I’m glad you live in such a nice neighborhood :) I live in a very nice neighborhood, fairly affluent, and I do have lots of nice neighbors, but mostly I have thousands of neighbors (close to 1000 in my building alone). Throw in the major roads, the restaurants and all the shopping and there are literally tens of…

There just is no way for us to be there 24/7 unless we homeschool and have supervised only playdates, and as we’re supposed to be raising functional adults I don’t consider that a good option.

Yes please! I also found that giving no space in my life to creeps made a lot more room in my life for decent men and improved my opinion of men overall. Teach your daughter to live in a world where the only men she bothers to speak to are good people.

Well, to be honest, I was a pretty girl and tall for my age, and for whatever reason men just loved me (I know that sounds like bragging, but it was really pretty awful) so by 17 I was kind of a veteran at dealing with creeps. I wasn’t super wise or mature for my age, I just figured out pretty young that my life would…

Maybe. I live in the city close to several major streets, so I expect our perspectives are different. I imagine we’ve also had different life experiences, because you trust other people and quite frankly, I do not.

Police brutality exists and often goes unchecked. That is sufficient perspective.

My son is 7 (and stuff like this happens to little boys too). I don’t think they need more outside independence. There are bedrooms to clean and laundry to learn how to sort, tables to set and dishwashers to help load, budgets to make and shopping to help do. 7 is an excellent age to start to learn how to cook, too.…

That doesn’t mean people should stop complaining about inequality in the US. Just because something could be worse doesn’t make it ok.

Teaching girls to be rude to strange men is a skill most mothers seem to fail to pass on. Good for you.

Is Rothschild a term? I thought it was just the name of a family. Does the Trump administration mean that I have to learn a whole new lexicon of hate words for Jews? Well, W. meant I had to learn all about ways to hate Muslims, so I guess it’s the republican presidential way. Sigh.

That’s cool. I never really connected the Maritimes with racial issues, but clearly I just wasn’t paying enough attention. It sounds like it’s a subject worth looking into.

Were you familiar with her before? I’d never come across her, but I figured it must be me because how else would she have ended up on the bill.

Well that was heartbreaking. Thank you for writing this, I had no idea.

What a pretty tree! You can’t really see in my picture, but I used a bunch of artificial red roses I bought at the dollar store. I totally recommend it if you want to add colour.

Oh honey. I am so sorry to hear that you’re struggling so much. It’s the depression that makes you feel that way and it’s cyclic. The more you feel like a bad mom, the more you feel detached from your child and the more that makes you feel like a bad mom. It’s a downward spiral and of course that’s going to spill…

Thanks. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a fan of the views here (I have a corner unit and they’re killer) but I might be willing to give it up for your space and that gorgeous fireplace!

I’m so sorry :( Well look at it this way, your daughter will know she was worth a battle and you’re totally going to win, no matter how much bullshit he throws at you.

This one’s mine. It doesn’t really fit in our apartment, but I have a child so it’s obligatory. Also the “angel” (actually a fertility goddess doll that I made in university that somehow became our tradition tree topper. Shhhh, don’t tell my mother) just really wants to fall off no matter what I do.

I bet it’s going to gorgeous. You’ll have to post pics when it’s done. I wonder if there’s such a thing as Christmas tree porn, like house porn. I’m too afraid to google it though...

I have no idea what happened, but I’m sincerely hoping that whatever it is, it ends up being nowhere near as bad as it feels like it is right now. If it’s something you’ve done wrong, then here’s hoping your sincere regret (I’m judging based on the sobbing and self-loathing) is enough to grant you forgiveness from…