Posts Tagged "Social Trends"

As the mother of a boy-child now grown to a young man, I had to share an article that appeared in this weekend’s Wall Street Journal . It’s based on a new book by Kate Stone Lombardi titled “The Mama’s Boy Myth,” all about how it’s really OK for a mom and her son to be as close as a mom and her daughter. This is despite the fact that:

“For generations, mothers have gotten one message: that keeping their sons close is wrong, possibly even dangerous. A mother who fosters a deep emotional bond with her son, we’ve been told, is setting him up to be weak and effeminate — an archetypal mama’s boy. He’ll never be independent or able to form healthy adult relationships.”

Lombardi notes that while we have dramatically changed the way we’ve raised our daughters in recent generations, the old myths still apply when it comes to sons.  “Daddy’s girls” are good, “mama’s boys” are bad.

According to the book,  the idea of a close relationship doing damage to our sons is nonsense and there has never been scientific evidence to support the negatives.  In fact a study of more than 400 middle school boys showed that sons who were close to their mothers were less likely  to define masculinity as being physically tough,  stoic and self-reliant and “not only remained more emotionally open, forming stronger friendships, but they also were less depressed and anxious than their more macho classmates. And they were getting better grades.”

Moms, what about it? Is it OK to be as connected to your sons as to your daughters? Are you raising your boys and girls in the same way, or holding yourself back when it comes to your sons?

For the complete story, visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203960804577241610532233188.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5.

Twins are the new trend when it comes to U.S. births. As of 2009, the last figure available, 1 in every 30 babies born here was a twin, compared to 1 in 53 in 1980, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

The twin birth rate rose by more than 2% a year, on average, from 1980 through 2004, leveling off briefly that year to less than 1% annually then rising nearly 2% again from 2008 to 2009.

In 2009, twin rates increased in all 50 states, with the most significant jumps in lower New England, New Jersey and Hawaii. In Connecticut, twins now account for nearly 5% of births.

Nationally, 3.3% of all births were twins in 2009, up from 2% in 1980.

The greatest increase in twin rates was for women 40 and older. They are more likely to use fertility treatments and to have two embryos implanted during in vitro fertilization, whereas younger women are more likely to get just one.

About 7% of all births for women 40 and older were twins, compared to 5% of women in their late 30s and 2% of women age 24 or younger.

Rates doubled for whites, rose by half for blacks and by about a third for Hispanics. Historically, black moms have twins most often, but white moms have almost caught up.

Are you a mom of twins? In what way has that influenced your purchasing decisions? Marketers, are any of you focusing on this growing market?

We’ve all heard the terms bridezilla, ecotourism, and juvenescent (right?)…but what about brattle? Dictionary.com gives brattle the unbiased definition “to scamper noisily.” Lizzie Skurnick’s “That Should Be A Word” column in last week’s New York Times Magazine gives brattling a new definition: “to discuss one’s children, often at length.” We somehow didn’t think she was giving the word a positive connotation and our suspicions were confirmed after reading her definitions for spamily (Facebook or Twitter updates about kids) and spawntourage (a group of approaching strollers).

Do you agree that incessant chatter about kids is annoying or should Ms. Skurnick lighten up? And do you ever brattle about your own kids?

Apparently, the days when a woman would look forward to hearing the word “grandma” for the first time are now behind us.

Some folks feel that being called grandma or grandpa is the equivaelnt of being labeled old — and old is not how many of today’s active grandparents feel.

This seems to be especially true in the celebrity world. According to a recent New York Times article, actress Goldie Hawn, a grandmother herself, referred to the term as having “so many connotations of old age and decrepitude.” Actress Blythe Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow’s mother, wanted her grandchildren to call her “Woof.” Paltrow says, “My mom’s hot and she didnt want to be called Grandma.”

A celebrity-worthy new term — GlamMa — now appears in UrbanDictionary.com, defined as a “woman with a sense of self and style.” Sources such as Grandparents.com offer other modern alternatives from which to choose.

Although I’ve got, in theory,  a long way to go, I have no idea how I’ll react when the time comes for me to assume a name to go along with the grandparenting role. I also can’t imagine what new term would have the same special meaning as the traditional one. Although GlamMa does have its appeal…

Has the “g” word been an issue with your parents? What do your children call them?

Lately it seems impossible to go more than a week without reading some new article about students being bullied or sexually harassed by their peers. The secret videotaping of a Rutgers student’s sexual encounter with another man is probably the most widely known story. Yale University was most recently in the news, when it announced today that it was banning a fraternity “in which members led pledges in chants offensive to women” from on-campus activities.

Some colleges are addressing this ongoing epidemic of incivility by introducing classes on the subject. One I found most interesting was the elective offered at George Mason University called “Professionalism and Civility.” According to the university’s Web site, this one-credit course teaches students how to manage their “professional image, conduct at work, telephone, written, oral, and electronic etiquette, table manners, and social networking with an emphasis on the cultural needs for honoring commitments and obligations.” (http://cehd.gmu.edu/courses/courseinfo/?id=1898).

Not a bad idea. Of course, as great as this elective sounds, I can’t help but wonder if the students who actually need this course would sign up for it.

Tip to marketers: There’s probably an entire industry that could be developed around teaching appropriate behavior for young people.

Yet, shouldn’t children be educated on the proper way to behave among their peers well before the college years — by their parents? Today, high school, middle school and even grade school incivility–better known at those stages as bullying–is almost a given. Are these the same children who never learned to share a toy on the playground or who hit and punched when they didn’t get their way? This leads to the questions: Moms, in your experience, how widespread is this kind of behavior among young children? Have your youngsters been the perpetrators or recipients of this rude and unkind behavior? What’s the solution?