My fellow Mile High Mama friend, Laurie (@lavluz) hosts this great meme Perfect Moment Monday, and I just happen to have had a perfect moment this week that I’d love to share!

My youngest graduated from Pre-K on Monday and we’ve been having a lot of fun running around town, just the two of us, getting ourselves into trouble.  I can’t believe my littlest baby peanut is getting so grown up… This picture captures the essence of my week with her.

My fellow Mile High Mama friend, Laurie (@lavluz) hosts this great meme Perfect Moment Monday, and I just happen to have had a perfect moment this week that I’d love to share!

My youngest graduated from Pre-K on Monday and we’ve been having a lot of fun running around town, just the two of us, getting ourselves into trouble.  I can’t believe my littlest baby peanut is getting so grown up… This picture captures the essence of my week with her.

Social media platforms have been an incredible outlet for those of us who have spent time as “stay at home moms”.   I have “stayed home” with my kids for more than 10 years and have loved every minute of it.  I’ve had a lot of opportunity to be very involved at the kids’ schools, I’ve done everything from simply being a room mom to managing large fundraisers.  I was excited about using my business and project management experience to make lots of money for the school.  DING DING Heads up though, running a school fundraiser like a business is social suicide. ‘nough said.

I’m dying. It’s gone viral and everyone is talking about it. If you haven’t seen this video on YouTube yet, you are living under one ginormous rock. Take a look at these little 7-9 year old girls competing in an Urban Dance Competition. These girls can dance!

Well? What did ya think? Pretty awesome, huh? Um, no – yes, but no. Ick. Wrong. On so many levels. Wrong.

Calm down friends, this controversy has been blown WAY out of proportion. A rep for the competition told PopEater earlier in the week, “There has been a great deal of controversy regarding this performance, and it has been taken out of context. It is a little sensitive now, to say the least,”So, what is the context? Oh yes, an urban dance competition. Well in that case, I think we owe these people an apology! In the context of an urban dance competition, I definitely think that you should be proud of yourselves for encouraging your pre-pubescent children to shake their bottoms and non-existent breasts while dressed in whore outfits.

Especially if the song they are shakin’ their groove thang to includes telling a dude that if he had wanted to keep “dippin it” he shoulda ponied up and put a ring on her finger…. ’cause right now she’s busy all up in some other dudes junk. Before I vomit, I have to say one thing. I think these girls are spectacular dancers for their age and they are clearly having a good time. My heart is breaking for each of these girls because they’ve been unwillingly thrown into a massive debate over what is and isn’t appropriate for little girls their age. Sadly, while the parents are defending the song choice as influenced by “pop culture” and the costumes as free moving and line defining for the sake of art, the rest of us are arguing about whether it is or isn’t a pornographic performance sexualizing little girls.

Well, if it wasn’t before, it sure as heck is now.

Viral. Over two million hits on this particular YouTube video. Who is watching this video? Every pervy child predator across the country is now turning to YouTube and keyword searching “7 year old Single Ladies” to take a peak at what everyone is calling the sexualization and exploitation of young, young, girls. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure they aren’t sitting quietly with their hands folded in their laps. ick. I tend to abide by the unspoken rule of “you screw up your kid and I’ll focus on screwing up mine”, but I really want to call BULL SHIT on this.

I’m not a total prude, but I am sort of dorky in a fun and slightly quirky way. My parents never idolized celebrity so I like to think that I grew up to have a good filter for reality. Unfortunately, there are parents so enamored by pop culture that they are willing to sell out their daughters and their sons. And make NO mistake about it, our sons are watching everything we do. If we allow our babies to be immersed in pop culture before they are able to emotionally or intellectually filter the images and messages that they are seeing and, in this case, sending out… who will they become?

Don’t we want our girls to value themselves and their intellect, to become women that seek out relationships with men that value them as more than a place to be “dippin it”? This song is popular because many men and women relate to it. It’s real. It’s just a song. It’s just a dance competition. It’s just a slutty outfit.

Not. In. My. House.

It’s true. I’m coming clean with my Dirty Little Secret. It’ll take a little explaining….

I am not just The Bantering Blonde, many of you know me as the founder and voice of the MomActive media shenanigans. I have such a passion for MomActive because I love fitness and health and the idea that we can influence our children in healthy and positive ways.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you’ll have some idea that our family and community has suffered several terrible tragedies involving the death first of a friend, then of two children, and a few months later a whole family. Life is often hard enough, and when you get blindsided over and over, you begin to look for what is next. It isn’t a healthy way to live.

The very first time I wrote about my struggle was in this post, “I Name You, Grief. Get off My Ass”. This was about a year ago now. I was in the midst of the “depression” phase of grieving. The reaction was positive and people left comments and sent emails thanking me for the post. It was reared as my “best post ever” by some, but others weren’t quite comfortable that I would admit that I was gaining weight and drinking too much wine; bad PR. Bad PR. At the time, there was a big part of me that agreed. How could I get on the radio every week and pretend to motivate people to be their best for their kids, when I myself was drowning in ick, throwing myself into my work and just surviving? I felt like a fraud. I felt bad. I kept making grand gestures and efforts to try to get myself better. I wrote posts and vlogged with the hopes that a public declaration would be what my mind needed to snap out of it. Meanwhile, I was living a fairly high profile life, attending conferences, recording web casts, and appearing on my MomTV show. Each time I headed out to meet people in person I knew that the weight I had gained was going to be a surprise… not what anyone expected from me. My closest friends were always supportive, and since weight is a struggle for most of us, I think there were those that felt comfort in my struggle – I am real. It’s just a part of My Dirty Little Secret.

Last November I went to see a new doctor – he’s a GP but just happened to have had lots of experience treating wacks like me. I like this guy. A lot. He had me go through my family’s history with depression and anxiety – something I don’t often discuss. I had sought help in my early twenties when I became paralyzed by anxiety during grad school. It was an awesome experience because I was able to take advantage of all the University had to offer in terms of therapy, doctors, biofeedback and other services. I learned to be introspective and self aware, things that are difficult for many people to do. In any case, my new doctor is a no BS kinda guy and has forged a “partnership” with me. It’s been a journey for sure but over the months I have begun to get better. (yes, this means that I took medication. different meds, different dosages …. until the lights came back on in my soul. Flame away, think what you will, I am good with it all.)

I can honestly say that I’ve been quite well since early April. I’ve lost 12lbs and I recognize myself again. I feel in control and it is a huge relief. I’ve started making changes to my business structure, and have shifted my focus to allow me to pursue the type of work I love in the industries that are related to my passion for health, fitness and wellness. You will start to see MomActive organizing events and even travel retreats, where we’ll focus on empowering women and guiding them towards living passion filled lives. At this time we have two dates sketched out and details will be forth coming!

I am real. I struggle just like you do, but I’m medicated so I’m probably much happier  It’s my Dirty Little Secret.

My kiddos love Pepperidge Farm® Goldfish® so when they asked if we’d like to sample the new Vanilla Grahams I said “sure thing”!

I actually had to hide them until the boys got home because Kat was ready to devour the whole bag.  I put them into little plastic baggies and put them aside for after school.  HA!  My little princess was not having it, she scaled the pantry shelves and I found her sitting on the floor scarfing the little fishies down! I asked her what she thought and she smiled and said, “Mamma I love fishie cookies, can I eat my brother’s too?”

I rescued the remaining fish and took a little taste for myself.  I’m not a big snacker but they weren’t bad. I went onto the website to check out the nutritional information and was a little surprised to see that they are actually made with whole grain.  You can find that information right here.

The boys were ultimately able to try the Vanilla Grahams as well and so you’ll be happy to know that this fun snack gets a “three thumbs up” from the Bryan Blondes.

*I was compensated for this review with FREE Goldfish Grahams. This post reflects my opinions based on my experience with the product.