For many kids, the day they receive a jersey or uniform with their name printed boldly on the back is proud one. They are on the team and everyone who goes to the games will know exactly who they are!
Which is precisely what worried one parent enough to lobby for the removal of children's first names from the jerseys of the Carmel Dads Club. "She raised the concern about someone coming up to a kid and saying, 'Hi, Mary' or 'Hi, Jimmy,' and that might lead the youngster to believe that they knew them," said Mike McKinley, president of the organization that involves 12,000 kids in nearly a dozen different sports.
While some support the change, others feel it's catering to a culture of paranoia. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children cautions parents that kids wearing clothing or carrying personalized items could put strangers "on a first name basis with the kids", but also acknowledges that in the majority of cases, children are abducted or exploited by someone the child or the child's parents knows not by a stranger.
We've never been on a team where first names were used on uniforms, only last names. Maybe I'm just naive, but my biggest worry was that someone with "Felton" across their back would do something embarrassing like scratch their butt or pick their nose in front of everyone. For me, having names on the players helps me figure out who is who on the field better than just a number. However, plain jerseys have the economical advantage of being reusable and reducing the cost of sports for parents.
Also, removing names from uniforms may make parents feel safer, but it doesn't completely remove the danger. There are enough people yelling out kids' names during sporting events to make it pretty easy for a profiler to figure out who is who if this ism information they really want to know.
What do you think is this a prudent preventative measure or just parental paranoia?
For many, BC could easily stand for "Before Cellphones," so unimaginable is life without these handy devices.
And while giving a child his or her own cell phone is now nearly as common a ritual as buying them a bike, the age cellphone ownership is appropriate for children is still rather uncharted territory. The allure of GPS tracking capability has parents of children as young as three considering a cell phone a worthwhile investment in safety, in the even of the child being separated from them in a crowd.
While giving a toddler their own cell phone seems rather extreme, the age at which a child is given a cell phone is rapidly plummeting. The Center on Media and Child Health web site states that 54 percent of 8- to 12-year-olds will have a cell phone in the next three years.
In our house, we didn't feel the kids needed cell phones until they were old enough to be involved in after school activities. Having a cell phone meant they could call when the bus was returning after an out of town game and save us from a forty-five minute wait in the school parking lot. And with pay phones practically on the endangered species list, a cell phone means they can get 911 assistance where ever they might be.
But kids and cell phones also have downsides. For one thing, there's the money issue. Kids are notorious for losing items and cell phones are not cheap. Nor are most cell phone plans or the overage charges when kids get a little too chatty or succumb to the allure of downloading. There's also the back-of-the-mind worry on what the long-term effect radiation waves from a device held so close to the brain might have on developing bodies.
Does you child have a cell phone? If so, how did you decide when they were old enough to have one?
Wipes. Once you have a child, it seems impossible to get away from using them. They're everywhere and made to use for everything baby related. And there are so many different kinds to choose from, you find yourself sampling until you find the "right" wipe for your family. Some prefer the all-natural variety, some prefer antibacterial. Others prefer the sensitive skin version, and some just go for whatever is cheapest. Heck, you can even make your own baby wipes at home.
But, are wipes all they're cracked up to be? Are they really safe for all the uses for which they are available? I use them to wipe up during a diaper change. And I use them to wipe my hands. And I use them to wipe down the table after my son has his meal. And I've been known on occasion to use them to wipe his face after said meal. I've used them to wipe his nose instead of traditional tissues because they keep the skin on his nose from drying out.
My husband came home from Costco with a box of 700 wipes. Yes, 700. And all for the low cost of like $17. But are they good for the environment? Do they disintegrate or pile up in a landfill somewhere like everything else? Is it worth it for the convenience? And what about the organic versions versus the regular kind? Is there any real advantage to using chlorine-free wipes as opposed to generic ones? So many questions, so many wipes. They're invaluable when it comes to diaper changing duties, but other than that are they really worth it? I come from the cloth napkin world where little is thrown away or not reused, but I love the cleanliness and simplicity of the wipe. Is there any middle ground?
What is your favorite type of wipe, or have you found a way to get things (and your kids) clean without them?
Suicide rates among the nation's youth continue to climb. Many experts fear the reason for this is due to fewer antidepressants being prescribed. After a fifteen-year decline the rates are climbing--what was seen as a possibly random increase in 2004 was repeated in 2005. The outcome of the study of 2004 and 2005 tracked outcomes based on actual instances from 1996 through 2003. After more than a decade of decline, suicide rates among those from 10-19 years of age skyrocketed by 18% in 2004, the largest increase in a one-year time period over fifteen years. Researcher Jeff Bridge feels, based on this study, that we could be on the verge of a public health crisis.
Bridges sites possible reasons for the increase, including online and social networking as well as returning from deployment overseas in Iraq along with the controversy over giving youth antidepressants. In a 2003 a public health advisory was issued noting children who were prescribed SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, were more likely to attempt suicide or engage in suicidal behavior. The result was the black box information on such medicines as well as doctors being less confident in prescribing them. In another study, however, Bridge noted that such treatment could be beneficial for children in the short-term.
According to Diana Zuckerman, National Research Center for Women & Families, children may be more likely to attempt suicide now due to the lagging economy, the stress of not having enough money for college and because those with depression go undiagnosed. She also noted a factor could be that families aren't spending enough time together.
If students are expected to treat school as their work, it stands to reason that they then be compensated for a job well done. In academics, good work is reflected by good grades or test scores and in New York, kids are getting paid up to a thousand dollars for doing well on Advanced Placement tests.
While it hasn't yet been proven that reimbursing for grades can actual increases test scores, one of the results of the program being funded by private donations, corporations, and foundations is that more kids are taking the tests. In fact, the number students taking the AP test in New York rose slightly this past year, but the number who passed fell but still, it's a start.
Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust, a Washington research group that works on closing the racial achievement explains why the program is worth a try. "There's some part of all of us that gets a little queasy at this sort of buying stuff," she said. "That said, the problem of under-performance, especially among poor and minority kids, is so serious and has been with us for so long that I'm not begrudging anybody who has good will here from trying something so we can hopefully learn something from it. Frankly, rich kids get paid for high grades all the time and for high test scores by their parents, so this isn't so different."
If cash motivates students to study and do better, I'm all for it. I offered my sons iPods for being on the honor roll for the entire year last school year and having to buy one in June was a great day for him and for me!
You know that old nighttime saying, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite"? Well it turns out bedbugs aren't an imaginary creature designed to keep kids from wandering out of their beds at night.
Bedbugs are tiny, real insects that suck blood from people in their beds as they sleep. Our sister blog That's Fit just shared the educational-yet-horrifying information that some colleges are suffering from bedbug infestations. You know, because between the booze, boys, and bills, college parents didn't have ENOUGH to worry about.
If your college student suspects they have bedbugs as roomies, here are the steps to take:
Pretend you don't know about the problem and transfer to a different university (Just kidding, although that would probably be my first response.)
Reduce clutter to eliminate hiding places for the bugs.
Thoroughly clean house using a high-powered vacuum cleaner and a stiff brush to remove bugs from cracks in the floor.
Dismantle beds to find hiding places.
Wash the bedding. Seal up mattresses and box springs by taping any holes or other places where bugs could exit. Wrap the mattresses and box springs in heavy plastic covers and seal them. Dumping mattresses on the street could result in making the problem worse by spreading it to others.
To keep bugs from traveling from the floor to the bed and anyone attempting to sleep, set the bed frame legs in containers of mineral oil and do not let the blankets touch the floor.
Caulk and seal all holes and cracks around pipes, electrical outlets, and around baseboards and cove moldings.
If you are a tenant, work with your landlord to solve the problem. If you are a homeowner, you might consider calling a licensed pest control operator.
There are a number of products and kits you can purchase to treat the problem. Some involve chemical pesticides, others depend upon organic means of control, such as insecticidal dusts that tear away the bug's protective coating, causing it to die. These products can be found on the internet.
If you suspect you have had a bedbug encounter during a trip out of the country, it's possible you have transported the little fellows or their eggs in your luggage. Leaving your luggage in a closed car for several hours in a hot summer sun should kill them. Meanwhile, it's a good idea to have clothing professionally laundered in a commercial bug-killing solution immediately upon your return, preferably before you bring the clothing home. Inspect, vacuum, and scrub your empty suitcase with a stiff brush to remove any eggs.
Of course the easiest way to deal with bedbugs is to not get them in the first place. That's why the best idea is to keep your kids little and at home with you. When someone figures out how to do, this please let me know ASAP.
Over the weekend, the internet was awash with rumors that Sarah Palin, the 44 year old governor of Alaska and newly named running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain may have faked the pregnancy of her 5th child, Trig to cover that the baby was actually her grandson and was born to her 16 year-old daughter, Bristol.
The details of the soap opera-esque tale revolved around the fact that Bristol missed several months of school, ostensibly due to having mono, and that the Governor's staff were said to be shocked at Palin's pregnancy announcement late in her 2nd trimester because she didn't appear pregnant and none of them had a clue. However, the internet is also awash with rumors that Obama was not actually born in the United States and was raised Muslim, that John McCain is actually a reptilian overlord bent on taking over the Earth for aliens and that Biden isn't actually real, he's a hologram.
Sarah and Todd Palin issued a statement saying they are "proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents."
"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us," the statement said. "Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family."
I really feel for Bristol, who will now be known as one of the pregnant teenagers of 2008 alongside the girl in Juno and Jamie Lynn Spear. On the one hand, it's refreshing to see politicians actually showing they live by the same values they profess to believe. It's easy for wrinkled, white-haired men to say abortion is wrong and should be illegal as it's not longer a concern in their lives, but it's much different for politicians with younger kids who could actually GET pregnant. But between having a pregnant teenage daughter and a special needs baby of her own, the timing seems a bit bad for Palin. What do you think about the whole thing?
Recently we all got a good laugh, intentional or not, from a mom who posted on Craigslist looking for a nanny. For those of you unfamiliar with Craigslist, it's a now international site where one can post or look for anything from a job to household goods (used baby clothes too!) to a hot date, and everything in between. Hence, it should come as no surprise that someone would post looking for a nanny.
Finding a good nanny, especially in a city as big as New York, can be daunting at best. Sure, there are many to choose from, but they're expensive and trolling through their credentials can be arduous. All the good ones seem to have been snatched up by a neighbor uninterested in doing a nanny share. Finding affordable daycare, however, can be twice as hard. There are waitlists and questionnaires long enough to boggle the mind. All the good ones are very expensive, and few if any actually provide a discount for siblings (often they will give your child preference over another if you already have a child in regular attendance).
I find myself in this very situation right now. To live in New York, I have to work full-time, so childcare is a necessity for me. I am a Brooklyn mom so things in my part of New York should be less expensive than, say, the Upper East Side (from whence the poster looking for a nanny hailed), but it's still eyepoppingly absurd how much everything costs. If I were to put both my kids in daycare it would cost more than my new mortgage. Yep. So a nanny seems like a good idea, if I could just find a good one that wasn't too expensive and that didn't need to live with me. I, too, have thought about posting on Craigslist. Perhaps not in quite the manner in which the other mother posted, but it's certainly crossed my mind. After all, folks post for everything else so why not?
Would you post for a nanny on Craigslist or any other site or is that a crazy idea? Also, if you happen to be a nanny or know of a good one in the New York area, please let me know. My kids are NOT a pain in the ass. They're cute.
Starting school can feel a little like starting a new job. There's a new environment, new materials, new tasks, a new "boss," and maybe most importantly to kids, new friends. Back-to-school can be a stressful time of year for kids, and parents know a little encouragement goes a long way.
Over at PBSParents, the Supersisters have a great idea for not only dealing with your own youngster's nervous energy, but spreading a little kindness as well. They snuck out early on the first day of school and wrote inspirational messages in sidewalk chalk for school kids to read as they headed to school. "Have a awesome day," read one. "You are fantastic," said another. Supersister Jen reports that the messages were a hit, and I have to imagine that even tweens and teens who were "too cool" to react had to be bolstered by such such positive prose.
If you think that you might want to spread a little cheer on your first day of school, head out early to get your messages written well ahead of time (and to make sure you aren't late for the first day of school!). If you don't live in a walkable neighborhood, you could also get your school's permission to put the messages on the school's sidewalks and playground instead. If you do, Supersisters want you to share your words of kindness with them through their Flickr pool.
An Australian school who recently banned cartwheels may be reversing its decision. Both parents and children protested after cartwheels, somersaults and other gymnastics were banned during recess.
According to the school, safety was at the the heart of the decision to ban the "acrobatics." Now officials of the Queensland education system are saying they are willing to be flexible and work toward a balance. Gymnastics were given a risk rating of 2 by the school. Parents became upset when other sports such as soccer, tennis and the ever-popular cricket were also rated with a 2 but allowed to continue.
Was the school trying to do the right thing to protect its students, or did they take things too far? Ever had anything like this happen at your child's school? If so, what was your stance?
How would you describe your marriage? Happy? Satisfying? Meh? Does it depend on the checking account balance? Or how the kids are behaving? Or just on the weather? You know, divorce is always an option. And according to Ellen Tien, it is an option that many of us fantasize about on a regular basis.
In an essay titled "She's happily married, dreaming of divorce" originally published in the May issue of O Magazine, Tien describes her own marriage as "Less than bliss, better than disaster." She says that she and her husband "remain if not happily married, then steadily so." In other words, they're not divorced. Yet.
But, she claims, she thinks constantly about the possibility of divorce, acknowledges it as an option. It is just an option she has not yet exercised. In this, she says, she is not unlike other women her age and class -- we are all dreaming of divorce despite the fact that we claim to be happily married.
How do your kids get to school? How did you get to school when you were a kid? Taking the yellow school bus, walking or riding a bike may all seem like normal methods of getting to school. In the modern world, we drive and carpool as well. But what about in urban environments where a lot of parents don't drive or even own a car? They take the subway.
And they do it ALONE. That's right--I've seen it myself. Kids popping onto and off of the subway without a parent in sight. How do they manage it? And why, you might wonder, do their parents let them do it? Well, necessity is the mother of invention and a lot of other things, it turns out. Kids are going in one direction, their parents in another (to school versus work), and the main way to get around town in New York, for example, is underground.
Turns out, it's probably safer too. Driving in this city is a disaster on a good day. You're a LOT less likely to get into an accident on the subway than you are in your car. Plus, the kids tend to travel in packs on the subway. I never see a kid get onto an empty car at an odd (non-rush hour) time. They pick which car to meet up on and collect as the train makes its stops toward their final destination. I know because I can hear them screeching above my iPod.
Although it appears to be happening with greater frequency, celebrities giving their children unusual names is not new, just ask Frank Zappa's kids: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, or Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. What is rather unique is hearing what it was like growing up with such a unique moniker.
"My sisters, Scout and Talullah, had cute nicknames," said Rumer, who apparently had no such luck. "In school, kids would sing, 'Rumer, Rumer with a big hairy tumor.'"
Even aimless doodling on notebook paper didn't work out for the superstar celeb spawn. "When I was 12 and had crushes on guys, I'd put my first name with their last name, but it never sounded right. Rumer Depp? Nope."
Poor kid. She didn't even mention the complete absence of mass-produced personalized key rings available for Rumers at gift shops!
The superintendent of the small, rural district (Harrold Independent includes 110 students and is 150 miles from Fort Worth) David Thweatt says the reason behind the decision all comes down to safety. "We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" Thweatt said. "It's just common sense."
I attended a rural school district and understand that not everyone is fortunate enough to have the protection of school police officers or a nearby police station. However, the thought of armed teachers in the classroom still gives me pause. While there have been some horrific, tragic school shootings, they are pretty rare. Accidental shootings happen much more often than Columbine situations and as a parent, that would be a bigger concern.
It doesn't take a lot of foresight to realize the list of acceptable words or phrases acceptable to print little girl underpants is very short. But apparently the people involved in the production of Disney High School Musical panties either lack the skill of looking ahead or just aren't very bright when it comes to double entrendre.
"I was extremely shocked when I saw what was on them and I don't believe Disney or anyone else is so stupid not to realize the implications of the wording they chose." said Sue Ralph who said she would never have made the purchase if the phrase had been visible through the packaging.
A Disney spokesperson: 'The knickers in question were designed using our High School Musical 2 artwork, which uses the creative theme of a swimming pool, as this is a key part of the film's storyline. Unfortunately a genuine oversight was made and the text on this product was used outside the context of the swimming pool. This product will not be part of any forthcoming collections."
While it's good to hear that the number of High School Musical fans wearing "Dive In!" panties will be limited, I still think it's a bit far-fetched that THAT many people could be that clueless. Sounds like what the Disney product development team really needs is the addition of parents with common sense to help them out.
For many kids, the day they receive a jersey or uniform with their name printed boldly on the back is proud one. They are on the team and everyone who goes to the games will know exactly who they are!
For many, BC could easily stand for "Before Cellphones," so unimaginable is life without these handy devices.
If students are expected to treat school as their work, it stands to reason that they then be compensated for a job well done. In academics, good work is reflected by good grades or test scores and in New York, 
You know that old nighttime saying, "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite"? Well it turns out bedbugs aren't an imaginary creature designed to keep kids from wandering out of their beds at night.
Over the weekend, the internet was awash with rumors that Sarah Palin, the 44 year old governor of Alaska and newly named running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain may have faked the pregnancy of her 5th child, Trig to cover that the baby was actually her grandson and was born to her 16 year-old daughter, Bristol. 
Starting school can feel a little like starting a new job. There's a new environment, new materials, new tasks, a new "boss," and maybe most importantly to kids, new friends. Back-to-school can be a stressful time of year for kids, and parents know a little encouragement goes a long way. 
How would you describe your marriage? Happy? Satisfying? Meh? Does it depend on the checking account balance? Or how the kids are behaving? Or just on the weather? You know, divorce is always an option. And according to Ellen Tien, it is an option that many of us fantasize about on a regular basis.
Although it appears to be happening with greater frequency, 
There's a brand new reason not to mess with Texas-the teachers might be packing heat!
It doesn't take a lot of foresight to realize the list of acceptable words or phrases acceptable to print little girl underpants is very short. But apparently the people involved in the production of Disney High School Musical panties either lack the skill of looking ahead or just aren't very bright when it comes to double entrendre. 
