Kids are kids. They're a noisy lot, and that's just the way they are. Rather than having kid-free zones, what about more appropriate zones for kids, in many places?

I've been in a lot of airports that have indoor play areas for kids. However, there is typically only one, and it's always miles from my gate. Instead, I have to haul my crabby, tired children (and all their junk) through escalators, moving walkways, and miles of walking, only to find rows of chairs and admonish them to be quiet. Yeah right. I'd say if you really want kids to quiet down, give them an appropriate place to get their wiggles out about as frequently as you find a restroom. You wouldn't have to build a full-fledged playground every 10 feet. But what about a little something to climb on, instead of another piece of nondescript sculpture that I have to say "no, don't touch"? Airport architects forget that we were all kids once. Yes, they're inconvenient, but they are part of the human condition, and they do travel on a regular basis.

which means I attended my senior prom in 1984. I mean geez, it's not exactly the dark ages. We had the prom in the school auditorium. I wore a dress that my mom made. My boyfriend drove his parents car. He rented (by today's standards) a very silly-looking tux. We had dinner in a restaurant. We went to a party after at someone's house, listened to music, and watched videos. Maybe $100 outlay combined.

I knew some kids who took the budget thing to extremes, shopped at the thrift store, and took a white tablecloth and a rose in a vase to McDonald's. They had a great time though... 8 or 10 couples in their prom getup eating Big Macs. I bet they had more fun than the kids in the limo.

according to my aunt who lives and works in Manhattan, women switched immediately to flat shoes. She said for months you couldn't even find heels in store displays. Everyone was worried about being able to run, climb, or get out in a pinch. She said it was a sobering reminder of practicality, but on a purely shopping level kind of nice to have such a range of attractive flats for all occasions.

How quickly we forget that walking is a kind of handy skill to have.

No one ever said gender inequality was fair. No, those people do not "deserve" in any way to be raped. However, making the series of poor choices they did is the equal of walking down a busy road in the dark in black clothes. No one deserves to die being run over by a semi truck in the dark. However, by staying in one's living room instead of walking on the road in aforementioned black sweats, one takes significantly less risk.

Yes, men absolutely must take responsibility for their actions. In a perfect world, they would. Until that perfect world arrives, women need to be a whole lot more cautious.

I remember talking in college 20 years ago about a frat party rape of a 16 year old that took place in my small-town liberal arts college. Scandal rocked the campus, and we talked of nothing else for months. At the time, I remember taking the line of "What the hell was a 16-year-old girl doing at a frat party anyway?" That particular fraternity was notorious. I knew a whole lot of women who wouldn't set a foot in there during the day, let alone at night at a party.

A guy I still respect to this day for making me stop in my tracks and think, said "Stupid people have rights too."

Yes, they do. People who do stupid things and end up in stupid places DO have rights. Those things should not happen. People should take responsibility. However... the person in black sweats on the road is still just as dead, even though they shouldn't be.

I imagine I'll be having this very conversation some day with my daughter who is now only 6. I can't imagine that I'll say something along the lines of "It's ok honey, go ahead and drink and get stupid with a bunch of guys. You'll be fine because they'll be perfect gentlemen, and if they're not, well, it's against the law and they'll be in a lot of trouble." No, I'll be trying in every way that I can to caution her against getting in that situation in the first place.

Last I checked, the Cleavers, of that idyllic age Caitlin obviously years for, (aka June, Ward, Wally, and the Beaver) had one car. Beaver and Wally shared a bedroom. I'd be willing to bet (by checking the sizes of 1950's tract houses in my town) that their house had about 1500 square feet or less.

Caitlin, you just get yourself some pearls and a vacuum and wear heels while you clean house. You cram your precious children into one room (and REALLY live on old Ward's income). Tell me about it when you're through, ok? Just leave out the nookie part. I really don't want to know.

He's taken the "typical" path that many women take. When the first baby came along, he stayed home for nearly five years. (I had a better job, he hated his). When the oldest was in kindergarten, my husband went back to school, got a new career, and is "starting over" in the wage ladder at 40. I out-earn him two to one. It's because I kept working, kept advancing in my career while he was home changing diapers, cooking, and vacuuming. It's a fact of life that such work is undervalued by the world (though not by me!). But it happens to men just as it happens to women. This is not a women's issue so much as it is a family life issue.