Entries by Tracee

What the $%^&*!

By Tracee Sioux Fill in the blank with whatever you want to believe I thought. I didn’t say it because my kids were present and I didn’t want them to freak out. Inside, I was totally freaking out though. It was a parenting moment for which I found myself with no other response than What […]

Intuition and Instinct

By Tracee Sioux One of our neighbors is this nice autistic man who is prone to random screaming at the top of his lungs. When they first moved in I ran over there to help whoever was being murdered. He knocked on the door last week with his niece, a playmate for Ainsley, and asked […]

Dear Tooth Fairy,

Dear Tooth Fairy, I am excited to tell you that I have lost my very first tooth. It’s been loose for about two weeks. When I first told my mom that my tooth hurt when I was eating she said, “See, I told you if you didn’t brush your teeth good enough they would turn […]

Dave Ramsey Should Pay Me

I find it terribly unempowering when debt eats you alive. Going into debt is something I will teach my daughter not to do. But, really it’s hard when we suffer so as Americans from stuffitis. Our girls are marketed to in an aggressive way and one of the best ways to teach them not to […]

Girls Next Door

Talk about Parents Behaving Badly, I was watching The Girl’s Next Door, the reality show about Hugh Hephner’s harem. and I saw a very bad mother. The girls were signing autographs and this woman had brought her two daughters, one about six-years-old and the other maybe 11 or 12. The three of them were so […]

Domestic Labor Balance

By Tracee Sioux We had a fabulous time over Memorial Day weekend when a very generous friend offered to let us stay at her bed and breakfast for three days. It was super-glorious. We were so grateful we couldn’t help inviting a few friends over to share it and made it a lovely party. It […]

False Eyelashes

by Tracee Sioux I was attempting to teach my five-year-old daughter to critically deconstruct advertising while watching television one day. Oh, mommy look how pretty her eyes are! You gotta try that. Ainsley exclaimed when she saw a commercial about Loreal’s Volume Shocking Mascara. Those are fake eyelashes Ainsley. No mascara can make your eye […]

Girls Can Be Soldiers Too

I hope everyone is out frolicking with their kids this Memorial Day. We are supposed to be remembering our lost veterans on this day. We have a war going on right now, so it’s good to talk to our kids about that. Lots of not-so-noticed veterans are women. Do our daughters know that soldier is […]

Growing A Girl

By Tracee Sioux I highly recommend Growing a Girl: Seven Strategies for Raising a Strong, Spirited Daughter, as one of the best books out there for empowering girls. First, isn’t the title just delightful? I am so jealous that I didn’t come up with it myself. It’s such a great book I lent it to […]

Battered Women, Time To Leave

By Tracee Sioux I know this column will reach a battered woman, because according to the US Justice Department, 30 percent of women are beaten by a significant other at one time or another. This is an issue very close to my heart as I was a battered girlfriend for two years, between 14 and […]

Jessica's Law Passes in Texas

By Tracee Sioux Two big things have happened to protect children from sexual abuse perpetrators, especially repeat offenders. The State of Texas has passed The Jessica Lunsford Act. Each state has its own version of “Jessica’s Law” before legislatures. The law requirements are a little different in each state depending on how strict or lenient […]

Pink Rocks

By Tracee Sioux One of the most girl-empowering women in the culture right now, in my opinion, is Pink. Author Disclaimer: Obviously, you must use good judgment about the age-appropriateness of buying your daughter a Pink album. There is profanity and mature subject matter in the lyrics. I do not allow my 5-year-old daughter to […]