From the category archives:

Politics+Policy

Examining Both Sides of the Plastic Bag Issue, Part 1, Or: How My Noisy Night-Owl Grandma Turned Me Green

Dear Red Pill Readers: in honor of Earth Day, we’ve chosen one environmental issue that we believe is a good one for parents to examine in their own households, and which presents a great opportunity to join together with your kids to make a positive change (for the environment, and for yourselves).  We’ll be publishing a 3-part [...]

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Jamie, Dawg, Nancy and You

It’s funny how related things often end up in my lap at the same time, and the message I get from them is somehow greater than the sum of the parts.  This weekend, we finally watched the preview episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and then I picked up the latest issue of The Week

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Mama Obama Scolds The Grocery Manufacturers of America — Will They Shape Up?

It’s a sunny day here in Red Pill Ville, not just because it’s gorgeous outside, but because the First Lady, Michelle Obama, has spoken directly and forcefully to the world’s largest food producers, without sugar-coating her words: “I’m here today to urge all of you to move faster and to go farther, because the truth [...]

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Mama’s Two Cents on the Big Gulp Issue: Embracing “No”

Red Pill Papa’s Big Gulp post has my brain so completely twitterpated that I simply have to post instead of comment.  I’m Tippi Hedren once again, swatting a swarm of birds flying around my head, but the one that’s gripped my shoulder and is pecking my skull is saying, “No.  No.  No.”  Because I can’t help but [...]

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Will a Big Gulp Tax Make a Dent in Childhood Obesity?

Have you ever thought to compare the current obesity crisis — with soda taking center stage — to the fight against Big Tobacco? Well that is how the author of the following New York  Times article is framing it. Read ”Soda – A Sin We Sip Instead of Smoke” here: http://nyti.ms/9ar5mK. Taxing soda could be a good [...]

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Talking To Our Children About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Thumbnail image for Talking To Our Children About Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Today, my dear friend Ann Ruckert, a musician, composer, arranger and educator, posted the following on her blog at www.annruckert.com. While she may have been born at an earlier time than many of us current parents, she is the embodiment of a Red Pill Parent. A conversation that I had with her several years back [...]

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Raising Thinking Citizens

As a gentle snow fell on New York City this past New Year’s Eve day, I had the good fortune of attending a US naturalization ceremony at the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan. While observing the faces of the new citizens and their friends and family who came to share this special day with them, a [...]

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Branded Kids and the Diabolical Depot

I’ve been reading a lot about advertising’s effect on kids and the general over-prominence of big corporate brands in our culture lately, as I’ve cruised through Packaging Girlhood and Consuming Kids (Red Pill Parent bibles, by the way: and Packaging Boyhood, by the same authors, was just published in October).  But I had an opportunity [...]

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