Parenting: Daily Loaf, Creative Loafing Tampa

Ask Dream Momma: Smoke signals from the unconscious

Dream Momma — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:30:25 -0400

“Hi there! A good friend referred me to you ...…

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More summer reading — for the beach, the mountain cabin or even just your couch

William McKeen — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:23:02 -0400

Here are some more things to consider for room in your beach bag or your knapsack, depending on your destination.

Short story collections are a tough sell, but nothing is better for the short-bite approach to reading than a good book of stories. I've always been fond of the Flannery O'Connor and John Cheever collections, but Alix Ohlin's new book, Signs and Wonders (Vintage, $15) is one of the best story collections I've read in a decade.…
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The Single Most Important Father's Day Gift

Christopher Dorsey — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:00:00 -0400

Two weeks ago, my dad called and said that my mom’s brother, uncle Jerry, had experienced a mild heart attack.
“Is he alive?” I asked. We’d been down this road before.…
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Why marriage equality is essential for healthy children

Mindy Stokes — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:09:00 -0500

The election cycle is gearing up and already I’m experiencing the inevitable: anti-homosexual rhetoric. Politicians are working on getting elected and one of their favorite galvanizing issues is marriage equality.…
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How to survive FCAT: Tips for parents and kids

Catherine Robinson — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:24:08 -0400

The FCAT is here, that magical standardized test that spreads stress around like frat boys spread venereal warts. Educators, students, and parents have to deal with pressures that could make soldiers in Libya feel nervous.…
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Autism & parenting for the kinky-minded

Mistress Erisiana Cherie — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 06:57:32 -0400

April is autism awareness month. In recognition of this I want to say a few words about what it's like to live with autism.

You see, I'm not just a dominatrix, I'm also a soccer mom. (Literally - I wrote parts of this while sitting on the sidelines at my daughter's soccer practice.) And one of my children has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism.…
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Out in Left Field: Going nuts about peanut allergies in Edgewood, Florida

Catherine Robinson — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:13:04 -0400

Arcadia, a small, rural town in south Florida, had some trouble back in 1987. A group of concerned parents gathered together to protest the presence of the Ray children in their elementary school.…
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Oy, y'all: A clash of cultures at Cracker Country

Catherine Robinson — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 07:49:42 -0500

When I can’t talk my mother into the gig, I am sometimes called upon to chaperone my children’s field trips. Over the years, adventures have included Lowry Park Zoo, museums and Cracker Country.…
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Theater Review: Stageworks' MOMologues long on honesty, short on insight

Mark E. Leib — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:19:50 -0500

Hearing the audience roar with laughter at The MOMologues on the evening I saw the performance, you might have thought that the play must be brilliantly witty. But you’d be wrong: What the (mostly) women watching this Stageworks show were clearly laughing at was the accuracy of its many descriptions of the motherhood experience, from the absurdity of fertility treatments to the shock of bearing twins.…
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The Florida State Fair: I thought I'd never go, but then…

Catherine Robinson — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:39:53 -0500

There are certain things I never thought I’d do, like forget to shave my legs on a regular basis or curse at my DVR when it stopped working properly. I also never thought I’d attend a fair, theme park, or carnival and actually enjoy it.…
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If your kids are mouthy, here are 9 things you can do besides shoot them

Catherine Robinson — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:17:36 -0500

According to police reports, Julie Powers Schenecker, a 50-year-old Tampa mom, shot and killed her two teenage children because they were “mouthy” and talked back. Most moms are familiar with the frustration brought on by disrespectful children.…
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I'm a tiger, too: In defense of Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Catherine Robinson — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:41:35 -0500

Turns out I’m a little bit Chinese.

Amy Chua is making news lately thanks to her controversial new book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.…
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10/100/1000 Update: Shakespeare, Sweetwater, Friendship Trail Bridge proposals and more — vote now or submit your own great ideas for Tampa Bay

David Warner — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:12:40 -0500

We're less than two weeks into the 10/100/1000 Challenge, a collaborative project of Creative Loafing and Creative Tampa Bay. On Jan. 13, we launched a 100-day search for great ideas to make Tampa Bay a better place to live, which will culminate in the announcement of the Top 10 ideas and the $1,000 winner in April.…
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The Arizona massacre: Where were the parents?

Catherine Robinson — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:46:11 -0500

In response to the massacre last weekend in Tucson, when a troubled young man killed six people including a child and attempted to assassinate a Democratic congresswoman, reporters pointed to the disturbing trend in the writings and statements of some conservative leaders: language that encourages people to consider “2nd Amendment remedies” in order to “take back our country.”

Right-wing commentators and politicians who have used such imagery, laughing all the way to the bank or ballot box because they so successfully appeal to the dangerous fantasies of troubled souls, cannot now distance themselves from their biggest fans’ actions.

But are they to blame for Jared Loughner?

No.…
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Toy Story: What happens when Junior discovers Mommy's Special Drawer

Catherine Robinson — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 11:07:25 -0500

I am rarely speechless. Oh sure, there was that time when doctors told me I was carrying twins and I had nothing to say for at least 10 minutes.…
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How to tell your daughter that she needs to wear a shirt

Mistress Erisiana Cherie — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:16:18 -0500

My daughter is at the age where she needs to start wearing a shirt, but she doesn't understand why. When I tell her to put one on she rolls her eyes and gives me that how-come-I-have-to-wear-a-shirt-when-my-brother-gets-to-go-topless-all-the-time look.…
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Touchdown, curtain up: On being a sports mom turned stage mother

Catherine Robinson — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 08:08:55 -0500

Youngest was cast in a local musical, Camelot, and thus began our family’s journey into the world of community theater. Much to his credit, my 10-year-old actually enjoyed four weeks of rehearsals, seven performances, and two rather uncomfortable fittings, all while wearing jazz shoes and tights.…
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Ask Dream Momma: dreaming of a huge black bug

Dream Momma — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:14:05 -0400

“Dream Momma, I dreamt that I was inside my old house and I was on the first floor with my mom. We were going in the kitchen together and all of a sudden I see this huge black creepy-crawly bug on the floor.…
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Dreaming of a knife-wielding boyfriend

Dream Momma — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:45:37 -0400

“Dream Momma, I live in Tampa but work in St. Pete. I spend a lot of time on the bridge just thinking about things.…
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Dreaming of a shadow dad

Dream Momma — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:45:38 -0400

“Dear Dream Momma, I was at the house where I grew up and I heard a knock on the back door. When I opened the door my sister and father (who has been deceased for four years) were standing there. My sister said, "J, Dad has decided he wants to live in Pennsylvania again." (that's where my dad grew up). So I let them in and we were sitting in my old bedroom (which later became my mother's room and where she died) at the house and for some reason there was a man in the room who apparently was the cab driver who had driven my dad and sister to the house. This man was talking nonstop but I can't remember what he was saying. It didn't seem to be anything important -he was just blathering on and keeping us from having a conversation. Suddenly one of my nephews was also in the room and he interrupted the cab driver and said "Here's $10 now why don't you beat it." Or something to that effect. And that was the end of the dream. It was never stated but I felt like there was a sense that my sister and I were humoring my dad because we knew he couldn't go live in Pennsylvania because he was dead. My dad never said anything through the whole dream.

Something about this dream makes me very sad.”

This dream makes Dream Momma sad too. It is a dream about family secrets, unfinished business, and inner turmoil. Using Gestalt theory (the dreamer is everyone and sometimes everything in a dream) it makes this dream easier to understand.…
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So you want to have kids. Please don’t.

Catherine Robinson — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 08:24:41 -0400

Catherine Durkin Robinson is a handful, creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.

No one sets out to raise an asshole.…
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How to ban books in Hillsborough County Schools

Catherine Robinson — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:09:10 -0400

Catherine Durkin Robinson is a handful, creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.

"It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written.…
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Access Arts Scholarship at the Patel Conservatory: A stellar opportunity for young performers

amisalleecorley — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:27:50 -0500

Though I left my post as operations and producing manager at The Patel Conservatory two years ago, I retained a responsibility that has proved to be a highlight of my time there: I am charged with recruiting over 100 financial-need students for full scholarships to Patel's summer performing arts programming, up to three weeks of camp or one 10-week class.

The Access Arts Scholarship program morphed out of a program called the Community Arts Ensemble, started by Fred Johnson years ago before the Patel Conservatory was even a glint in the eye of the former Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (now the Straz Center for the Performing Arts).…
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Youth sports: Survival tips for parents of the athletically inclined

Catherine Robinson — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:23:46 -0500

Catherine Durkin Robinson is a handful creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.

These past few months have been great.…
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Abstinence-only programs blamed for sudden rise in teen pregnancy

Shawn Alff — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:07:02 -0500

New data from the federally funded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compiled by the Guttmacher Institute, reveals that pregnancies for 15 to 19-year-olds rose 3 percent between 2005-2006---the first increase in teen pregnancies in over a decade. Teens are now getting pregnant at a higher rates than before the 1990s.…
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