Brae-isms and Sobering Mother's Day Statistics

Brae: "Mommy, what's your name?
Me: "Britney."
Brae: (stunned that I have a name) (long pause) "Daddy, what's your name?"
Tygh: "Tygh."
Brae: (stunned and puzzled) (another long pause)  "What's Sienna's name?"

***
A conversation you never think you need to have with another human:

Me: "Brae, we don't actually urinate in other people's yards." 

***
And yet, another one:

Me: (noticing that Brae is digging mightily with his hand into his pants, into his underwear, and into his bum) "Brae, what are you doing?"
Brae: (wide-eyed) "Mommy, I have birds in there!"


***

And now, some sobering statistics in honor of Mother's Day that makes you grateful for the people in your life who are your mothers or you treat like your mothers, and for the kids in your life that are your children, or that you just baby like your children (and P.S., I come from a divorced family):

1. 98% of mothers and 90% of fathers hugged their children ages 0 to 2 years of age daily, compared to only 74% of mothers and 50% of fathers who hugged their children ages 10 to 12 years of age daily


2. In 2008, 67% of children ages 0–17 lived with two married parents, down from 77% in 1980


3. Parents in two-parent families spend an average of 2 hours a day interacting with their children compared to only 50 minutes for single-parent families.


4. Moms are getting older and more educated.  In 2008, 14% of new moms were 35 or older, and 10% were in their teens.  Those numbers were the exact opposite in 1990:  There were more moms in their teens back then.

5.Almost 20% of children are cared for by stay-at-home dads.

6. Seventy-two percent of moms with kids over one year old work, which is about the same rate as childless women. In 1976, that rate was only 39%, indicating that working mothers are on the rise. In addition to working, women average 2.2 hours a day on chores each day, and 2.7 hours each day on primary childcare. Working outside the home typically means less depression for mothers, but research indicates that it’s only if moms let go of the idea of being "supermom." Experts suggest that having it all is too much to shoot for. Instead moms should be satisfied with knowing that you can almost have it all.

7.  The 2000 Census indicates that 5.7 million grandparents live with their grandchildren. These grandparents invariably play a role in raising their grandchildren, in whole or in part with the child’s parent(s). Of the grandparents living with grandchildren in 2000, 42% were responsible for them as a primary caregiver.  Newer research indicates that as many as one in 10 children in the US lives with a grandparent, a figure that has risen sharply since the recession began in 2007.

8.  Research indicates that children from divorced homes have more psychological problems than those who come from homes disrupted by death. This bothersome fact is made worse when you consider that half of all American children will witness their parents’ divorce, and of those children from divorced families, almost half of them will see a parent’s second marriage end in divorce as well. Children in divorced families are 50% more likely to develop health problems than two parent families, and are at greater risk of injury, asthma, headaches, and speech defects.

9. Percent of married women ages 15-44 that are infertile or have difficulty carrying to term : 11.8%.

10. 19% of parents in the United States have lost a child, any age, any cause.

Now go hug someone you love.