I'm Tiger Woods

Who can forget those adorable little faces from Nike's "I Am Tiger Woods" ad campaign? Golf was almost immediately being watched by a wider and more diverse audience, and being played by people once denied access to the same courses on which the game takes place. Kids everywhere wondered what it would be like to be Tiger Woods, the golfer.

And, now there is a new reason to want to be like the smiling, 33 year-old mega-star who never seems to make a wrong move: his role as "Dad."

The images of Tiger and his father Earl embracing on the golf course are as well known as the red-shirt-ed, fist-pumping Tiger adding another trophy to his collection. The love and respect from father to son was tangible and admirable. As the NYTimes piece above notes, "If Woods grew up knowing nothing else, it was that his father and his mother, Kultida, were wholly committed to him."

And, that's an important lesson to take away from this story. Kids will always want to be Tiger Woods. They will want to achieve his success on the golf course and be worth what he is worth. But, with Father's Day just in our rear-view mirrors, fathers (and fathers-to-be) should garner additional inspiration from the phrase "wholly committed to him." We can't all fly our kids around the world to watch Daddy play golf like Tiger Woods. We can't all take the time away from work to foster our child's passion for golf like Earl Woods. But, what we can do is work hard everyday to be sure our kids know we are wholly committed to them . . . And, you don't need a private jet to do that.

The Review Adds 10 Pounds!

Britney Spears is touring in Europe to mixed reviews:

Critique: "She hardly engaged the audience"

Praise: "Britney Spears was the perpetual motion machine"

These, from the professional reviewers. The fans paint a different picture with words like "awesome" and "great." But, one theme that was clear throughout is that Britney's body will always be a topic of discussion (she probably can't avoid this while wearing those outfits):

"She showed that her body was tight"

"She appeared healthy, robust and happy"

But, of course, there are always more negative comments like "chunky" and "heavy," and so many of these comments are from men. Looking at her body and reading these words, one has to wonder, "What more can she do?"

Let's just hope her youngest fans aren't internalizing these negative thoughts . . . as much as we know they are.

So, I'm Gay Now?

- This photo was taken in a toddler playground of a housing project in Brooklyn 

There are a number of problems with this scene. To start, the grammar is off - it should be "sees." And, where's the punctuation? (Who's teaching kids how to write derogatory hate messages these days??) The second problem is the placement - a baby and toddler playground? For whom is this written? And, the most glaring issue is . . . it makes no sense.

Phrases like, "That's so gay" or "You're gay" have simply become all too prevalent. The terms are thrown around without caution, often (as in this case) without an identifiable context. One would think that the overuse of these phrases would lessen their effect; would reduce the pain felt by those on the receiving end because the words are so commonplace.

The truth is that the language still hurts, as evidenced by the recent suicide deaths of young boys who were the victims of homophobic bullying. And, even a message like the one above - intended for no one and everyone - adds to the hurt.

In trying to figure out how to eliminate the language from our lexicon and how to rid ourselves of homophobic bullying, are we also thinking about how to lessen the hurt these words cause? While addressing the taunting, are we also empowering the taunted to get past the attacks?

If only it were as easy as simply seeing that being called gay is not an insult...