. (And btw, I must thank my friend Rachel for gifting this movie to my boys this year...I'm sure they were only mildly traumatized.)

SAHM, I Am

All you stay-at-home moms (and dads) must read this article on Babble today. 

I'm totally going to buy her book. 

Scientifically Unspecific

Though autism isn't actually on my mind all of the time (see previous post for what seemingly occupies the rest of my thoughts), it seemed wrong to kick off Autism Awareness Month without a blog related to autism.

So, I'm sending you over to read this essay on the Babble site, by a mom whose son has PDD-NOS, one of the disorders on the autism spectrum. 

My boys have a friend diagnosed with PDD-NOS and I think his mom struggles a bit because the diagnosis literally means that the development disorder is "not otherwise specified" (NOS). What are you supposed to do with that? As if autism wasn't mysterious enough...how do you treat something so vague that they actually put "not otherwise specified" in its name?

I suppose you do what we're all doing and try to follow the "experts'" suggestions while trying to love your kid so much that no matter how cruel the typical-brained world might be, he (or she) will be okay...never "normal," but always okay.