"The discovery of Butt Elmo was a surprise at the moment when
surprises are least welcome: while changing a diaper. One of the
earliest lessons of baby care is that bad things happen in the open
air, so speed and routine are essential. Off with the old, wipe, slip
on the new, fasten—but why were the Pampers backward?
The rule
was simple, I had thought. Diapers came with a cartoon character
printed on the front and blank space on the back. That way, when you
pulled a flat new one out of the package—working half-asleep, in
dimness, possibly without lenses—you immediately knew which side was
which. But I had learned that lesson abroad, where the child was born,
and now we were back in America with a pack of American Pampers. And
the American diapers had Sesame Street characters printed on both sides."
"Children whose mothers work are less likely to lead healthy lives than those with "stay at home" mothers, a study says.
The Institute of Child Health study of more than 12,500 five-year-olds found those with working mothers less active and more likely to eat unhealthy food.
Other experts said more work was needed to see if the results applied to other age groups.
The study is in the Journal of Epidemiology and Child Health.
About 60% of mothers with children aged up to five are estimated to be in work.
"It's a Sunday night at the tail end of summer, and I've dragged two squawky kids out of the minivan and into a half-closed rest stop on the Garden State Parkway in search of non-dreadful dinner options. Leslie, their mother, is catching some precious zone-out time in the car. After we sit down with our unadorned burger and fries, I notice the woman at the next table, the one who's making eye contact and smiling.
"Are they twins?" she asks. "How wonderful!" Then she talks to Nini and Desmond: "Wow, you guys are 5. So big! Are you starting kindergarten soon?"
Here's where the fun starts.
My son and daughter regard me in grave silence, faces stuffed with
processed meat and fried potato product. They field this question
themselves fairly often, but they're going to let me take it this time.
For an insane split second, I consider a full-on lie, just some total
invention about where and when they're going to school this fall.
Instead, I take a swig of fizzy fountain Pepsi and bite the bullet:
"Actually, we're home schooling.""
“No, wait!” Abigail said. “I’m not finished!” She was bent low over her clipboard, a stubby pencil in her hand, slowly scratching out the letters in the book’s title, one by one: T H E. . . .
“Abigail, we’re waiting!” Jocelyn said, staring forcefully at her classmate. Henry, sitting next to her, sighed dramatically.
“I’m going as fast as I can!” Abigail said, looking harried. She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and plowed ahead: V E R Y. . . ."
"For A.J. and Lisa Demaree, the photos they snapped of their young daughters were innocent and sweet.
But after a photo developer at Wal-Mart thought otherwise, the Demarees found themselves in a yearlong battle to prove they were not child pornographers.
"I don't' understand it at all," A.J. Demaree told "Good Morning
America" Monday. "Ninety-nine percent of the families in America have
these exact same photos."
The eight photos in question were among a batch of 144 family photos the Demarees had taken to their local Wal-Mart.
The developer alerted the police and the investigation into child
pornography began in earnest, even though the parents maintained they
were innocent bath time photos.
The Peoria, Ariz., couple had their home searched by police and
worse, their children -- then ages 18 months, 4 and 5 -- were taken
from them for more than month. Their names were placed on a sex
offender registry for a time, and Lisa Demaree was suspended from her
school job for a year. The couple said they have spent $75,000 on legal
bills."
"When $800 strollers hit the market a few years
ago, it looked as if baby status symbols had reached a new odd,
capitalist apex. Now, according to a growing number of parents and
experts, the primo credentials trade in a different kind of capital:
nannies.
In
American cities that draw domestic workers from around the world, the
nanny pool is incredibly diverse, with women from the Philippines,
Jamaica and the West Indies, Nepal, Russia, Poland and more. In some families, the ethnic background of a nanny carries a certain cachet — and entrenched stereotypes."
"What parent doesn’t want their kid to feel good about
themselves? If I see that
commercial one more time, with the little kid batting the ball saying: “I am the best hitter in the
world!” or , “I am the best
pitcher in the world!”, with
the ‘happy soundtrack’ in the background, (what is that “Celebration”?!) one
more time, I think I will explode.
The catch line for the commercial is: “That’s OPTIMISM!” I shake my head muttering “No, that’s delusional!”
Call me a bad parent, or an a-hole. All I think is that chances this kid is
the best pitcher in the world and can keep thinking and saying that to himself,
is such a set up for the day he throws down his glove and stomps off the field
because he couldn’t hit the ball, he feels like crap and won’t go back, because
he isn’t “the best pitcher”."
"THIS WAS the summer of reproductive science horror shows. First there
was the weirdly popular and obscenely public Jon and Kate sextuplet
train wreck. Then there was the “Octo-mom’s’’ breeding extravaganza and
predictable media circus. And finally the bizarre custody battle over
Michael Jackson’s children, featuring various sperm donor suspects, an
egg donor, and a scheming biological mom. All three stories had, at
base, a kind of egotism and touch of mad science. And all three offered
distorted visions of our new technological capacity to create life.
This was back-to-school week, and
all across the nation children my daughter’s age are starting
kindergarten. Among my daughters’ peer group are children of sperm
donors - both known and anonymous, egg donors, surrogate mothers, and
many sets of twins.
No
matter which prism you are looking through - US Weekly or the PTA
meeting at a local elementary school - it seems natural to wonder how
these breakthrough tools might change our concept of “family.’’"
"More than 50 years ago, the psychologist Carl Rogers suggested that
simply loving our children wasn’t enough. We have to love them unconditionally, he said — for who they are, not for what they do.
As a father, I know this is a tall order, but it becomes even more
challenging now that so much of the advice we are given amounts to
exactly the opposite. In effect, we’re given tips in conditional parenting, which comes in two flavors: turn up the affection when they’re good, withhold affection when they’re not.
Thus,
the talk show host Phil McGraw tells us in his book “Family First”
(Free Press, 2004) that what children need or enjoy should be offered
contingently, turned into rewards to be doled out or withheld so they
“behave according to your wishes.” And “one of the most powerful
currencies for a child,” he adds, “is the parents’ acceptance and
approval.”"
