At a baby shower you generally get gifts that will last a child up to toddler-age. By the time they're 1, they will definitely have ingrained ideas of what is for girls and what is for boys.

My 4 year old niece once confided in me that she thought there was something wrong with her since she didn't like 'girly' stuff like her mother and sisters. When that's the only colour they see surrounding them from day one, that's what they assume is the only normal. Being 'gender neutral' doesn't mean forbidding…

I've been to those showers too. In that case, people give pink or blue stuff, and include the receipt if the 'wrong' gender baby is born.

Once I was at a baby shower for my friend who had requested only gender-neutral presents. She knew she was having a girl, but didn't want only pink stuff, because she didn't want to start stereotyping her right from the beginning. She was very clear on this. Despite that, almost all her family and work colleagues…

And yet in the John Stossel 'expose' mentioned in the article they went after people who donated to panhandlers.

The thing is, that IS what christianity is about. I grew up in a christian home and community, and while I've moved away from it as an adult (in more ways than one), I certainly remember that, according to the bible, all laws and teaching can be summed up as "Love your neighbour as yourself". It's been corrupted…

This is one of the biggest things I don't get about US Conservatives. They all (or mostly) claim to be Christian, yet they have such a hard time helping out the poor. It's one of the main components of Christian living according to the bible! Over and over, people are told to take care of the less-fortunate. Not…

All I know is if it's Fiddler, I'll have to kill someone.

I felt that way for the longest time too. I grew up in a conservative Dutch-Canadian area where almost every one was married young and had 3-6 kids. You can probably imagine my relief when I moved away and realized that no, this didn't have to happen to every single woman out there! I am quite happy being selfish…

That was the exact thought that just went through my head.

I've heard that one too. And how about the *fact* that only parents know what it's like to be selfless and put others first?

lmao - Vampire cops still wins!

I'm doing my best to brainwash all 17 of my nieces and nephews instead :)

I wasn't sure of the etiquette of 'mainpaging' yourself. It's not like it's the definitive word on the subject. It just seems that lately everywhere I look there's something or someone wanting to talk about women (or me in particular) not having kids!

I would love to have a one on one chat with that woman to set her straight about a few things.

FFS, I just wrote about this topic this morning on GT. I want the world to stop caring whether or not I have kids! Why does there have to be a public, dissectable reason when a woman/couple chooses to be child-free?

I'm totally there with the one cat that doesn't try to destroy all unknown living things!

Can I just be a stay-at-home mother to my cats? That's a career I could totally get behind.

That makes sense.

I'm from a traditional area where I know too many women who were waiting on pins and needles for the question. One friend was told by her bf to expect something big on their NY trip, and then instead told her he didn't think he was ready for marriage yet.