Profile of Dara Squires

Biography

Dara Squires was born and raised in Newfoundland (except for a childhood stint in Quebec). Though she went away for university and work, she and her husband decided to ...

All articles of Dara Squires

• This is not your mother’s war
  Some of my best parent friends fed their babies formula. A few had their boys circumcised. Some are gung-ho cloth diaperers, others think the ...
• Nature versus nurture
  The other day, speaking with a friend who once considered adoption, I asked her what had affected those plans. She replied that her husband ...
• This is a policy problem, in a nutshell
  In 2005 a 15-year-old girl in Quebec died after kissing her boyfriend. Sounds like an urban legend, but it’s no story. She was deathly allergic ...
• When a bonus is a negative
  “It’s insulting to pay us to have babies,” was one woman’s response to the Danny Williams baby bonus plan announced during the 2007 election ...
• It’s a beautiful life
  It is easy to find ourselves trapped in rotating discussions on our frustrations and pain in life. After all, these are the things we need to ...
• Perfect parenting
• Shiny pennies and strengthening families
  I tried to read the whole darn thing, really I did. But at 498 pages long, it’s really a novella, not a budget. And then of course, there’s the ...
• Growing up green thumbs
  I know it doesn’t seem like it with all the snow on the ground still, but gardening season approacheth. If you got ’em, start ’em is the motto ...
• The pied piper of Muskrat Falls
  Everyone knows the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin — the magical motley-hued man that led an entire city’s children away, joyously marching ...
• Message in a bottle
  I’m writing a message for my children, to be put in a bottle and tossed into the tides of time. I feel, sometimes, like we are stuck on an island ...
• Connecting boys to the feminist movement
  Connecting girls, inspiring futures. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is a call to action for women to involve their ...
• Shame on them
  When our children are young, we are warned as parents to never make them feel as if they are bad. They’re actions are bad, at times, but not ...
• Behind closed doors
  Most of us who are adults today have a horror story or two about a teacher who abused their power in the classroom. When the story of Christian ...
• The glamour of domestic violence
  Have you talked to your children about partner violence? Most likely, unless they’ve been witnesses or experienced it somehow, you haven’t. ...
• Celebrating our natural sizes
  Every time my five-year-old daughter stands in front of the mirror to brush her teeth or hair, she has to strike a pose, jut out a hip, try a new ...
• Consumer responsibilities for deviance
  In his recent sentencing hearing on possession of child pornography charges, Raymond Lahey apologized to his church and to “the victims of ...
• Shame on you fattie – Part 2
  In my last column I wrote about the high school in New Brunswick that is measuring students’ BMI as part of a health “report card” looking for ...
• Shame on you fattie – Part 1
  Kids are getting bigger. There’s no questioning that. It pretty much goes hand-in-hand with the population getting bigger in general. Compared ...
• Breasts, breasts everywhere ... but don’t let baby...
  My youngest son is nearly three and a half years old. And yes, I’m still breastfeeding him. I have my reasons, but they’re none of your business. ...
• Kids in danger
  Three years ago, when my youngest was still an infant, I took apart the crib to move it from our room into the room he would share with his ...
• Cheers and jeers for Canadian companies
  It’s easy to say “buy local” as a motto for supporting sustainable consumerism, but sometimes it just isn’t possible to find what you want or ...
• Parents; Give yourselves a gift this Christmas
  This is the year. You can do it. Forget about the baking and present wrapping and getting everything just right. Take a deep breath. And ... ...
• Grow up
  I want to raise children that understand good and civil behaviour, but that’s hard when so many adults around them don’t exhibit that kind of ...
• Getting ready for Christmas — clearing out
  Every year our family seems to add and subtract “traditions” from our Christmas prep. But there’s one long-standing tradition we’ll never ...
• Christmas, advertising ... and exposure to the world
  I have most of my Christmas shopping done. No really. I can’t believe it myself. Last night in a few hours online I completed a lot of shopping. ...
• When a woman roars
  I am a woman and I have been told to sit down and shut up by other women.I am a mother fighting for my daughter and I have been shouted down by ...
• Remembering, and the future
  We sat in plastic chairs on the gymnasium floor and soon the roar of hundreds of school children settled into silence. We watched as the men ...
• Bullying, suicide and society’s role
  But it’s still too much — far, far too much. There’s no cure, no inoculation, no quarantine procedures that will lessen the threat. It’s the ...
• In water we are all weightless — of mermaids and...
  Perhaps a well-meaning friend has delivered it to your inbox or brought your attention to an online post. It has no known author, but tells a ...
• Where have all the children gone?
  It seems they’ve gone wherever their parents can find space or afford. And, according to a recent poll conducted by Canadian Union of Public ...