Television Therapy

It’s 10pm and Syd is finally in bed (at least for four hours anyway). The dishes are done, clothes laid out for the next day and Syd’s milk is chillin’ in the fridge. The hubby and me cuddle on the couch and take turns stealing the remote to find something worthwhile to watch. We stop on the Oxygen channel and watch our new favorite show, The Bad Girls Club. I don’t know if watching it makes our life seem so much better, but we can’t help it. It’s so doggone funny. Something about the show makes me giggle.

For those who have never seen these women in action, the show puts together seven women who have seven sets of issues and encourages them to become better people. The idea that taking a person out of their environment will help them aspire to go higher in the life isn’t a bad one, but it puts a lot of pressure on that individual to change, especially when the other people in the house are going through their own issues. Sometimes pressure is good and people do change. But when pressure causes these young girls to go haywire, now that’s good tv!

Ok, some of the stuff is pretty petty (i.e. putting gummy bears in someone’s butter), but there are some real doozies too. Take for example the fight in Season 3 between Kayla (KC) and Amber M. The fight began because the two disagreed on the amount of a tip at a restaurant. A tiff over a couple of dollars ends at a gas station after a lot of shoving, yelling, hands around throats and I think I saw Amber M’s leg kick Kayla. As in all Bad Girls Club fights, they don’t end until all of the roommates are up in arms, so when Kayla returned home she “popped off” (thanks former Bad Girl “Tanisha”!) because she felt that the roommates took Amber’s side. Unfortunately, Kayla left the show but not after she fully expressed how she felt. She leaves the house, claiming to be happy to leave and the roommates do a little jig at her departure.

I for one miss Kayla already. She had so much attitude and didn’t take any crap off of the roommates. Hey, at least you knew how she felt and didn’t have to listen to her talk about people in the confessional!

New episodes of The Bad Girls Club are aired on Tuesday nights at 10pm, but re-runs are shown every day on Oxygen.

For more information on the Bad Girls Club, check out Oxygen’s website

I’m A Mommy Too!

When I first had my daughter, I relied heavily on the opinions of others. As I had limited experience with babies in the past, I didn’t trust myself to consider my own maternal instincts when it came to our new bundle of joy.

As time passed, I became more acclimated with my baby and developed my own opinions about her well being. I solidified my thoughts regarding breastfeeding, going back to work and what detergent I would use. I better understood her cries and started to know when to pick her up and when to let her whine to herself.

I figured that I finally reached Mommy status until the unthinkable happened. My little bundle of joy developed a tooting sound when she slept. It was loudest when everything was quiet—especially in church. I researched the sound and consulted her pediatrician and was comfortable with the diagnosis that she would grow out of it.

I was comfortable with the decision until several women confronted me and asked if she had asthma. Quickly I replied that she didn’t and that her doctor said that she would grow out of it.

Instead of trusting my own instincts, I let my fears go wild. I worried, fretted and searched web page after web page, making myself sick. My friends, mothers themselves, encouraged me to remember that I am a Mom too and that I know my child better than anyone.

After I consulted the doctor again, who said (again) that she would grow of it and that asthma is in the lungs and not the nose, I calmed down a bit. But then I realized how stupid I had been. Why didn’t I trust my own instincts? I knew that my baby was fine, yet I gave into the fear that something wasn’t right.

The answer isn’t simple, but it taught me a valuable lesson. While I don’t know everything about being a Mommy and probably never will, I need to trust that I know my daughter.

Everyone will always have an opinion about how to raise your kids, but it’s important that you trust yourself.

Hello world!

Welcome to The Workin’ Mama!