A Mother's Balancing Act

Rihanna, Don't Do It

Aside from the obvious knee-jerk response of my headline above, I find myself contemplating Rihanna's recent reconciliation with batterer Chris Brown disheartening on so many levels. Many of you know that I serve on a coalition for a local domestic violence shelter for women and their children. The primary purpose of our group is to raise awareness about domestic abuse in an effort to stop the abuse before it even happens. Education results in prevention. It's been proven time and again.

Until this week, I hadn't realized that little kids (like 4 and 5 year olds) are talking about this incident on playgrounds. No, I am not exaggerating. They have heard about this from their older siblings, in after school care, day care and when the news is on. Perhaps they've even overheard their parents talking about it over a nice glass of wine.

The point is, little kids know that their hero from Nickelodeon and Sesame Street (yes, Chris Brown has made numerous appearances on Sesame Street) beat up his girlfriend. And now, as if that wasn't bad enough, Rihanna has taken him back.

The message to the kids out there?

It's OK to beat up your girlfriend as long as you're sorry you did it afterward.

As a celebrity, Rihanna had (and perhaps even still does if she wakes up and kicks Brown's butt to the curb), the opportunity to make a huge impact on young people in our society -- both male and female. I know she's practically still a kid herself, but in taking Brown back, Rihanna just set us back about 25 years on the domestic violence awareness campaign.

Rihanna, dump that sorry sleazbag, and move on. No one deserves to be hit. And he didn't do it once or even twice. He beat the living daylights out of you.

Kick him to the curb. Today.

And parents? Talk to your kids. They know more than you think. And less than you think. Check out the resources below for some conversation starters. You'll be glad you did.

Balanced Babe (aka Molly Wendland)

Some Resources that May Be Useful to You:

Tips for Parents

How To Talk To Your Children About Healthy Relationships Handbook

Resources For Parents

How To Talk To Your Teens Handbook

Teen Dating Violence Survey Results

Communicating with Teens About Dating Violence

And check out my writing partner over at White Trash Mom's post on this same subject. Michelle has some great links to awesome info.

Weird News - Sign of the Times? You Gotta' Be Kidding Me...

You have got to be kidding me...As my very astute 17 year old daughter mused, this sounds like something off of an episode of Malcolm in the Middle, and she is so right.

Dig this. Last weekend, in our humble Midwestern community, in the not-so-neck-and-neck race for county commissioner, the man trying to unseat the "6 year veteran" was looking out his own front window when he saw his opponent drive up in front of his house, get out of his car and remove his political sign --- from his own yard. Let me make sure that I've made myself clear. The incumbent, John Toplikar, drove up to his opponent, Calvin Hayden's home, and stole the opponent's signs directly out of his yard. Yes. That's what I said. Right out of the opponent's yard. Read on. This story will get even better further down.

This is flabbergasting on so many levels. Why am I amazed, you ask? Why should I be surprised that a politician should stoop to such a level? Let's break it down:

• The opponent, Hayden, is hardly even known by anyone in the county. At least, he wasn't. Now, his name is a household word. You can bet that at the very least, he will now receive pity votes.

• Toplikar has held this seat for SIX years. What on earth was he so worried about?

• This is not a race for Congress. Nor for Attorney General. Nor for the House of Representatives. Nor for Mayor or even City Council. This is a race for a seat on the County Commission.

Are you kidding me? This man needs to get a life.

So, when Hayden and his wife realized what was going on (they had suspected something to this effect for some time but hadn't been able to prove it), they called the police and the county elections board. Both offices basically told the Haydens that unless they could catch Toplikar in the act, they were hosed. Understandable, but frustrating.

Not to be deterred, a large number of Hayden supporters went out the following morning, hoping to catch Toplikar stealing more of Hayden's signs. And one volunteer did just that - caught him in the act, stealing two of Hayden's signs. Unbelievable. Check out the video here on YouTube. Hayden is now facing a misdemeanor theft charge. The question is, "Will this be enough to convince voters to check his opponent's name in the booth?" Guess we won't know that until Tuesday, since in this great country of ours, you're innocent until proven guilty.

The video? Hil-arious. The one from our local news channel explains the whole story and contains the edited version of the theft scene (more bang for your viewing buck, so to speak), so it's actually better than the YouTube, but you can choose for yourself which one(s) to watch. ;-)

Balanced Babe - (Molly Wendland)

One Expensive Palin Stylist...

Cowabunga, Dude! Getting coiffed maverick style is dang pricey! Have you heard about this?

Sarah Palin's stylist drew a higher wage from John McCain's campaign than his Foreign Policy advisor up to this point in the month of October (this actually from a Fox News report). That's rather disturbing, don't you think? And did you hear the total figure? Are you ready for this? $22,800. On that little do of hers. And her cheeks. And lips. And nails. Um, yeah...and that's so far for the month. The Foreign Policy advisor, you asked? Yeah...$12,500.

Right. Something wrong with that picture, I'm thinking.

And that's not all. McCain may be no match for Obama in the media spending department, but his campaign has Obama's beaten hands down on good looks and style. Apparently, Governor Palin has needed a lot of gussyin' up for all of her folksy appearances. The Republican campaign reported that it had spent about $150,000 on wardrobe and cosmetics in September since Palin joined the ticket. I guess all those American as apple pie looks come at a cost after all...

Balanced Babe (Molly Wendland)

Scranton? It Sucks! You Betcha'! We're Mavericks!

Did you guys happen to catch the opening skit on SNL last weekend? I was so hoping that they would do a parody of last week's vice presidential debate, and boy oh boy, did they deliver! Only Big Strong Man and I were out at a fundraiser for our daughters' school, so we missed it. Thanks to my ever trusty big brother, however, this link served as a worthy replacement for the original moment.

Dig it. And even if you saw the original, you know where I'm coming from when I say, it's worth rewatching.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/tina_fey_as_sarah_palin_nails.html

For those of you in Palen's court:

Jason Sudeikis skewered Biden for his repeated references to Scranton, not to mention his undying love of John McCain.

And for those of you in Biden's camp:

Tina Fey did an outstanding job, winking and mavericking her way through the role, complete sentences that led to nowhere.

Watch the video. You'll see. Too funny. Life is meant for laughing. Enjoy the clip.

Balanced Babe