Okay, so I’m back in Toronto. Again. For a blogging conference. Again.

I know … to most of you, this just sounds coo-coo! And I certainly don’t blame you for thinking that. But hey, it’s my month and I do love me some bloggers and some blogging fun. So I am here to partake in the bliss that is Blissdom Canada, a major conference that focuses on social media, blogging, marketing, and public relations. Plus, lots of connecting with women from all walks of life, with so many diverse talents.

I was already very keen to come to Blissdom Canada, and then I received an invite to participate at the event as a Tribe Leader for Travel, so it was a no-brainer — I was not going to miss it!

All of the Blissdom attendees were treated to an opening night reception at CBC’s home. To get from our conference hotel to the CBC building, we were chauffeured in Chevrolet Orlandos (a car that has flip-up seats that give you the space of a mini-van, but still drives like a car). We got all doll’d up and felt pretty special.

That’s my buddy Andrea and I. She’s pretty much a celebrity now (Which she can’t stand me saying. But, if you click here, you’ll see what I mean. Plus you can probably even see the pores on her face the photo of her is so large! I think she’ll love that I said that too.) It is actually quite difficult to bask in her starlight since she’s the modest type, but I still do my best.

Speaking of trying to get a little star dust …. here are some of my fun photos from the CBC Live party! Above is a terrible photo, but it gives me a lovely memory kick-back to the little “squee!” feeling I had when arriving to this stunning building, only to find a red carpet laid out for us and photographers waiting inside.

Ann Douglas has been my personal hero since finding myself increasing depressed (and distressed!) when I was first pregnant in 2002 and reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting. I was so relieved to find Ann’s book The Mother of All Pregnancy Books, with its warm, calm and intelligent tone. Since then, I pretty much try to read everything she writes. She is quite active on twitter and we chat every now and then, and last night, I got to meet her in person for the first time. She gave me such a big warm hug! Meeting her made me very happy. The rest of the conference was just going to be icing now.

On the far left of this picture is Nora Young, who is host of CBC’s show Spark. Most of us in the Ottawa bloggy community (standing beside Nora is Dani, Shannon, Karen, and Andrea on the end) are a little ga-ga over CBC Radio in general, but to meet Nora Young? Well, everyone was trying to act cool and not totally star struck!

And last but not least, I tried to get a photo with Casey. You know — Casey, from Mr. Dressup! Remember Casey?

But no dice. I knocked on his door, but it must have been past his bedtime or something.

CBC Live also covered the event and posted a great video with live footage. If you’re interested, you can check it out here.

I had never heard of this test, but it is really interesting and directly related to my post on giving my kids the gift of anticipation. It was an experiment conducted by Stanford University in the 1960s with children on deferred gratification. Basically, they sat a child in a room with a single marshmallow and gave the child a choice between eating it right away or waiting for 15 minutes and then receiving two marshmellows instead.

I found this TED video that provides an overview of this experiment and what the results are supposed to predict. It also includes priceless footage of children trying to resist the marshmallow!

The original experiment concluded that the children who could resist the marshmallow and wait for the fifteen minutes (which was about 1/3 of the 600 children) used a crucial skill: “strategic allocation of attention.” These kids were able to distract themselves, and their mind, away from the marshmallow by walking about the room, playing peek-a-boo, etc. The study continues to track these children and concludes that being able to resist the marshmallow is actually an accurate predictor of success in life — academic and otherwise.

Now, back to Christmas … those presents sitting under the tree are an enormous temptation aren’t they? Last Christmas, my daughter carefully pulled back the tape on virtually all her presents and ruined any kind of surprise we might have had on Christmas. So this year, we didn’t put any of her presents under the tree in advance.

Except one, that is.

Hubby wrapped up a box of cake mix and left it under the tree. She spent a great deal of time shaking, smelling and looking at it but she didn’t actually peek. Apparently, there’s hope for her yet. 

And this year? Douglas Coupland.  

[Read more on why I just couldn't miss this ...]

I mean, really. Is it really necessary to instill a fear in children about their fellow community members when the facts show that child abduction is an extremely rare occurence? My child already has her own self-instilled fear of aliens, does she need this one too? 

So please, spare me the fear-mongering. Why? Because I worry enough as it is. That’s what Moms do best, afterall.

Let’s look at some facts on “stranger danger”:

• In 1999, 203,900 children were abducted in the U.S.A. by a family member seeking to interfere with a parent’s custody; 98% of the children were returned.
• In this same year, there were only 115 cases in the U.S.A. of the stereotypical variety, in which a stranger is the perpetrator and the child is kept overnight, held for ransom or killed; 60 percent were returned safely.
• That’s 115 cases of stranger abduction in a population of more than 320 million.

I know, I know … you don’t want to be in that group of unfortunate 115. I hear you.

But I also don’t want my child to grow up fearful of others — her very own community.

Remember when we were kids? You were let out the door to simply “go play outside.” Does anybody do that anymore? Cause it was really fun. 

I realized just how over-protective we’ve become as parents when I suggested to my 7-year-old that she “call on a friend.” She didn’t know what that meant. I was referring to that once familiar act of ringing the doorbell and asking “do you want to come out and play?” Soon it will have vanished from our communal lexicon altogether.

I really don’t think that people have changed that radically since we were young. I really don’t think that there are more pedophiles today than there were in the 1970s. I really don’t. And the stats back me up on it.

So let’s scratch this one worry off of our already long list of worries.  Instead, let’s encourage our kids to “call on a friend” to play.

And if we, as adults, have a lingering fear of “stranger danger” — let’s not share it with our children. Instead, let’s ask the other parents on the street to join with us and communally watch out for our children and let each other know if anything worrisome has cropped up.

Are you with me? (Or do you think I am naively deluded?)

Listen in: In 15 minutes (4 pm today), CBC’s All in A Day will be hitting this issue. Dani from Postcards from the Mothership and Lynn from Turtlehead will debate the issue. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say! 

6-year-old Daughter: Well, yes I did. But I didn’t recognize your voice.

Me: Yes, people can sound different on the radio. I think it’s because of the microphones.

6-year-old Daughter: Oh, I see. It really didn’t sound like you at all. Because I heard the voice of a really calm lady.

All In A Day called (you know, CBC’s afternoon radio show) and asked if I would come in to be interviewed on the show to talk about Blog Out Loud Ottawa. I love All In A Day, so I swooned and said ‘yes’ immediately. Here’s how the show is described on their site:

All In A Day is Ottawa’s number one afternoon drive program, not surprising considering that CBC Radio One 91.5 is Ottawa’s number one radio station. More people listen to CBC Radio than to any other station in town.

Yikes, WHAT WAS I THINKING — I’ve never been on radio before … I could stutter, and stammer and giggle like a fool. The last time I agreed to do something like this was in 2002 when Kim Brunhuber invited me to a televised book club chat. And YES, I did come off like an idiot then. But, hey, my family still gets a good laugh about it to this day, so I guess it was worth it.

Tune in! It’s scheduled for 4:50 pm this afternoon.