Same sex vacations provide unique, important alternative

 

LGBT-friendly travel company offers trips free from discrimination

1 copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copyCalgarian Shereen Samuels and her family are going on a cruise vacation this July. This cruise is special for Samuels and her family.

R Family Vacations, a specialty travel company, organizes holidays for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered) couples and their families.

Shereen's wife Liz and their ten-year-old daughter will all be going on the cruise. As well as being a same-sex headed family, they are also an interracial one and their daughter is adopted. 

FacebookFacebookTwitterTwitterBloggerBloggerGoogleShareGoogleShareLinkedinLinkedin

Read more...

Calgary twins share what it’s like to be part of a duo

Friendship and jealousy come with sharing everything

1 copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copyImagine being with your best friend at every moment of every day.

You share your birthday.

You even share your DNA.

This is how 36-year-old Michelle Smith describes being a twin. She says it's like, "having a best friend from grade 1."

Only 3.4 per cent of Alberta babies born in 2010 will grow up knowing this feeling. The rest of us are left wondering, "What is it like to have a twin?"

FacebookFacebookTwitterTwitterBloggerBloggerGoogleShareGoogleShareLinkedinLinkedin

Read more...

Mothers still face negativity over breastfeeding in public

Breastfeeding supporters say society slow to change

1 copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copySeveral months ago, a verbal firestorm erupted on multiple social media and news platforms after a Calgary woman was asked to leave a Walmart store in southwest Calgary because she was breastfeeding her baby. Calgary Journal Healthy Living editor Shannon Galley recently explored the issue of public breastfeeding with several Calgary women.

The mothers

Kayla Doucet is a Calgary mother of three who nursed all her children in public.
Her conclusion — breastfeeding in public is no easy task.

"I've been asked to leave a mall before. I've been asked to leave by security at public parks in Calgary, I've been told to go into a washroom and breastfeed," Doucet says.

"I think it's disgraceful when they ask a mother to leave while she's breastfeeding."

FacebookFacebookTwitterTwitterBloggerBloggerGoogleShareGoogleShareLinkedinLinkedin

Read more...

Parents turn to sign-language to communicate with babies

Research suggests comprehension starts as early as six months, says expert

1 copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copy_copyAlthough they are adorable, small and loving little beings — babies tend to bring out the, well, unreasonable side of us all.

The loud, booming cries that seem to make their way out of such small humans are still a mystery — along with what that crying actually means. Are they hungry, wet or tired? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

A common ground is missing — as the baby has no means of telling the adult what they want.

FacebookFacebookTwitterTwitterBloggerBloggerGoogleShareGoogleShareLinkedinLinkedin

Read more...