You don’t want to look at it, but you can’t look away. God forbid your children see it, what will happen when they view such a corruptible, sensational image?! Oh my, it’s a breast! With a child old enough to walk, talk and ask for food attached to it. A child doing what children are meant to do. Getting attention. That’s right, the biggest—perhaps only—winners in this cover story on breastfeeding and attachment parenting are Time magazine’s publicity, marketing and circulation departments. That’s what the cover image was designed to do: Get attention. And it has gotten lots of attention. …

Ethan Walmark, I am always going to be able to say, “I knew you when.” Because judging by the past weekend, this 6-year-old, piano-playing phenom from Westport is destined to be a star. Ethan is the son of my friends, Allison and Michael Walmark. Like a lot of other 6-year-olds, he has a ton of energy, an irrepressible laugh and a beautiful smile, and he loves kindergarten. He developed an amazing musical ability and interest very early on—at only 12 months, he could plink “Mary Had A Little Lamb” on the piano. By age four, Ethan had developed a remarkable talent for listening to a song only …

Stop the presses! Didya hear? Hollywood A-listers Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are moving to a town near you! I heard they were spotted house hunting and window shopping in New Canaan.  My sister’s friend spotted them buying ice cream in Ridgefield! My manicurist’s fourth cousin once removed saw Blake coming out of the public restroom at a Starbucks in Bedford. Okay, that last one is stretching it a bit, and you can tell I made it up. Technically there isn’t even a Starbucks in Bedford, although that is where the two lovely Lively lovebirds actually did reportedly purchase a $2 million …

I’m a smart, progressive, socially aware white woman, and I am ashamed of myself. Last week I read a Facebook post that my college friend, Chuck, wrote, and I was ashamed that it never occurred to me what he has felt, and will feel, his entire life. “I support Trayvon Martin. This is my wife's greatest fear for my son, Chas, when he becomes a teenager: being harassed by the police or rogue individuals. I am already teaching Chas how to act around police officers. I have personally been thrown in jail and handcuffed to a prison wall when I was driving a new car in a nice neighborhood. This …

Boy, do I have quite a hangover! You know when you overindulge and forget your limits, and then go out with a big bang? The following day it sure is a rough road to recuperation, with the after-effects lingering for days. I feel like I’ve just been put through the ringer. Think I’m talking about alcohol? Think again. I’m talking about the headache I still have from the Super Bowl. Like many people, we celebrated with friends and the party boasted great food, great conversation and a lot of spirit. Even the kids got into it, filling out their ballots for game trivia and cheering just as loudly…

Whew! That was close...for a moment there I thought someone was saying that politics was more important than the health of all women. I, and millions of others, were under the impression that once again women were being used as pawns in the political game. That was the message sent by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, the leading fundraiser for breast cancer research and support money. Up until this past week, the organization had done much to further women’s health with its pink ribbon campaign of awareness and advocacy, and its far-reaching fundraising efforts. But this week Komen…

I’m more than a number — my family is greater than a statistic. We are the face of unemployment. I first wrote about our experience shortly after my husband was laid off. That was 14 months ago. Unfortunately, we’re still in the same boat. Both of my Patch columns, “From the Driver’s Seat” and “Patch In,” are written from a very personal perspective. In writing about the layoff, I tried to give a glimpse of what it felt like and what we were going through. I couldn’t claim to be opining from my perspective each week if I didn’t really give readers an honest account and the true context of my …

Rivals competing in a match-up for the season ending big game. Coaches making headlines because of off-the-field behavior. Leagues competing for players with commissioners needing to get involved. Think this is about Major League sports? Think again—it’s what’s happening our towns’ youth leagues every day. If I had a dollar for every time someone approached me and said, “You should write an article about sports in town and how awful it is!” I’d be a wealthy woman and wouldn’t have to write opinion columns anymore. Yes, I have children that play in my town’s athletic leagues. And trust me, I …

I guess being labeled ‘mentally retarded’ means you don’t deserve a life-saving kidney transplant. Seems that’s what doctors at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHoP) may have suggested in the case of one little two-year-old girl. Amelia Rivera was born with a genetic disorder called Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, which is often marked by heart or palate defects, hearing and vision impairments, seizures and certain characteristic facial and physical features. While some WHS children live into adulthood, they sometimes will not survive past the age of two. With the condition there is always …

My children have had great teachers, and they’ve also had one really not-so-great teacher. We saw right away the impact each kind had on our kids’ performance in the moment. Thanks to some researchers at Harvard and Columbia, now we know the good ones are going to help our children earn more money and have a better chance at professional success when they’re all grown up. Recent research and hard data backs up the hope for our children’s future—when they have great teachers. So why are we arguing about what we pay good teachers? Somewhere along the way, we’ve diverted the argument away from …

I’m about to reopen the Pandora’s box of opinion column writing:  this “Patch In” is going to be about guns and school. Readers of my Wilton column, “From the Driver’s Seat,” will remember the firestorm I kicked up when I took on the subject of guns and children in a column I wrote last year. That one got picked up nationally and landed me on something called the “Bang List” of an ultra right-wing pro-gun group. Faithful readers might be saying, “Uh oh, here she goes again.” What emboldens me enough to delve into the topic again, exactly one year later, are recent news stories about a couple …

“Hello Mrs. Herve? This is the Wilton Police Department. We have your children here.” Thankfully, that’s a call I’ve never actually received, but according to recent news reports, one local mother did hear something that must have sounded very much like that. According to police, on Dec. 22 at the CVS in Wilton, a woman identified as Tammy Lindquist, 48, of Norwalk, was arrested on charges of risk of injury to minors after she possibly abused—verbally and physically—two children, ages 2 and 5, that she’d been hired to care for. Allegedly, she yelled at the children, calling them “little …

What would you do if you thought you only had three minutes left to live? I have had an article open on my browser for three months now, wanting to save it for the right moment as fodder for a column. It’s the moving story of a United States Air Force Special Forces soldier who was so badly wounded in a 2009 battle in Afghanistan that he thought he wouldn’t survive. Shot in the chest and shoulder by armor-piercing bullets, he was bleeding badly and suffered a collapsed lung. But as the one member of the team coordinating communications with backup air support, he was the only one who would be…

You’ve gotta love holiday parties — good friends, good cheer and good bubbly this weekend put me in a spirited mood. It got me thinking that this “Patch In” installment should be a little softer around the edges, in honor of the holidays. So, as the last couple of columns were a bit more controversial, today’s piece will avoid (almost) all reference to anything controversial: no positions on race, sexual orientation or politics. Instead, let’s try for a little humor and lightheartedness, shall we? For my job I spend a good deal of time online. I regularly check a wide variety of news and pop …

“Mama, sing that song that Daddy whistles.” Year round, my 5-year-old daughter loves “Deck the Halls” because it’s familiar—it’s the only song my husband knows how to whistle. I love to sing it because I crack her up just by changing my singing voice from silly to theatrical to cartoon. One day last week at the dinner table, I was singing it for her after one of her frequent requests. “…Don we now our gay apparel, fa la la…” Out of the corner of my eye, I spied my 9-year-old son wrinkling up his nose. “Ew. Gay.” I wanted to cry. Turns out he was repeating what he’d heard at school. Despite …

For better or worse, life in our neck of the New England jungle is sort of comparable to the Disney movie, The Lion King: Everybody plays a role in the ongoing survival of the food chain.Here’s what I mean: Locally-owned businesses need clientele and customers in order to thrive, so that towns stay viable, so that towns are desirable to new residents, so that new businesses want to move in, so that taxes can be more affordable for residents, so that residents are motivated to search for services and products locally, so that they are able to patronize local businesses …and the local “circle …

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m siding with Michelle Bachmann. Yes, my politics are polar opposite from hers. I don’t think she’s at all qualified to be President of the United States, nor would I ever cast my vote for her in any election. But when it comes to standing up for her after the recent Late Night with Jimmy Fallon debacle, I’m right there to do so. Bachmann was a guest on Fallon’s show, in a classic candidate’s effort to show a human, funny side. It’s a move right out of the national politician’s playbook ever since it worked so well for Bill Clinton the first time he ran for…

“You’re a woman over 35, you live in Fairfield County, and you’re not on anti-depressants?” I was sitting over coffee with a friend, a psychiatrist with an active practice in Darien and we were talking a bit of ‘shop.’ I told her I’d been noodling around a column about mental health and how people cope with increased causes of stress, in particular here in Fairfield County. The conversation meandered naturally and then she came at me with that whammy of a line. Her somewhat sarcastic comment hit home, given all the stereotypes of women my age in this part of the country—Stepford wives, the …

These days when you can't count on the powers that be to keep the power on, it’s important to figure out who you can count on. In the days following last weekend’s freak October snowstorm and the resulting widespread power outages, I had the opportunity to think a lot about where we find community in our darkest moments—especially with so many people literally in the dark. We’ve witnessed much community support across Fairfield County since the storm. “Powered up” people opened up their homes to friends and relatives without power for showers, food and refuge from the cold. Volunteers …

It was a dark and stormy night. The handsome captain lit another candle and shuttered the window blown open by the wild wind outside. His wife, the fair maiden, felt the chill and pulled her shawl tight around her slender shoulders. "I am scared," she whispered. Trying not to show his own fear, the captain stood a little taller. "It will be fine. We shall meet them at the pub, and hurry home well before midnight." Still unable to hide her trembling voice, quivering with dread, she looked at him, and asked: "But who's going to watch the kids?" S-C-R-E-E-E-E-A-A-A-M!!! Sounds like one of those …