Margaret Garcia-Couoh's blog

About Margaret Garcia-Couoh

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No longer hip mother of two pop culturally saturated preschoolers that are trying to point the way...Margaret Garcia-Couoh's profile

Same Sex, Same Cake

Posted 1 week 6 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Culture, Relationships

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The time had come to break it to the kids that the grandmas are getting married at the end of July. I was bracing for very literal preschooler observations of only boys and girls can marry---not unlike my preschoolers observations about who can tuck her in and who can play with Barbie...her response was not expected...

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Old MacDonald had some Suckers

Posted 4 weeks 17 hours ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Culture

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As a mostly vegetarian, hippie genX-er--a non-TV watching, non-consumer driven parent-- I have purposely failed my children miserably by hiding from them vital cultural icons of American life. But all that is about to change with two Happy Meals...

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Kid Friendly Trips with TripFlix

Posted 4 weeks 3 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Entertainment

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Gas prices have you and the kids home for the summer? You might want to give the interactive DVD TripFlix a try and do some couch traveling in an air conditioned living room with teens Alex and Emily to 25 destinations across the USA.

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Gay Parenting, Part 2

Posted 4 weeks 5 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Culture, Sex Ed, Relationships

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Wow. It really is happening. All across California gays and lesbians are getting married. Their children, we children will all be legitimized in a way we haven't been before. I spent the weekend talking to a gay dad raising sons (being Father's Day weekend) here's what's been tripping around my conversations. I talked to a few women on the verge of marriage. Here's what I heard and remembered.

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Which Kind of Little League Parent are YOU?

Posted 4 weeks 6 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Social Skills, Etiquette, Conflict Resolution, Culture

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School is winding down and so is Little League season (June is national Little League month). You are almost finished carting junior around from school yard to baseball diamond to pizza parlor to game again. So it begs the question. Which kind of Little League parent are YOU?

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Explaining Gay and Lesbian identitites to the Kids, Part 1

Posted 9 weeks 3 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Culture, Sex Ed, Relationships

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With Friday’s State Supreme Court ruling in California the possibility of my mothers being able to marry legally in our state has come up once again. Yay! We are all very excited and hope that wedding bells will ring for our lesbian mothers after twenty years (longer than most of the hetero marriages we know have lasted. So, the only question that remains is what do we tell the children and when? And does it even matter?

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Yo! Happy Mother's Day!

Posted 10 weeks 3 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Social Skills, Etiquette, Conflict Resolution, Culture, Relationships

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What's it mean to be a mommy to you? This is my take on the day and the experience...

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The Icky Gooey List of Disgusting Things Only Parents Would Do…

Posted 12 weeks 6 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Social Skills, Etiquette

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Parents do some pretty disgusting, microbiology defying things...here are some of the top icky gooey things most parents find themselves doing that they wouldn't have dreamed of doing before they had kids. Hey, you can't keep them in a bubble––and it's a mess out there.

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Baby Loves Disco

Posted 13 weeks 3 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Entertainment

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Giving "Love to Love You, Baby" all new meaning, preschoolers get together for once a month dance parties and bring their parents too.

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Preschool Potty Mouth

Posted 15 weeks 4 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Social Skills, Etiquette, Conflict Resolution, Culture, Relationships

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Preschoolers are parrots. They walk through the house and repeat every word they hear in and out of whatever context they hear it. Naturally, like all other things they'll learn, they'll more than likely learn to swear from you.

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Naked Talk

Posted 17 weeks 6 hours ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Social Skills

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You have a girl and a boy under five years old. Whether it’s bath time or not, that means there’s lots of talk about body parts and their functions. How do you deal with the body questions? What about when they take their body discussions on the road, into the supermarket, to grandma’s house? Do you tell them the real names for things and the real functions or do you make up words and skip some functions?

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Staying Together...for the children?

Posted 18 weeks 2 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Sex & Relationships

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You and your beloved husband are no longer the apple of each others' eye. Should you stay together or should you join the ranks of the single parents out there? What's more important at this stage of the game, your own emotional and sexual fulfillment or both of you being there day in and day out for your children? Is there a hope of rekindling?

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How I Learned to Quit Hating Star Wars and use it as a teaching tool

Posted 19 weeks 5 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Conflict Resolution, Culture

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In the beginning, I was against my five year old watching Star Wars but now it's become a convenient if imperfect way to explain everything from local elections, my big crushes, and American foreign policy.

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Top 10 Things Not to Say to New Mothers

Posted 21 weeks 5 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Sex & Relationships

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Hey new fathers! Whatever you do, if ya want to stay married, don't say the following...

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No Birth Control Method Left

Posted 24 weeks 5 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Sex & Relationships

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What do you do for birth control when there doesn't seem to be a method left that works for you and you don't want to tie the tubes yet just in case? One woman's sad and funny trip to the gynecologist's office...

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My daughter, the princess

Posted 25 weeks 2 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Culture

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My 3 year old daughter is a third generation feminist taught that looks don't mean anything. So why does she want to parade around in pink princess costumes waiting for the day when her brown locks will turn blonde?

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Explaining Death

Posted 28 weeks 4 hours ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Culture, Relationships

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When the kids start to ask questions about death, what do we tell them? I thought I'd have a good way to do it but when the time came, but it was just the first things that popped into my head. Theirs too.

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Morning Roundup: New Year's Parenting Resolutions

Posted 29 weeks 3 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Home Life, Social Skills

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And you thought you’d just tell your self to diet and exercise more in 2008. Here’s a whole list of advice for taking resolutions straight into parenting.

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Morning Roundup: Beating the Winter Break Dull Drums

Posted 29 weeks 5 days ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Entertainment

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It’s a few days after Christmas and all the daycare providers and schools are still closed until at least January 2nd. How will you make it to the end of school vacation in one piece? Once again, the blogosphere to the rescue!

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What's in your Children's Movies (and what should they see)?

Posted 1 year 1 week ago by Margaret Garcia-Couoh

Entertainment

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It's summer and there are a whole crop of films geared towards your five year old but are rated PG or PG-13. Movie studios will argue that they are meant for older kids but older kids don't eat Happy Meals. Older kids aren't a size 4T, but a preschooler is. So what's a parent to do with their budding Jack Sparrows and Spidermen? Take them to see things rated G or PG but don't let the rating be your guide.

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