sisterhood

A Year of Deprogramming

Posted on by Beth Caldwell

YOU GUYS! It’s my one year blogiversary! And now I will wax philosophical about writing, and sisterhood, and The Cult.

I feel like in the past year, I have noticed a change in the world. I feel like I run into less Judgy McJudgersons, and more…well, I haven’t coined a term for the opposite of Judgy McJudgersons yet, have I? How about we call her Ms. Awesomesauce? Ms. Awesomesauce does stuff like finding support for a friend who she worries has postpartum depression. Ms. Awesomesauce tells everyone that her friend’s house may be a mess, but it’s cool because the friend is focusing on what is important: spending time with her family. Ms. Awesomesauce calls out a Judgy McJudgerson when she meets one, but in a non-assholic way, because she knows we are all stronger if we come together as moms and support each other.

The best part of this last year of writing has been the amazing community of bloggers I have joined. You may not realize this if you’re not a blogger, but when you start a blog, and other bloggers hear about it, they come read your blog and start sharing the things you write that resonate with them. And they tell you how much they loved a particular piece, and WOW, does that feedback feel good! And I do the same for them, because we are all stronger if we come together as writers and support each other.

I am not a big-time blogger. I just write whatever comes in my head, not wondering “will people like this” because I am not making money off of this. If you read much of what I write, you can tell that it’s clearly therapeutic for me to be writing my blog, especially since The Cancer. So, I don’t really worry about trying to reach new readers or page views or whatever. I just spew out some stuff filled with typos and call it a day. Which is why it is all the more amazing to me that there are so many of you who DO read what I write, and say nice things about it. And it makes me feel stronger, because in this space on the Internet, we have come together as people who support each other.

So, thanks for being so Awesomesauce, you guys! And here’s to another year of fighting The Cult!

Grown Up Movies for Kids: Little Women

Posted on by Beth Caldwell

It’s rare for The Girl, who is, after all, only 2, to really get into these grown-up movies for kids. So it’s even more rare for both her and The Boy to both love the same grown up movie. So, this one is a real gem: Little Women. In this review, I’m talking about the version with Wynona Ryder, because it’s on cable all the time, but the version with June Allyson is delightful too.

Let’s go through our list of things that frighten people off from showing grown up movies to their kids: Sex, nope. Swearing: nope. Violence: nope. It doesn’t get any more sweet and pure than Little Women.

I’m not sure what it was about this movie that made The Girl like it so much. It pains me to say this, but perhaps it was the dresses, which are hoop-ish and probably remind her of Sophia the First (shudder). Except, here are girls who clearly aren’t princesses, and that’s what I love about this movie. They struggle for money, and yet they do incredibly kind things like give away their Christmas breakfast to the poor German family that has even less than they do. They rely on the kindness of neighbors, they sell their hair so they don’t have to ask their mean aunt for money, and they work odd jobs to make ends meet. And they’re happy–not that they’re perfect and not that they don’t sometimes wish for more, but they know that they have each other, and that’s way more important than having a palace. It’s like the lesson Sophia pretends to be teaching (“remember how happy we were when we were broke, Mom? Let’s try to recreate our life of poverty, except in a palace!”).

I will also point out that this is a movie about sisters learning to be different instead of competing with each other. They all have different skills–Meg is a nurturer, Jo is a writer, Beth is a musician, and Amy can paint–and somehow, they all admire each other without being all that envious. I mean, they’re not saints and of course they have their moments, but everyone is proud of Jo’s book, and Amy’s painting, and they all celebrate when Beth gets that piano for Christmas. This is a life lesson we all want our kids to learn–find your passion and do it, without worrying about what your sibling is doing. It’s especially important in my family, where it have one child who has a disability and is going to face challenges in school, and one who appears not to.

Is this movie a bit overly sweet? Of course it is, but you know what? I am so sick of movies where people are fighting and shooting at each other, not to mention movies with exactly one female character in the whole film. Here is a movie about women and girls, and it’s charming, and my kids found it charming too. So, set aside your snarkiness for an afternoon and smile at people loving each other for a change. Think of it this way: how many movies are there where sisters, or other women, are mean and just shit on each other all the time? How about we counteract that with a little kindness?