Raising 21st Century Woman

A couple weeks ago, the little girls were sitting at the counter in the kitchen doing their homework.  I was getting dinner ready and helping  them when needed. They started chatting to each other about life will be like when they get older and have families and lives of their own.

Georgia- "Remember Lana, when we get big we will take turns working and taking care of our kids."

Lana- "Yeah, some days I will go to work and you will stay home with your kids and my kids and some days you will go to work and I will stay home!"

Georgia-"Yup!"

I was surprised to learn that they had worked out such a great solution on their own to what haunts every mother around the world.  The pull between wanting to stay home and raise your kids on your own, and wanting to continue to be in the working world to keep your own identity, and because you know, money.  They had thought of a job sharing situation all on their own.  Not that either one of them know what they want to do for a job, so who knows if it would even lend itself to this scenario, but hey!  Good for them for thinking of this.  Then Georgia thought of something better.

Georgia- "Wait a minute!  Why don't we just make our HUSBANDS stay home and WE will go to work!"

Lana- "Oh yeah!  Let's do that!"

Wow.  We sure have come a long way in just a couple of generations.  From woman doing no work outside the home, to working or staying home, to working and having Dad stay home and having it be a NORMAL situation.  I will admit, I have worried from time to time that my staying home with the girls might make them think that they shouldn't work or shouldn't want to work, but I truly believe that everyone needs to do what is right for them.   I do feel sometimes I am looked down on for not working at all, but I like being a stay at home mom.   I think moms who work are doing what is best for them as well and we should all be tolerant of what others decide to do for their own families.  And Dads!  My generation has definitely been the first to do this.  It's nice to know that my girls' generation will be the first to make it not such a novelty.  After listening to their conversation about this, I realized I have done a good job conveying to them that they make whatever decision they want as far as working and family is concerned.  We are no longer expected to fit into one mold or another and I think that is a great success for both moms AND dads.  

Frozen in Song

Most of you who read this site have kids, or know my kids.  And if you have kids there is a 99% chance that you've seen the Disney movie Frozen sometime in the past few months.  And if you've seen the movie Frozen, you've heard nothing but the soundtrack on repeat since the Christmas music subsided at the beginning of the year.  Well, at least that's the case in my house.

Now let me just admit right here up front that I personally LOVED the movie.  I think it is probably in my top three Disney movies of all time.  I don't know if it was the fun music, or the fact that it's a story about sisters saving each other and not about a prince saving them.  But yeah, I loved everything about it and cried a good 40% of the movie.  I may have  been PMSing.  Anyway-right after we saw it, I downloaded the music and within two days the girls knew all the words to every song.  Okay, fine I did too.  We play it at home and in the car.  I will go through a day or two where I just can't listen to it anymore and within a day I want to hear it again.  I love to belt out, "Let it Go" in the car with the girls.  We have a blast.

One day last week we were in the car with Andy and I think he had enough of the soundtrack.  We weren't going far, just to Menchie's, so we drove with no music.  Then the girls started the soundtrack on their own singing a capella.  We took a break in Menchie's and they started right back up when we got in the car going from one song to the next in the order of the soundtrack.  I joined right along.  So when I found out that the El Capitan theater here in Hollywood was having a Frozen Sing-A-Long, it was a no brainer to take the girls.  This Sunday morning we will be singing our hearts out in the theater, and they are beyond excited.

A couple days ago I pulled out my phone and recorded the two little girls while they were home.  Georgia singing "In Summer" and the both of them singing "Let it Go".  Unfortunately my phone cut off the end of "Let it Go", but it was long enough.  You don't need to suffer through the ENTIRE song.  So for your entertainment pleasure, my own cast of Frozen....

I'm pretty sure we won't need to follow the bouncing ball or snowflake on Sunday at the sing-a-long.  We've got these songs down pat!