I don’t at all begrudge the couple of working moms in my office. I’m happy to help them out. Do I work more? Yes. Do my raises and bonuses reflect that extra work? Yes. I know for a fact (I’m the bookkeeper) that our new mom’s aren’t getting raises, extra responsibility or bonuses. Rather they’re careers are very much on pause until (and if) they are able to pick it up again.

If your bosses are really not paying attention to who is carrying the work load that’s a management problem – it’s not the new mom’s fault. If I saw this going on I’d ask for a closed door meeting with the boss. Getting angry at the mom (or dad) is misplaced.

I don’t watch a lot of TV and I didn’t plan to watch this show – but I was home and it was on and I did. I thought it was really good group dynamics. I loved the way the 4 kids that make up the council choose their respective teammates - they put a lot of thought into keeping friends together even if it meant all the big, troublesome kids were on the same team. Along those lines I’d very much expect that those gold starts get awarded to the other kids they know come from poor families (I believe they made reference to Sophia needed that money more then the other front runner they were considering). These kids really do think of themselves as representing all kids and they seem excited to do it right. I doubt you see the money grab you might see if this show was full of adults.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a reality show and thought I wanted to be on it. Mostly I’m just embarrassed for the people on them and they don't hold my interest. But if I was 9 years old I’d have done everything I could to be on this show. It looks like fun and it reminds me of being a kid.

I also grew up in a pretty little suburb of NYC. My step-dad told me about all of his bad drug experiences when I was about 11. We had just visited an old, toothless friend of his who was not doing well. I asked my step-dad what he was sick with and I ended up getting the drug talk on the car ride back. I don’t think he intended it to be a ‘scared straight’ moment – but it was for me.

This old, toothless friend of his, I soon learned, was a 20-something addict with HIV. My step-dad spoke about doing heroin with him in some basement in Paris years before and how he (my step-dad) was sick for 3 days and he never felt the urge to touch it again even though all of his friends assured him the second time would be awesome. We talked about his jumpy, crazed guy my mom used to date (a real ass-hole) and my step-dad told me all about cocaine and what that did to you.

At the time I had some X-Men ‘just say no’ era comics I got through school (God, I wish I’d kept those). There was a chart in the back that listed a whole bunch of drugs along with the street name – from weed to horse they were all presented as equally dangerous. My step-dad went thought that list with me and we highlighted the really bad ones that I should forever avoid. He also told me the few that could wait for collage – and don’t you know I have always avoided the bad ones and I did wait for collage to dabble with the couple of things on that ‘approved’ list.

I don’t recall talking about why people do drugs in the first place. I recall knowing that it must be fun while you’re doing it – I was more interested in the price you pay for that fun and that was the talk I got.

That really was priceless. I think I’m going to try that argument at home tonight :)

It seems odd to me that the people who have never seen the show hold such strong opinions. After seeing it myself I have a feeling all the news drama is going to completely die down as the kids seemed happy, excited and perfectly capable. It’s not Lord of the Flies. Not by a long shot.

And it’s totally obvious adults are present – the TV audience is just isn’t seeing it.

I’m endlessly shocked that people who don’t seem to know a thing about each other think it’s cool to get married. Money, children, work, home – these are all things that need to be hashed out well before you even think of marriage.

I think this little list from the NYT is a good start.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/fashion/weddings/17FIELDBOX.html?_r=1&oref=slogin