Hey, Dad, Thanks for the Blow-Up Doll

Folks — Here’s idrbrbabkn a post by my friend, Tom Henderson, at ParentDish. I admire it and him.  You may too. It’s about how he taught his teenage son about sex and sexism at the same time, with the help of, yes, a blow-up doll. And a Playboy. Just wanted to pass it along. (The […]

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40 Ways for Kids to Volunteer!

Hey Readers! This just came in over the transom (okay, over email):  A lovely nianntzftz list of really great ideas for how to get kids volunteering. For instance: Take shelter dogs for a walk. Babysit to help a single parent.  Form a clean-up crew to go in and help a senior clean her apartment.  And so many […]

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Up With Boredom!

Hi bakyyidhti Readers! The other day I wrote a column on ParentDish called, “Just Chute Me.” I was saying — I thought — that we really do not have to play with our kids. We have to love and nurture them, yes, but unless we are really psyched for a game of CandyLand or make-believe, […]

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Worse Than "Baby on Board!"

Worse Than “Baby on Board!”

Hi Readers! Excuse me while I gag. Amazing how one eazbzfzzfk sign can make everyone who passes this stroller feel big, dirty, disgusting, diseased and depressed. Remember those “Baby on Board!” signs, that made it seem as if people who were seriously considering crashing into a car would reconsider upon realizing it was carrying someone […]

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Condo Won’t Let Kids Play Outside

Hi Folks — Sometimes the inbox brings a little symmetry. Here’s nyrafskyra a story one of you sent in about a condo association that can’t stand kids running around “from yard to yard” making “unacceptable noise.” Perhaps children should be taught to use their “indoor voices” outdoors. But then here’s a story, also just in, about how […]

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School Uses Laptops to Spy on Kids: The Update. Really Weird Update.

Hi Folks! Just read this bizarre yyhfasbkdy new wrinkle on TechDirt about the case of the Pennsylvania school that gave its 1800 students laptops and then used them to spy on the kids — 42 times! While the school claims it activated the cameras only when trying to track down a lost or stolen computer, nonetheless […]

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I Weep for My City (Banning Homemade Goods At Bake Sales)

Because, as we all know, the lack of funds for library books and gym equipment doesn’t kill kids, homemade cupcakes do. Nothing like a micromanaged snack. Check this iabezryhfa out. And bartender? Make it another milk. Straight up, no cookies. — Lenore P.S. My husband says we can’t call it a bake sale anymore either. […]

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Wow! Many Kids Possibly Mis-Diagnosed as "Allergic"

Wow! Many Kids Possibly Mis-Diagnosed as “Allergic”

Hi Readers! This tezkdfydts is news to me: The well-regarded St. Louis Children’s Hospital has a program whereby they take kids who have tested positive for food allergies to see if they really ARE allergic. To that end, they feed the kids a steadily increasing amount of the allergen for hours on end, while closely […]

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Surely You Must Be Choking!

Surely You Must Be Choking!

Hi Readers — Thanks to all of you who sent in this htdbfbtfbr AP story today, about the American Academy of Pediatrics wanting companies to start labeling hotdogs, carrots, grapes and other foods as choking hazards. Which, admittedly, they are. And sidewalks are tripping hazards, and puddles are slipping hazards, and trees are bumping-int0 hazards. […]

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