The Stir By CafeMom: Blogger Jeanne Sager

'Mad Men' Recap: Don Draper Falls Down the Rabbit Hole and Really Experiences the '60s

Sun, 19 May 2013 23:31:07 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

There's just one word to sum up tonight's episode of Mad Men. OK, not so much a word as an utterance: huh? The goings on at the as-yet-unnamed Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce/Cutler Gleason and Chaough mash-up made for some of the trippiest television yet. Don Draper even admitted he was, gasp, FEELING things!

Only one thing could make that happen.

Getting Don Draper -- and most of the staff at SCDP/CGC high as a kite!

Yup, Don's had plenty of sex over the years; so it was time to introduce the drugs portion of '60s living (no word on when rock 'n roll is coming .. although we still have a year to go in Mad Men time until they hit Woodstock).

With the folks at Chevy not doing much other than taking Ken Cosgrove on (life-threatening) joy rides, things are getting pretty desperate at the TIME/Life building. So Jim Cutler decides he's got the ticket: his special doctor, who comes in and shoots a "proprietary" blend of vitamins and an, ahem, stimulant, into the buttocks of Don, Roger, Stan, and pretty much everyone else on staff so they can get their creative juices flowing.

The effect is to make Don even harder to figure out than ever ... although we did get a peek into why old Dick Whitman ended up having such a problem keeping it in his pants. Our boy lost his virginity semi-unwillingly to a prostitute. A prostitute who was something of a mother figure to him. Oy.

So much explained in that moment... right up to his creepy stalking of Sylvia Rosen (who is still making him feel all those icky emotions even though they're technically broken up). How can he really form proper relationships with women after a start like that?

But if the drugs explained Don's trip down the rabbit hole and the wacky antics at SCDP...whatever you want to call it, they didn't quite cover the "huh" moment that was Sally Draper waking to find a random black woman in her dad's apartment claiming to be her "Grandma Ida." Another mother figure for Dick Whitman? Geez, we're losing count here!

The stranger rummaging through the cabinets seemed to know a fair amount about Don, but what she was doing in his apartment and why she went with "grandma" instead of "old family friend" is still up in the air. But it's clear she's more than just your garden variety home invader by the way Don reacted when he heard about her -- fainting right there on his own floor.

Or maybe that was just him coming down off that shot in the hiney?

Either way, something tells me we haven't seen the last of "Grandma Ida" or of the emotions Don dragged up during his weekend-long bender.

He promised the creative department, "There is an answer that will open the door" to the perfect pitch for Chevy, but maybe Matthew Weiner's going to throw us a bone ... and he really meant he's close to the answer that will open the door to whatever version of himself he has locked down? Hey, a girl can dream.

What was your reaction to this episode? Did you say "huh" at least once?

Image via Michael Yarish/AMC

8 Patriotic Quotes to Honor Our Troops on Armed Forces Day

Sat, 18 May 2013 07:45:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Alright folks, do you know what today is? You should! It's Armed Forces Day, aka the one day of the year that we take the time to celebrate our troops.

Oh, you thought that was Memorial Day? Or maybe Veterans Day? Nope ... those are both national holidays with a military bent, but they're also both reserved for folks who have left the military. But today is the one day when the active duty military get their (very well-deserved) due.

A bona fide holiday since 1949, when Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force Days, this is the one and only day our hard-working troops get to celebrate THEM.

And what better way to honor them then with some quotes about what it is they sacrifice for every day? And who has said it better than the country singers who make it a point to pay tribute to our military on a regular basis?

Here are some of our favorite patriotic quotes from our favorite country singers to pay tribute to the men and women who are fighting every day to keep America free.

Feel free to pin 'em on Pinterest (check out The Stir's military board) and share them with a soldier you love!

Who are you paying tribute to today?

Image by Jeanne Sager

5-Year-Old Who Saved Mom's Life Wants to Be Known as Batman From Now On

Sat, 18 May 2013 07:28:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

The biggest hero of this week isn't big at all. He's just a regular 5-year-old from North Carolina. When Caleb Taylor woke from a nap in the backseat of his mom's car, he saw her having a seizure, and like any true superhero would do, he unbuckled, leaped forward, and managed to steer the car off the road and turn it off.

Naturally, the little boy has told reporters that he'd like to be referred to as Batman in the future.

Whatever you say, Kid, er Batman. You deserve it! Caleb's mom, Sandra Taylor, is OK thanks to her son's quick thinking. A passerby called 911 and helped the little guy out at the scene until emergency workers could come.

The Taylors' story gives us a happy ending to a long and not necessarily happy week (seriously, I wrote about a mom putting her toddler up for adoption on Craigslist this week ... and that wasn't the WORST news of the week). It makes me want to grab this adorable little superhero up and cover him with kisses ... which is pretty much why most 5-year-old boys hate moms like me.

But it's more than that.

Caleb's story is one of those in-your-face reminders that sometimes our kids are going to surprise us.

It's not always by leaping to our rescue. More often it's something far simpler ...

A few weeks ago my daughter came home with a random plastic bag in her backpack. I was confused, until my husband explained that she'd spotted it on the ground near her dance center and wanted to bring it home to put it in the trash ... so no animals would be hurt by it.

Did she save my life? No. But it made me grin. She did something without being told out of the goodness of her heart ... because the lessons I'm working so hard to impart ARE sinking in!

Little Batman is a pretty incredible kid, but behind him must be two pretty great parents. They're doing something right here!

Have your kids ever surprised you in this way? What happened?

Image via TobyOtter/Flickr

Breast Cancer Testing Is Right for Angelina Jolie But What About Average Moms?

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:51:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

It's been a big week for something near and dear to moms' hearts. Literally. Actress Angelina Jolie set off a firestorm of debate this week over testing for the BRCA gene, aka the "breast cancer gene," when she announced she'd not only been tested, but she'd undergone a double mastectomy too.

It's a move some are calling brave, others stupid, while still others have been empowered by the celebrity mom's announcement to come out and talk about their feelings about whether or not women really need to know what could happen to their bodies decades into the future.

So should moms be rushing to their doctors, begging to be tested so they know if they need to prepare their kids for the worst?

Maybe. That's exactly why Jolie faced the scary test. The actress and mother of six explained in The New York Times this week:

I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.

There's no question moms want to do what's best for their kids. But is gene testing always a guarantee of that?

S.E. Smith got the test. She has the gene. But as she explained on X.O. Jane, she's not as lucky as Angelina ... she can't afford the double mastectomy:

When you’re uninsured, which I am, a preventative double mastectomy is often out of reach, assuming you could afford the genetic testing to tell you one might be a good idea in the first place. This isn’t like choosing between a trip to Hawaii and a new computer ...

For now, all I can do is hang my hopes on the slim percentage that I won’t get breast cancer, knowing that if a tumor develops, it’s not like I can afford to treat that either.

Smith isn't the only one who's been tested and found that the answers aren't as simple as Jolie's "cut them off" approach.

For The Stir's Sasha Brown-Worsham, the genetic test was a burden off her shoulders, but a negative result doesn't mean the daughter who lost her mother to breast cancer as a teenager is "safe":

I don't know my destiny. I'm still high risk and I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. But I do know that the gene mutation I believed I had for so many years is not in my body. So I'm grateful. Grateful for my health right now and grateful for the hope this little test has given me.

Brown-Worsham still comes down on the side of the test. But not everyone does.

Writer Florence Williams -- who has two grandmothers and a great-grandmother who died of breast cancer or ovarian cancer and is therefore considered a higher risk for breast cancer -- didn't get tested ... because it just wasn't in the cards. As she explained on Slate.com this week:

Using the models, tests and screens made me feel like I was doing something, but ultimately, they’re not terribly meaningful. It’s not even very helpful to know your magic risk number for breast cancer. Most women with lots of risk factors will never get breast cancer, and many without the big risk factors will get it nonetheless. In other words, many of the standard risk factors (early puberty, late menopause, obesity, older maternal age, obesity, smoking) are fairly useless. The reason is that we still don’t know really know what causes breast cancer.

It seems there is no easy answer. Technology has brought us to a new point in history, but it still comes down to personal choice.

What would you do? Would you get the BRCA test done?

Image via Foreign and Commonwealth Office/Flickr

Photo Lab Prints Mom's 'Indecent' Breastfeeding Picture -- Victory!

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:42:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Score one for breastfeeding moms! A photo center that refused to print a picture of a mom breastfeeding her baby because of a "nudity" policy has backed down. And it gets better! Because of the struggle Kayla Andre's husband went through to get a photo made of his wife and baby for Mother's Day, Wal-Mart is changing its policies.

Wal-Mart the company, that is, not just the one Wal-Mart in Edmonton, Canada, where Kayla's photo got the clerks up in arms! Sounds like a win for moms to me!

OK, yes, the Andres went through something ridiculous. Kayla's husband had a gorgeous photo of her and their baby that shows mom looking adoringly down at her kiddo. You could see some of her breast, but the nipple was in the baby's mouth, and it's clearer than clear what is going on.

Mom is feeding baby.

Period.

There should have been no question of indecency here.

Buuuuuuuut, and this is a big but, every time one of these cases crops up, I have to admit there's a tiny part of me that is glad. Not for what the mom (or mom and dad in this case) has gone through, but for the aftermath.

Every time a breastfeeding mom's struggles make the news, we chip away at society's backward notions about breastfeeding and sexuality. Every time a breastfeeding mom encounters a jerk at a big company, we see corporations forced to step up and do something to save face.

In the case of Wal-Mart, the company has apologized, and this photo center fiasco has paved the way for a new company policy that will be added to the guidelines for photo center employees. It will SPECIFICALLY protect breastfeeding moms.

That can only be a good thing.

Do you see an end in sight for breastfeeding moms struggling to break down the "sexy" barrier to societal acceptance?

Image via Sadie Hernandez/Flickr

'Whip Up' Blogger's Tragic Drowning Leaves 2 Kids Orphaned and Our Hearts Break

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:30:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Oh, my heart hurts today. The mom blogging community has lost one of our own: Kathreen Ricketson, better known on Twitter as WhipUp, is gone, as is partner Rob Shugg. And the couple's two children saw it all -- their parents drowning, rescue workers trying desperately to revive their mom, to no avail.

Those poor kids. Can it get much worse than that?

Ricketson was on a cross-country family adventure in her native Australia, an adventure the mother of two and blogger behind sites Action Pack and Whip Up was chronicling for a book. According to news reports, she and Bob went in for a swim, and their 10-year-old son, Orlando, is the one who sounded the alarm that his parents were drowning. He reportedly went into the water to join his parents and saw them face down.

Orlando and his 13-year-old sister, Otilija, then had to stand there and watch it all go down, from their mom being pulled to shore and folks doing CPR to emergency workers searching the water for their dad.

There are some things kids should never see. Their parents' dead bodies top the list. At least not like this, not in the throes of death under tragic circumstances.

But we never really get to choose this, do we? There's more time to plan when a parent is sick, more chance to talk to your kids about what is going to happen and whether you want them to be there in your final hours. Even letting kids in to an open casket funeral allows for planning -- you can sit the kids down and talk to them about what THEY want.

Not everyone wants to remember a loved one that way. And for kids, well ... it's hard enough for a 13-year-old and a 10-year-old to deal with the loss of a parent. These kids lost two, very suddenly, very tragically. And they didn't have a choice about seeing (or not seeing) how it all went down.

Our hearts go out to Ricketson's and Shugg's kids today. I can only hope that they'll be able to look back at their mom's blog and see how much she loved them and loved doing things with them.

Already the blogging community has set up a way to help the kids:

Enquiries can be directed to Julie McMahon via email to procrasticraft {at} gmail {dot} com or mailed to PO Box 370, Dickson ACT 2602 Australia. There are also directions on how to make contributions straight to the bank over at Whip Up.

Were you a Whip Up or Action Pack fan?

Image via KathreenRicketson

Mom Arrested for Putting 3-Year-Old Up for Adoption on Craigslist and That’s Not Even the Worst Part

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:04:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

We've had more than a few "tried to sell the kid on Craigslist" stories floating around the Internet in recent years. Way too many, if you ask me. But there's something about the latest mom charged with trying to adopt out her 3-year-old son via a Craigslist ad that's a bit unusual.

The mom, Stephanie Redus, doesn't sound like your typical jerk mom who would use Craigslist to offload a kid because she doesn't care. I can't get truly enraged at her. If anything, I read the Texas mom's story and I felt ... pity.

The pangs of sympathy don't excuse what she's accused of doing. You just don't put your kid up for adoption on Craigslist, people. Who knows what kind of sicko is out there, just waiting to pounce?

That said, read what Redus' allegedly posted online:

Hi, I’m trying to adopt out my three year old son. I’m not in a good place in my life and don’t feel like I can care for him properly, but I don’t know where to start. If you or know anyone who is interested in caring for him please let me know. I’m a single mom and can’t do this. Thanks, Desperate.

Does that sound like a mom trying to make a quick buck? A mom who really doesn't give two craps about her kid? Notice she repeats the words "care (or caring) for him" twice in there.

Call me a sucker, but Redus sounds ... like a fairly good mom.

Hey, I said fairly. She is charged with trying to arrange a Craigslist adoption.

But I should probably also tell you that Redus is pregnant.

Does that make you feel more sympathetic?

Me too.

It's HARD out there for parents who are feeling overwhelmed. There are "safe haven" laws, but in most places, they don't extend much past a baby's birth. Even finding a good babysitter to watch your kid for a few hours so you can get a handle on things is tough in this economy. As a recent report shows, the price of childcare has DOUBLED in the past 25 years.

Parents struggling with toddlers (or older kids) either have supportive family and friends to help out or ... what? Who will come to their aid when they're swimming as hard as they can and feeling like the undertow keeps pulling them in?

If we really want to put an end to the "kid being sold on Craigslist stories," maybe we need to look at why they keep happening.

So yes, we punish these parents who turn to Craigslist ... and we do something about the total lack of resources for struggling single parents out there.

That is how we make society better.

Do you feel sympathetic for this mom's plight? What do you think should be done with her?

Image via Lake Houston Police

Another 'Teen Mom' Star's Long Rap Sheet Makes Jenelle Evans Look Like a Saint

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:55:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Pop quiz time, Teen Mom fans. Which teen parent racked up the most arrests of anyone on the show? Here's a hint: it's not Jenelle Evans. And since we're talking teen parents, you can't count Tyler Baltierra's dad Butch in there either.

Go ahead ... take your time.

Did you guess Adam Lind? Aka father of Chelsea Houska's daughter Aubree?

The 21-year-old reality star is currently in jail, serving out a 90-day stint for driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. He's allowed out to go to work, but that's it. And according to details dug up by Sean Daly and Ashley Majeski, authors of the new book, Teen Mom Confidential: Secrets and Scandals From MTV's Most Controversial Shows, this isn't Lind's first brush with the law. Far from it.

In the past years, Chelsea's ex has been arrested ... wait for it ... 35 times!

And here we could only come up with nine mugshots for Jenelle, including her latest pop for alleged heroin possession. Home girl might not be the most mixed up parent in the bunch after all!

How Adam has evaded serious jailtime before now is anyone's guess, especially considering there were several times when a judge suspended jail sentences, provided he kept his nose clean ... only for him to go out and re-offend not much later.

Most of the offenses are related to driving and/or alcohol, but the way Adam has dealt with many turned them into something more serious. Take a speeding offense in June 2008. He was clocked going 89 mph in a 55 mph zone at 2 a.m. But then to make matters worse, Adam didn't bother showing up for his scheduled court date!

Let me just say it again: Chelsea is so much better off without this guy!

Were you surprised to hear Adam had been arrested more than Jenelle? Who did you think it would be?

Image via MTV

Child Molester Arrested Thanks to One Stupid Mistake

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:34:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Finally some good news in the ongoing war against child pornography. Photos of an alleged child porn producer known only as John Doe were released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations department earlier this month in a plea for the public to help nab a man abusing a little girl. And they've caught him! John Doe has been arrested thanks to tips from the public!

Well ... and thanks to his own stupidity. The dude actually showed his face on an alleged child porn film! Thank goodness.

Good prevails! Evil has been extinguished!

Or one bit of evil, anyway.

The arrest follows a rather bizarre break in the child pornography case. Videos of John Doe (whose identity is still being withheld until his first appearance in federal court) and his alleged victim -- a girl who appears to be between 7 and 9 years old -- were actually found in Denmark. But Danish authorities noticed something odd: a Frito-Lay Rold Gold bag of thin pretzels. The bag of treats is sold only in the United States -- which prompted them to send the videos to ICE. ICE, in turn, released the photos and ... voila.

The alleged sicko is now in custody.

We've all seen enough episodes of Law & Order: SVU to know it doesn't always work out so neatly. In fact, most of us have seen enough episodes of the NBC drama (and others like it) to feel like we're in an unwinnable war. One site gets taken down, and another pops up in its place. One child porn producer is arrested, another steps in to ruin the lives of innocent children.

In some ways, it's true. According to a National Juvenile Online Victimization Study, 40 percent of arrested child pornography possessors had both sexually victimized children and were in possession of child pornography. In 2008 alone, Internet Watch Foundation found 1,536 individual child abuse domains online, more than half of which were housed here in the US.

For parents, it can sound hopeless.

But it's not.

Just look at the fate of John Doe. He screwed up royally. He let his face be seen on camera. He left clues to his whereabouts.

And the public stepped up when we were needed most. Someone told on him, and the good guys moved in.

The facts of this case may be hard to stomach, but make no mistake, this is a win, America. We did it. We got a bad guy off the streets.

Now let's move on to the next one.

Did you examine these photos when they came out to see if you knew John Doe? Were you expecting him to be captured so quickly?

Image via ICE

Overprotective Mom Attends Grade 5 With Her 11-Year-Old Every Day

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:02:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

It's never easy finding out your child is being bullied. As parents, we're supposed to be their protectors. But just how far do you take the mama bear role? For Jill Trahan-Hardy, being her daughter's advocate has translated into attending school with her 11-year-old every day, shadowing her in the halls like a bodyguard.

Moms and Dads, has it really come to this? Do we really need to give up our own lives to keep our kids safe?

I respect Trahan-Hardy for what she's trying to do. She says administrators at Earl Haig Public School in Toronto, Canada, didn't do enough to keep daughter Harley Campos safe from her tormentors. The girl's bullies got a day and a half suspension for a recent stunt, but otherwise the school's suggestions come off more as punishments for Harley than anyone else.

They've suggested making Harley eat lunch alone in an office or having the girl transfer out of the school entirely.

Awful?

Of course. But is it any worse than having your mother breathing down your neck all day long?

Let me say once again that I respect Trahan-Hardy for pulling out all the stops to keep her kid safe. If more parents took bullying seriously, we might be able to really put a dent in this epidemic.

And yet, the idea of having my mom shadowing me in school makes me want to quote a movie popular in my school days: "There goes your social life."

How do you act like a normal kid when you've got your mom sitting RIGHT there? How do you chat with your friends? Get a boy's attention? Find yourself?

Trahan-Hardy may be keeping her kid from getting her @ss kicked, but she's not exactly making it easier for the 11-year-old to deal with other kids. She might even be making her kid more of a target, as she's now the kid whose Mommy is her bodyguard.

Try shedding that reputation as you head into high school. Kids don't tend to forget things like that. And they hold it over your head forever. Trust me. People still bring up the time I accidentally made a goal for the other team in youth soccer (I was 7 or 8?).

This is the conundrum for parents. When do we have to let our kids fight their own battles?

I say it's when our intrusion will hurt the child more than anything their peers can do. We can't follow our kids everywhere they go forever ...

Do you think this mom is right? Would you shadow your kids at school to keep them safe?

Image via phi1317/Flickr

Shakira's Leaving 'The Voice' Because Even Celeb Moms Can't Have It All

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:13:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Poor Shakira! The judge of The Voice has only been a mom for four months, and already she's learning the lesson we all must face: you can't have it all. The new mom of little Milan has announced she's quitting her job on the popular singing competition, leaving room for Christina Aguilera to return to the post.

But XTina has nothing to do with the Latina sensation's departure from the judge's chair. That's all Milan's doing.

Said Shakira of her decision to leave The Voice:

I really enjoyed The Voice, but I also have a musical career and I'm also a mother now and my poor baby's so tired flying such long distances. He already has more miles than any pilot. So I think I have to give him a little break, and we'll see what happens in the future.

And so it goes. You try to make baby and work come together, and everything blows up in your face.

Been there. Have the sympathy to prove it.

I cut back to part-time when my daughter was born -- a 30-hour part-time that included just two days of daycare. I was trying to do as much as I could to spend time with her and still make enough money to put food on the table. And in some ways it was fabulous. She had adventures that most kids will never experience.

But in so many other ways, it just plain sucked. Ever been on the phone with a famous singer doing an interview, looked down, and realized that your baby has taken off her diaper and begun painting with ... well, you know ...? I have.

I didn't get a heckuva lot of sleep in those days -- even after my daughter started sleeping through the night. I was always hunched over my computer late into the night, catching up on work I couldn't possibly get done with her awake.

Looking back, I don't see any other options for my family. We were trying to make ends meet, and that was how we cobbled together a life.

But when moms like Shakira confess they can't make it work either, I have to admit I feel a little bit better about my own struggles. It wasn't just me! I wasn't a failure! I was just a normal working mom who couldn't do it all!

Pheww.

Load off.

It's not that I need a celebrity to validate how I feel, folks. But there's something to be said for looking at the lives of people who have a ton more money than we do, and more opportunities, and recognizing that if they can't do it perfectly, then no one can.

And there is no SHAME in that!

So Shakira couldn't do her dream job and give everything she wants to give to motherhood? Good for her for recognizing it, and deciding to prioritize her son.

Because that's the one thing we do have control over: deciding what (or who) we want to prioritize.

How do you make peace with the fact that there is no perfect balance?

Image via Shakira/Twitter

'Teen Mom' Farrah Abraham Should Stick to Doing Sex Tapes and Leave Our Daughters Alone

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:49:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Ready for more proof that Farrah Abraham is nutters mcgee? The Teen Mom and recent porn star has started a Twitter war with former co-star Catelynn Lowell over -- get this -- who is the better role model.

Ohhhhh, ohhhhh, ohhhhh. I needed that laugh, didn't you? Go on and just let it out!

Let's forget, for just a wee second here, how sad it is that young girls in America have such slim pickings for role models that they'd be turning to reality television. Because, really, that just depresses the ever living hell out of me, and I can't go there right now.

I'm too busy trying to wrap my head around Farrah Abraham the "role model." But that's just what she said she was -- while slamming Catelynn's weight in an interview with US:

I know what jealousy looks like. I am trying to be a role model for the other Teen Moms. I try not to knock them down; I try to better them. Catelynn has a weight issue and I don't say harsh things about her to hurt her self-esteem.

So how has this role modeling worked? Let's just do a quick run down, shall we? Farrah Abraham has:

1. Shot a porn film

2. Gotten a DUI

3. Waxed her 3-year-old's eyebrows

4. (Allegedly) dated a guy for the sole purpose of getting back on reality TV

5. Released a memoir detailing her sexual romps with her boyfriend as a teenager ... in her sister's bed

6. Admitted to serious drug use

7. Gotten thousands of dollars worth of plastic surgery

Am I missing anything? Oh yeah! The fact that she was a pregnant teenager! If that's role model material in America, I'm packing up my daughter and heading out. Now.

Granted, Catelynn was likewise a pregnant teen. But after placing daughter Carly with a family in an open adoption, Catelynn has been a vocal advocate of both birth control and adoption. She's also kept her nose pretty clean.

If it's her or Farrah for my kid, you can guess who I'd pick.

Although, come to think of it ... Farrah's story is useful to parents in America. I would have no problem with sharing that list with my daughter as a "what not to do with your life" warning.

How about you?

Is Farrah a role model for young girls in America?

Image via Farrah Abraham/Twitter

7 Things Moms Shouldn't Let Their Kids Wear to School

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:24:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

It seems like at least once a week, a story crops up in the news about a school trying to enforce a dress code that's a little out-of-control. Calling kindergartners' skirts out for being too short (when they're wearing tights!). Banning long hair on little boys.

They make me as crazy as any mom. But if I had to be honest, I feel for school administrators. Because for all of us parents just trying to apply common sense to how we dress our kids, there are the parents who go off the rails.

Take, for example, the mom who lets her 6-year-old wear high heels to school. I shouldn't have to tell you that's inappropriate, but apparently it has to be said.

Yes, there are dress codes that treat our kids like they're going to prison instead of school. There are dress codes that sexualize little kids and seem to slut shame girls.

But there is also a reason schools have dress codes. It's called idiot parents.

If you're not one of them, you probably wouldn't send your kid to school in just about anything on this list.

What would you add?

Image by Jeanne Sager

After 9 Years of Infertility, Mom Has Quadruplets

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:23:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

It's amazing what a change in perspective can do for you, isn't it? The idea of having four kids at once terrifies one and done me. But for a British couple who just made medical history, having quadruplets born from just one embryo is a miracle.

And the truth is, even one and done me can't help but read Christine and Justin Clark's story with the biggest grin on my face. Miracle indeed!

The Clarks spent nine years struggling through infertility. When they decided to go the IVF route, they had just one embryo implanted. And bing, bang, boom, Christine was pregnant ... with four babies.

The chances are roughly around one in a gazillion (OK, not really, I just made that up ... but they're really, really, really, really, really slim -- give or take a few reallys). Quads tend to come from multiple embryos -- and they're usually of both genders. Not here -- one embryo split into three, and another split into two, and all four are girls. The Clarks, of course, are over the moon to have daughters Darcy, Caroline, Elisha, and Alexis.

I would be too.

Yes, I know, I said the idea of four babies at once fills me with dread. But that's because I have decided to be one and done (for myriad reasons). But if I were the Clarks, I'd be jumping for joy.

It's all about perspective.

This is why I hate when people criticize my only child. It's why I'd never criticize someone for having more. What works for one family doesn't necessarily work for another, and vice versa.

The Clarks' amazing story just goes to show that. Four babies -- for them -- is a blessing.

Because sometimes miracles really do happen!

Quick -- four babies at once -- what's the first thing that comes to mind?

Image via rosmary/Flickr

Ariel Castro Wants Us to Know How 'Dearly' He Loves His Daughter With Kidnap Victim Amanda Berry

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:41:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Oh for the love of Mike. Ariel Castro, alleged kidnapper and all around sicko (allegedly), is upset, y'all! Set to plead not guilty, he can't believe that American thinks he's a monster. In fact, he wants us all to know that he loves his daughter dearly. Wait. Isn't this the daughter delivered by kidnapping victim Amanda Berry during her nearly 10-year ordeal, locked up in a house in Cleveland, Ohio, with two other women who were also being held against their will?

Yup, that's the one! The way Castro's lawyer, Craig Weintraub, tells it, we should all be ashamed of ourselves for demonizing his client. And fellow attorney Jaye Schlachet went even further!

Said Schlachet:

I can tell you that Mr. Castro is extremely committed to the well being and positive future for his daughter, who he loves dearly. And if people find that to be a disconnect from what he's alleged to have done, then the people will just have to deal with it. We just know how he feels about his little girl.

Disconnect? That's putting it mildly, folks.

I know a lawyer's job is to spin a tale to get their client the best deal, but telling the world that a man loves a child conceived during an alleged rape is hardly convincing.

That's like a serial killer announcing he's just donated a large sum of money to charity and expecting us all to forgive him for the series of bodies he's left in his wake.

One right does not undo a mountain of wrongs.

Does Ariel Castro love his daughter? Probably somewhere in that head of his, he does.

But most criminals love their kids. That doesn't keep them out of jail. It doesn't make their crimes less heinous.

As it stands, Ariel Castro is facing charges of kidnapping and rape. And with Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight standing here able to talk about the horrors that went on in that house, he's not going to be able to run and hide. He's going to have to face the charges against him and put up the best defense possible.

Loving his kid isn't going to be enough.

Do you believe Castro loves his kid? Does it MATTER?

Image via Cuyahoga County Sheriff

South Carolina Mom Charged With Killing Kids Was a 'Model' Parent

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:47:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Moms aren't supposed to hurt their kids. It's not a law so much as a general rule of life. But a South Carolina mom was arrested this week and charged with doing the very worst thing a mother can do: killing her own kids. After Suzanna Simpson allegedly shot her children and husband (who is clinging to life in a hospital), she turned the gun on herself ... but couldn't go through with it.

What kind of mother kills her kids? In Suzanna Simpson's case, it would seem a "model" one.

That's what a spokesman from her kids' school district called her. She was an active volunteer at the elementary school 7-year-old Carly and 5-year-old Sawyer attended.

She had no criminal record.

There were no domestic violence calls to her home.

Her kids were well-liked and well-behaved.

And now Suzanna Simpson is charged with two counts of murder and attempted murder in the deaths of her own children.

How?

How do we rectify the image of a "model" mom with a cold-blooded killer who murders her own children in their beds? With a woman who kills her children and then wants to KEEP ON LIVING?

My mind tells me it happens all too often. My heart is still insisting there must have been signs, there must be a good reason for this.

As if there could ever be a good reason for killing your children? Of course there isn't. Never. Ever.

But we look at the description of Suzanna Simpson and the story that's unfolded in her South Carolina town, and we're left wondering where we draw the line between good and evil. If a "model" mom with model kids can go 'round the bend, are we all just walking a tightrope between the two? Is there any clear line?

Could you imagine a model mom snapping like this?

Image via CarbonNYC/Flickr

Mom Whose Kid Was Described as a 'Freak' in Yearbook Overreacts Big Time (VIDEO)

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:01:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

It's the question of the decade. How far should schools go to stomp out bullying? Should a school, for example, confiscate 900-some yearbooks, destroy them, and print new books ... all because one student was called a mean name on one page of the book? That's what the mom of a teenager called a "freak" in a caption of his marching band photo wants.

Dylan Worthen's name was adjusted by someone prior to the printing of the South Paulding High School yearbook this year. Every book purchased by students at South Paulding features a photo of the 16-year-old with the addition of "freak" as a second last name.

It's cruel. It's awful. But does that mean the school should shoulder the burden of printing new books?

I don't mean to be insensitive.

If my daughter were labeled a freak in her yearbook, I don't doubt that I'd be right where Dylan Worthen's mom is, shaking my fist and demanding things be put right.

But my daughter wasn't, and I'm not.

And so my view isn't clouded by a personal bias that makes it hard to see the bigger picture.

Her son was bullied, and the kids responsible should be brought to heel for it. They should be punished.

But how far should this school go? What does zero tolerance really mean?

We are finally at a point in society where school bullying has gone mainstream, so to speak, and we're really talking about it. No longer are we telling kids that they need to buck up and deal with it.

As a formerly bullied kid and mom of a kid who started dealing with bullies in pre-school, I'm glad to see schools taking action. But we need to be careful not to swing too far in the other direction.

Common sense must prevail!

What happened to Dylan Worthen was awful. It sucks.

But in the scheme of things, being called a "freak" in your high school yearbook is not the worst thing that could happen. Some kids saw it and probably laughed. Most probably saw it and rolled their eyes.

The real damage is if the kids who did it get away with it and aren't punished. If that happens, then ... well, isn't that enough?

Surely it's not bad enough to require a school district spend thousands of dollars on re-printing a yearbook. Thousands of dollars that could be spent on educating kids?

What do you think the school should do here? Is it enough just to punish the kids?

Image via KSDK

Kim Kardashian Says Pregnancy Has Made It Impossible for Her to Get Dressed

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:30:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

At some point in every pregnancy, a mom reaches the stage when absolutely nothing seems to fit. For some of us, that stage lasts longer than others (for me it was two whole trimesters), but it happens to us all. Even, it seems, Kim Kardashian.

This is not a body snark, folks. This came straight from Kim herself, in a confession that should make us all feel a little bit better.

Asked how she is dealing with dressing her baby bump, Kim confessed that it's rough going:

I think I was trying to hide it for a while, but I'm still at the stage where nothing looks good, so I've found it really difficult to get dressed. I'm learning that stretchy is everything. Blazers and stretchy fabrics are going to be my new thing. Right now, there's not much that will fit.

Ladies, there are two ways to look at this. If Kim Kardashian can't make maternity wear look good, who can? The reality star is straight up gorgeous ... and uber fashionable. We might as well just throw up our hands, throw on a muumuu, and wait until after birth and the cankles subside to even try anything one might consider "fashion."

Hold up, I said there are two ways to look at this.

There's the pessimist's way.

And then there's the optimist's.

Because as hard as it might be when your body is giving you curves in all the wrong places, and you're feeling like a heffalump, the truth is, you don't look as bad as you THINK you do. You just look pregnant, which is exactly what you are. And that's normal.

Think of it this way: if a woman as beautiful as Kim Kardashian struggles to make maternity wear look good, then it isn't YOU. It's pregnancy.

And pregnancy only lasts nine months (OK, 10, but who's counting). At the end of it, you get your real clothes back.

Have you been struggling to find clothes that look GOOD? How do you think Kim has done dressing her bump?

Image via Splash News

Mom Killed on Mother's Day for Not Wanting to Celebrate With Her Family

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:20:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

All across the country, women were offered a night out on Mother's Day. More than a few of them probably said, "Not tonight, honey, I'm tired." But for Maryland mom Lisa Rainey, the refusal to go out seems to have prompted a brutal double homicide that claimed the mother of two and her stepdaughter. Luckily her son escaped the shooting, but that's just about the only good news to come out of a bizarre Mother's Day killing that leaves more questions than answers.

What would possess someone to kill their wife for refusing to go out on Mother's Day? And just how far can you go to keep yourself safe when you see someone you love turning violent?

It sounds like Lisa Rainey did all she could.

When she realized husband Ronnie was angry about the Mother's Day disagreement, she took her kids, including her 15-year-old son, to a hotel for the night. Then, before agreeing to meet Ronnie Rainey back at the family home the next day, she called her daughter's boyfriend, a parole and probation officer, for protection.

But somehow these precautions weren't enough.

It's Lisa Rainey's own husband who is charged in her death, as well as the murder of his stepdaughter, Ariale Chantre Shelton. Cops say the former Army medic who met his wife in the military and has been married to her for 15 years also tried to shoot at their teenage son, but the bullet got only the boy's hat as he ran from their home.

Over a Mother's Day disagreement?

No wonder she didn't want to go out to eat with him.

I wouldn't either.

It sounds like Lisa Rainey saw something off, and she did the right thing -- she got out. Only then she got sucked back in.

This is a reality in an American where more than three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day. Every year, one in three women who is a victim of homicide is murdered by her current or former partner.

This is a reality that we must face: that people who love us can turn on us.

If we feel something is off, we should trust our instincts.

But what makes the Raineys' case so startling is the lack of a history. Cops in Prince George's County say they'd never been called to the Rainey home -- not before Monday when Ronnie Rainey called them to allegedly announced that he'd shot his wife and stepdaughter and planned to shoot himself. Ronnie and Lisa were both respected members of society, both veterans of the United States military who met in the service.

This sad case seems to fly in the face of what we tend to believe about domestic violence -- that there's an escalating pattern of abuse.

The suddenness of the murders, the leap to such extreme violence, the fact that this mom did all she could to stay safe and still lost her life are all tragic and unsettling. But they only hammer home the most important message of all: if you feel unsafe, get out. Now.

Have you ever felt this way about someone you loved? What did you do?

Image via police

'Teen Mom' Farrah Abraham Wants to Share All the Dirty Details of Her Life With Her Daughter

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:30:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Leave it to Farrah Abraham to come up with a parenting method that makes us want to go take a shower. The Teen Mom has been making headlines lately for her new porn star venture, Backdoor Teen Mom. Fortunately daughter Sophia is too young to read any of those headlines.

But she won't be forever ... and Farrah has already come up with the "perfect" way to introduce the little girl to mom's porn career. Have a barf bag handy? You're going to need it.

The Teen Mom did a radio interview recently and revealed she's already saved a copy of the Vivid Entertainment flick for her daughter:

I have, like, a baby box for her ... and basically it has all the DVDs of Teen Mom and it has my book and of course my video ...

And here all I've saved in my daughter's baby box is her first lock of hair and her coming home outfit. Sigh.

As for when Pandora Farrah will open up this box, she had this to say:

When she’s around that 13/14, you know, gets on her period and is all "Ooh, I kinda wanna boyfriend" I think that’s when ... that’s the year to be like, "Look, Soph."

Oh. My. God.

Talking to your kids about sex when they're teens? Yes, absolutely, you must do this. Actually, you need to start even younger. Giving them your sex tape? That's crossing the line just a weeeeeee bit.

Farrah says she's all about being open and honest with Sophia. I respect honest parents. But there's such a thing as too much honesty.

Parents, might I remind you that your kids are your kids, not your friends?

There are some lines that just shouldn't be crossed, for both of your sakes.

I don't want to picture my parents having sex. They don't want to picture me having sex. It's not being prudish; it's just about having boundaries.

You might tell your girlfriends about your sexual exploits, but your kids really don't need all the dirty details. Just a simple admission that you had premarital sex can be enough for an honest discussion about sex and birth control.

Leave the sex tapes out of it.

Do you think Farrah's crossing a line here? Should her daughter be given a copy of mom's sex tape?

Image via Farrah Abraham/Twitter

An Open Letter to Moms Who Think Formula Is 'Poison'

Tue, 14 May 2013 13:25:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Dear Breastfeeding Advocate, I've heard you loud and clear. You say formula is poison. I understand that you're just really gung-ho about breastfeeding, and you're trying to make a point. You care about babies and moms.

But please, can you just take a moment and read those words out loud?

Formula is poison.

Is that what you really mean to say?

Do you think that moms who give their babies formula are trying to kill them? That's what poison does, right?

Do you think these moms should go to jail for child abuse? That's what happens to moms who feed their kids other poisons -- rat poison, pesticides ...

Would you tell that to a mother who just adopted a baby, who has no choice but to put a bottle in the mouth of her precious little girl? Is she selfish; is she abusive for choosing bottle over breast?

What about the mom who had a double mastectomy because she had breast cancer? Her milk ducts are gone, but thanks to the the miracle of egg harvesting, she's living her dream of being a mom. Is she a child abuser? An attempted murderer?

She is, after all, knowingly feeding her child -- as you call it -- poison.

Still standing behind your hyperbole?

If you haven't guessed by now, I too fed my daughter formula.

Not at first. I had every intention of breastfeeding from the moment I became pregnant. No, before that. I was breastfed. My husband was breastfed.

I think breastfeeding is far superior to bottlefeeding.

I say that now. I say that even though my daughter was raised primarily on formula.

I think breastfeeding is the best thing that can be done for a baby.

That is why, when I couldn't do it, it tore me in two. I spent hours crying. I was paralyzed by a fear so deep that I couldn't leave my house. Literally, stepping off the porch made me hyperventilate.

There was no one to help me. There are no lactation consultants where I live. There is no La Leche League. I didn't have a mother there to help me get the proper latch.

When I turned to the Internet for help, I found a lot of angry women like you, women who were quick to judge me for allowing my husband to give our daughter a bottle of formula, women who dismissed me and coldly told me how selfish and useless I was.

This was their way of "encouraging me to breastfeed."

I gave up after two weeks of crying and paralyzing fear and sore nipples and pumping one breast that quite simply never filled with milk, no matter how hard I tried to encourage it to produce.

I gave up and gave my daughter formula.

I gave up and gave my daughter something to sate her insatiable hunger.

You say I gave her poison. I say I gave her life.

I gave her a mother who could go on anti-depressants to fight the demons in her head. I gave her something to fill her tummy and help her grow big and strong.

She is almost 8 years old now, and still I feel guilty that she wasn't breastfed. I feel guilty even though she's never had an ear infection and, up until this year when a wicked virus made its way through her elementary school, never been sick for more than a day or two. I feel guilty even though she's an active soccer player and dancer who makes good grades and stays up late reading Pippi Longstocking and Ramona Quimby. I feel guilty even though her smile brightens a room and her laughter lights up my life.

I feel guilty in my heart even though my head tells me not to.

I feel guilty because every time I make the mistake of reading about breastfeeding and formula, I'm faced with you, dear breastfeeding advocate, telling me that the very thing that helped keep my daughter alive was poison.

So tell me, are you proud of yourself?

Do you still think formula is poison?

Signed,

A mom just like you

Image via Raphael Goetter/Flickr

'Teen Mom Confidential': 10 Most Explosive Revelations From New Tell-All Book

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:32:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

The stars of Teen Mom have certainly pushed the envelope, haven't they? Between Farrah Abraham and her porn deal and Jenelle Evans and her arrest for heroin possession, the reality stars have dominated the headlines with their scandalous antics. But just wait! Those are the stories you've heard about.

What about all the crazy stories that haven't made the news? Those are out now too thanks to Sean Daly and Ashley Majeski, authors of an explosive new book, Teen Mom Confidential: Secrets and Scandals From MTV's Most Controversial Shows. A journalist who writes about TV for the New York Post, Daly teamed up with Majeski, editor of The Ashleys Reality Roundup, to dig deep into the world of these young parents. They made it all the way down to rock bottom, and they shared a taste with The Stir.

Get a load of some of the most shocking revelations to come out of their book:

1. When one star was arrested, cops had to use two sets of cuffs to secure his hands.

2. Tyler Baltierra's dad Butch Baltierra gave an explosive interview to the authors. One of his confessions was an allegation that stepdaughter (and future daughter-in-law) Catelynn Lowell was in on a scheme to sell a fake pregnancy story to the tabloids.

3. One star used a portion of his earnings from the show to pay for his sister's boob job.

4. MTV found Amber Portwood more or less on accident. They planned to shoot a different reality show featuring her brother Shawn, but Shawn bailed. His wife heard they were looking for pregnant teens and pointed them to Amber.

5. Friends of one star reported she often sported injuries on her neck from being choked ... by her husband.

6. Corey Simms cheated on Leah Messer Calvert during their marriage, but he flat-out refused to talk about it on MTV, so Leah took the fall for the marriage going south.

7. One teen mom was told to get an abortion ... by the mother of her child's dad! It's something she holds against her to this day.

8. Stormie Clark, mother of Farrah's baby daddy, got to see Sophia once without Farrah knowing -- she saw the little girl with her babysitter at a park and convinced the sitter to let her cuddle the baby and hang out with her. Stormie shared a letter to Sophia that is printed in full in the book.

9. One star and her boyfriend got into such a big fight in a hotel that they got kicked out ... and it wasn't Jenelle Evans!

10. One star tried to use a magazine with her face on the cover as proof of ID when she went to buy cigarettes.

Want more? Oooh, they have 'em in Teen Mom Confidential!

Any of these shock you? Which one?

Image via Teen Mom Confidential

Dad Arrested After 6-Year-Old Neighbor's Death Is Getting Off Easy

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:51:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

When a 6-year-old is shot by a 4-year-old, what do you do? Do you haul the 4-year-old off to jail? Do you just let it slide, write it off as a terrible accident? Or do you try to find some middle ground? That's what cops in New Jersey are trying to do right now. They've arrested the father of the 4-year-old who shot neighbor and buddy Brandon Holt last month.

But no one is charging Anthony Senatore with Brandon's death.

The 33-year-old, who allegedly owned the gun used by his 4-year-old son, instead faces six counts of endangering the welfare of children and a disorderly person's offense for enabling access by minors to a loaded firearm.

Technically that's what was done here. Senatore didn't pull the trigger on the gun that killed little Brandon. But only technically.

Cops say his 4-year-old son -- who hasn't been named because of his age -- was playing with Holt in the yard on April 8. He went inside and came back with a loaded .22-caliber rifle he'd allegedly found in his dad's bedroom. When police arrived, they say they also found four more firearms in the bedroom, all easily accessible to Senatore's three kids.

Brandon Holt died.

And all that we get are some charges for endangering the welfare of children?

What about manslaughter?

What about some justice for this little boy?

The disregard for safety alleged in this case makes a deep-seated fear in my stomach flare up.

I live in the country where guns are a part of life. I've had long discussions with my child about proper use of guns and safety.

But when she goes to another child's house, what happens is out of my control. If another parent is careless with their guns, the risk to my child is great.

My fear isn't of guns but of irresponsible gun owners.

According to the statistics, half of gun-owning households do not lock up their guns. That includes 40 percent of households with kids under age 18.

With statistics like that, it's no wonder guns still kill twice as many children and young people than cancer, five times as many than heart disease, and 15 times more than infection (this according to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine in case you're wondering).

Could a dad like Anthony Senatore foresee the tragedy that occurred on April 8? I don't see why he didn't.

As the saying so popular with gun proponents goes, "guns don't kill people, people kill people." It's true. People kill people ... when they have access to a gun that they can use to do so. Put a loaded gun where a child can easily access it, and what do you think will happen? Four-year-olds simply do not have the capacity to recognize the consequences of their actions. That's why we don't leave them alone with a hot pot on the stove ... never mind a loaded .22.

He may not have shot this boy, but when you consider the facts, it certainly sounds like this dad was responsible.

So why isn't he being charged with the child's death?

Do you think the prosecution is going far enough in this case? Could this father have foreseen this tragedy?

Image via AdamSelwood/Flickr

12 Things Kids Love But Parents Can't Stand

Tue, 14 May 2013 10:32:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

I have been a parent for almost eight years now, and some days I feel like I know as little as I did way back in 2005 when I was still waiting for my baby to arrive. But there's one thing I know for sure. Kids are WEIRD.

My kid. Your kid. All kids!

There's an equal opportunity state of strangeness that exists for the four-foot-tall and under set.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Just consider some of the things kids can't get enough of ... but we adults just barely tolerate.

Boogers. Rocks. Those rounds blobs of indeterminate flavor otherwise known as gumballs.

All are evidence that kids are some of the oddest creatures on the planet. And yet we love them anyway.

Behold the wild and weird that curries favor with the kids and mystifies adults.

What are your kids obsessed with that you just don't get?

Image via Jeanne Sager

'Teen Mom 2' Recap: Leah Messer Calvert Is Lucky Jeremy Showed Up When He Did

Mon, 13 May 2013 23:26:00 EDT

Post by Jeanne Sager

Tonight we saw part 2 of the Teen Mom 2 finale special with Dr. Drew, and it couldn't have been more different from the first go-round. Gone was a still childish Jenelle and her tearful confessions about drug use. Instead we saw some real grownup moments from Leah Messer Calvert and Chelsea Houska, the two girls who got to sit on stage with the TV shrink.

Calvert's husband, Jeremy Calvert, and ex-husband, Corey Simms, even managed to sit side-by-side on an MTV couch and say nice things about each other. In fact, Jeremy, who wasn't around when his wife first started her Teen Mom journey (and who wasn't a teen parent), has somehow turned out to be one of the most inspiring stars of the series.

Not only didn't he blanch when he was faced with dating a single mom with young kids, but he ended up marrying her. And while Leah jerked him around for awhile there, Jeremy told Dr. Drew he respected Corey completely for fighting for his family.

That alone makes him sound like a class act, but he didn't stop there.

Jeremy admitted that he doesn't actually watch Teen Mom -- he's too busy working to get caught up in all of it. And he didn't exactly seem keen on being on the show at all. The fame is not his thing.

He'd actually like to see Leah give up Facebook and Twitter entirely, stepping away from all the critics who make her cry ... and the fans too.

We'd hate to see it happen, but watching the three of them on stage tonight, it was easy to see that Leah is a completely different person since Jeremy came into her life. She's calmer and more self-assured. Even when she became defensive about her decision to get pregnant again (with baby Adalynn), she was able to admit that she's being defensive!

It's obvious she's lucky to have him around, and Chelsea's story only made that more evident.

Despite being one of the best moms on the show with a bubbly personality -- and a gorgeous face to match -- Chelsea sadly admitted to Dr. Drew that she feels out of place as the only mom who hasn't dated anyone but her child's father, Adam Lind, since giving birth.

She seems to have finally slammed the door on a relationship with Adam. When a fan asked whether she'd like to see little Aubree grow up to date men like her father or learn from her mom's mistakes, Chelsea was quick to choose the latter -- even though Adam was sitting right beside her. She's clearly grown up enough to let go of the little girl fantasy of a perfect family with a mommy and a daddy and their little baby, and it's allowed her to blossom.

A Chelsea without Adam is a healthier, more successful Chelsea.

Still, it's sad to see a girl who has so much going for her still struggling with her self esteem. If the powers-that-be decide to bring Teen Mom 2 back, it would be worth it just to see her continue to come into her own without Adam holding her back ... and maybe to meet someone like Jeremy.

Because that's what this series has been about, hasn't it? Wanting to see these girls face their struggles and slowly but surely climb over them?

Being a teen mom isn't glamorous, that we've seen. But these girls, these women, are real people who have grown up before our very eyes. It's hard not to harbor a hope that they all have futures brighter than their pasts.

Were you inspired by Jeremy tonight? What do you hope for the girls?

Image via MTV