Mother Load - The Hit Off-Broadway Show, on tour NOW!

The blogosphere is alight with the news that Maclaren is about to go public (Tuesday, Nov 10th) with a recall of every single stroller they have made for the last ten years, due to twelve cases of fingertip amputation among children when the strollers were opened.

Let's stop right there. Fingertip amputation? And they had to get to TWELVE cases before they issued a recall? I'd say two cases was probably enough to establish a pattern. As always, I am outraged at how many kids have to be injured before a company will own up that their product is dangerous. And now you, Maclaren? I have had my $99 Volo since Connor was born seven years ago, and while it has never been my primary stroller, it has been invaluable whenever I had to take my little ones on the subway or bus or on vacation. Only a Maclaren folds like a dream and, slung over your shoulder, weighs 7 pounds, yet is still durable enough to last you through three children. And now this? I'm not ready to break up with you Maclaren, but I am REALLY pissed off.

Here's what you need to know: starting tomorrow, Maclaren will provide free kits to cover the strollers' hinge mechanisms. The quickest way to obtain the kits will be to order them through www.maclaren.us/recall or by calling 877-688-2326. Both are currently not functioning but presumably will be tomorrow. Get the hinge covers-- and until then, make sure your child is nowhere near your Maclaren when you are opening or closing it.

Have you ever read a book to your children and thought: the message of this book may be going way over my children's heads, but holy cow, this was a one-two punch to their mother? This weekend we visited my parents' house because the cousins were around, and to calm down the three five-year-olds, three two-year-olds, and two seven-year-olds while we were waiting for the very late pizza guy to arrive, I pulled some random and dusty old books out of Nana's collection.

This one looked kind of cute: a slim volume, originally from 1963, called The Quarreling Book, by Charlotte Zolotow. "What's quarreling?" Seamus asked as they all clambered around me on the couch to take a look, and none of the other kids knew what it meant either, and that seemed to be a clear sign that this book would be quaint but perhaps not too relevant.

Then I began to read.

It was a rainy gray morning, and Mr. James forgot to kiss Mrs. James good-bye when he left for the office. Mrs. James felt quite cross because of this... So when Jonathan James came down for breakfast, she was sharp with him. "Oh, for goodness' sake!" she said. "Why did you wear that shirt again today? It's filthy!"

In other words, Jonathan James' mommy was having a shitty morning and took it out on her kid. Wow, did that sound familiar.

The book goes on to show how our behavior towards our loved ones is all too often shaped by things that have nothing to do with them. Jonathan James, in a bad mood because his mommy wasn't nice, is nasty to his sister, who is nasty to her friend, who teases her baby brother, who pushes the dog.

Only the dog can turn things around. Thinking the baby wants to play, he licks his master's face until he giggles. Then he's nice to his older sister, who apologizes to her friend... and before you know it, Mr. James is home to give Mrs. James a great warm hello kiss.

The kids liked this book just fine. I find it incredibly powerful. The next time I am being snippy or snappy or sarcastic or nasty with one of my children, I am going to try to take a moment and consider if, perhaps, there might be a reason for my reaction that actually has very little to do with my children's behavior. I have a feeling I will be seeing a lot of my impatience with my children in a new light. It looks like this book is still available on Amazon, and even though the dad goes to work while the mom stays home and hangs out the washing, and the big sister calls her little brother a "sissy" for playing with dolls, which might merely give some kids a new avenue of teasing possibility, its overall message means I can still recommend The Quarreling Book most highly.

Today, an immodest proposal: let's stop with the Daylight Savings Time back and forth. Every autumn, I see some talking head on TV saying how I'll get an extra hour of sleep on Sunday morning, when the clocks fall back. I used to feel that way. Then I had kids. For the last seven years, all "Fall Back" Sunday means for me is that I have to get up even more Ungodly Early then I do every other day.

This past Sunday, all three of my children were up by 5 a.m. "The new five," my husband calls it, and admittedly that was a mitigating factor. Last weekend. Five was really six, and as long as I looked at the un-reset microwave clock, instead of the cable box, I actually felt OK. But this morning, six days after the time change, two of my children were up by 5 a.m., as they have been every day. And it no longer felt, in any way, like six. It felt like five. It felt like the middle of the night. I have been so tired all day that I can barely function. And there is no end in sight.

Seriously, should parents bond together and stop the madness? I agree that kids shouldn't be waiting for the school bus in the dark, but if we never sprung forward onto Daylight Savings Time in the first place, it wouldn't be an issue. I think. Or maybe I'm just really tired.