Disney again

Went on Disney on Ice again this year and if i thought last year was a good show, this was even better! This year the theme was wishes, heroes and princesses. A collection of short stories through Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin to  Rapunzel. The tempo was faster, the tricks were more daring. A colorful show with fireworks, fairy dust, dragons and ice on fire! Wow! Think i will make it a tradition - to go every year!

Jelly on springs

Ok so maybe I am a bit influenced by the courses that I recently have studied but then again statistics talk for themselves. A forth of Swedish population today report that they don’t feel well mentally and the eating disorders among adolescence keep on increasing. It made me wonder why. Working in the hospital you get to see how bad people really  feel and how many they are. Is it the constant pressure from our surrounding or the information we get fed with every day on how we are supposed to look and what we are supposed to do?

It is actually funny to see how our perception of beauty and sex symbols has changed over the years. Ones upon a time Marilyn Monroe was a sex symbol. I know that over the years there have been constant discussions whether she was a size 16 (44) or not… fact is it really doesn’t matter. The woman had curves, a typical hourglass figure and it was ok. Jelly on springs! I never forget the time when Anna Nicole Smith covered the posters around this country and what huge debate that awoke. Some said that it was natural beauty and that is why people turn their heads, others said that it was slutty. Why is a woman with curves in underwear slutty? The commercial by Dove was lifted up the issue again and portraid women as they are. The scary part is that this is something unusual. Retouching is a friend and it is more of an exception then a rule -  to show women's natural beauty and shape.  I am surprised that not more is done in this matter. Young people of today feel the pressure from the world; they lack often guidance and get fed with unrealistic information. A fifteen year old might seem adult in some respects but really they don’t have the same references or supporting network to deal with everything that is thrown on their plate.  No wonder they feel bad?  No wonder they push themselves to unrealistic goals… trying to become something and someone they are not… as it is not hard enough to just try to be yourself?

Parenting

Being a parent i look back at my upbringing and start to understand where certain of my behavior comes from. I see where my own parents went wrong and for back of a better word "screwed up". It is maybe harsh to say but it is the truth. Its scary to think that you have the power of shaping a human being and no matter how we twist and turn - we will traumatize our children. Hopefully that will be limited damage. The answer on how well we do is when the child is already grown up and then we are powerless to correct our mistakes. In worse case scenario your child will turn your back on you and you will never see them again. The other hard part is that we only have one chance and really there are no parenting schools. There might be guidelines but they are only guidelines and not necessarily correct. We follow our intuition and step back looking back at our own life trying not to make the mistakes our parents did. Perhaps we will succeed, but fact is even though we will do the best we know how to - we will make mistakes. At the end of the day if we stay true and follow our hearts the mistakes will not be too traumatizing and our children will understand and forgive us. Only time will tell.