Parents, are you having communication problems with your teenagers? Wish you could find out what's ticking inside their heads? Joan Garry, a Baristaville mother of three, is taking a modern approach to the generation gap: Joan and her teenage daughter are taking each other on, in the blogosphere.
Long-time Montclair resident Joan Garry, nationally recognized gay rights activist and former executive director of GLAAD, blogs in point/counterpoint with daughter Scout, a 17-year-old Montclair High senior. They'll blog about politics, pop culture and the issue-du-jour, like celebrating Mother's Day in their two-mom family.
Writes Garry:
"As a new stay-at-home mom, I am learning that kids need you more when they are older than when they are younger. I am learning that being around for your kids after school (if you are lucky enough to be able to do it) is really important. One of my current interests is talking about raising teenagers. But not in a "oh, please help me" sort of way. I'd like to see parents and teenagers talking to one another more. Or AT one another. To that end, my daughter Scout and I have started a blog...recognizing that age does not always define maturity, we have called it WhosTheGrownup.com".
The writing is refreshing, sharp and honest, and Scout has even gotten attention from The Huffington Post as a fearless voice.
Here are her thoughts on the controversial HVP vaccine:
Dear Deluded Parents, Wake up! Your job is to protect your daughter! By the time your daughter has graduated from high school, there is a 50% chance that she has been sexually active! Why then, would you preclude her from protecting herself against cervical cancer!? Your daughter will become sexually active on her own terms. Either she will, or she won’t, and you can’t protect her from that fact. Then why not do everything in your power to protect her from HPV?A parent who acknowledges that there is a risk, and knowingly prevents his or her daughter from getting protection is a bad parent. A parent who cares more for his or her own pride than for the health of a child is a very selfish parent indeed. If preventing her from having a serious cancer does not sound like the ultimate form of parental protection, then I don’t know what does. Get out from under your rock, and abide to your primal role as a parent: protect your child any way you can.
Sincerely,
ScoutMy parents have made my appointment to go and get the HPV vaccine. The only thing that stands in my way now is my neurotic fear of needles.
You're invited to click into WhosTheGrownup.com and weigh in. And after two months of mother-daughter blogging, we're wondering how the conversation's going 'round their dinner table...
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Comments (4)
Wow -- what an incredibly cool family. That Scout is one, smart articulate, gal.
I wonder if her mother was a fan of "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Maybe some parents are a little concerned that this NEW drug may have some very bad side effects down the line for their daughters..also, the fact that it only prevents a small number, I think 2 strains of HPV, and not all risks of cervical cancer, may cause some parents to think twice before absent-mindedly getting this vaccine. As a parent my job is to protect my child the BEST WAY I can. Remember, history has shown that many so called "wonder drugs" have done more harm after the fact.I do not judge any parent that has decided to vacinated their daughter, so please do not judge me...I have valid concerns about this vaccine.
If this was a book I could not put it down, but it's a blog, so I could not stop scrolling. The best new blog to come around in a long time... an articulate, caring family. GREAT!