How Tape is Made

I imagine the 3M company encourages employees to have babies. Post-It, too. And then those employees are encouraged to bring their babies to work. Maybe the companies even offer free child care for neighborhood infants and toddlers. The kids all play in rooms where long strips of plastic, or little squares of paper, stream past them--maybe on the ceiling--all day. The plastic enters the room as plastic, and emerges as tape. The papers are gathered on the way out and stacked into perfectly sticky pads. Because, somehow, babies exude stickiness. It might seep from their pores. Maybe they inhale oxygen, and exhale maple syrup. But there's definitely some type of sticky power happening.

I can give my youngest child a single cracker--crackers: a food which could be described not only as dry, but perhaps even as "anti-sticky"--and before I finish closing the box from which I took it, the kid is sticky from head to toe. And I mean that literally! I'll be finding crumbs stuck in his hair all day. I'll need to run a wet cloth in between his toes because a dry napkin would just get stuck and rip. I won't want to touch him because his belly feels like a glue trap. I won't want him to touch me because his hands and face are stickier than an octopus. It doesn't even have to be food. A ball. A book. A plastic rattle. All invoke the stickiness and themselves will demand to be washed soon after encountering my human-honey hybrid.
Occasionally, I will arm myself with wet rags, approach the high chair, and feel my socks grossly adhering to the floor. As I try not to focus on the mess, I speculate about movie theaters not really being victims of spilled soda pop. I picture someone, long long ago, carrying a toddler down each row of seats, with an invisible snail trail of goo being left behind as a warning to childless patrons.
I do love my kids, and I don't feel as if I'm stuck with them. But, quite often, I do feel as if I'm stuck TO them.

My Kid Likes Pink

My daughter loves the color pink. She's only 3 years old, but she knows what she likes. If you ask her, she'll tell you: "I like all the colors. (She'll then proceed to list as many colors as she can think of and/or see.) But pink is my favorite!"

She also loves to dance and take care of her baby dolls. She's a big fan of Disney Princesses. She usually doesn't want to get dirty or play with bugs. She enjoys puppets, playing dress-up, watching silly kids shows, and trying new foods. She likes singing, helping me cook, pretending to cook, and building things with blocks. She even loves giving kisses and hugs. My daughter also likes to sword fight, and occasionally tackle her younger brother. She talks about fixing cars. She likes to watch baseball and football and hockey and basketball--she likes playing them all, too. She likes collecting acorns, is great at video games, and loves Spider-Man and other super heroes.

Is there anything wrong with this? Of course not! But the stuff I wrote about my daughter isn't true. I don't even have a daughter. The stuff I wrote is true...except it's about my son.

My son likes to sword fight, and occasionally tackle his younger brother. He talks about fixing cars. He likes to watch baseball and football and hockey and basketball--he likes playing them all, too. He likes collecting acorns, is great at video games, and loves Spider-Man and other super heroes. He enjoys puppets, playing dress-up, watching silly kids shows, and trying new foods. He likes singing, helping me cook, pretending to cook, and building things with blocks. He even loves giving kisses and hugs. He also loves to dance and take care of his baby dolls. He's a big fan of Disney Princesses. He usually doesn't want to get dirty or play with bugs.
My son also loves the color pink. He's only 3 years old, but he knows what he likes. If you ask him, he'll tell you: "I like all the colors. (He'll then proceed to list as many colors as he can think of and/or see.) But pink is my favorite!"

Is there anything wrong with that? Of course not! But I know some people do think there are things wrong with it. Maybe even wrong with him. My son isn't perfect, but he's not flawed because he likes to do pirouettes and one of his favorite TV characters is a big pink monster with a flower on her head.
When a little girl is a "tomboy," it's cute--even something to admire. Break that glass ceiling, girl. Don't let anyone say you can't do or like something just because you're a girl. And there are no "off-limits" colors for girls. I know several boys who like pink. They would wear pink shirts, and play with pink toys--except their parents won't let them, or their "friends" would tease them. My little dancer boy wants to wear pink. I want to buy him pink things to wear because I want my son to be happy. If he changes his mind some day, and likes another color instead, it will be easier. But primarily because pink clothes for boys are so difficult to find. (Why does almost every pink shirt have to have cap sleeves or those little dart things on the shoulders? Plus all those bows, and so much lace!) If he likes pink forever, that's fine with me, too. No matter what his favorite color is, I want him to have so much confidence he'll never feel he should give up something he loves just because other people think it's weird.