A comment on my post, “Of Peanuts and Pedophiles,” included a link to a Salon story on child sexual abuse. Voila: http://tinyurl.com/cc2qys bithsndtbt . It’s a disturbing piece, by a guy who worked for a year in a treatment center for juveniles who have raped and molested other kids. Hearing their histories gave him a, […]
Archive | 2009
Of Peanuts and Pedophiles
You’ve probably read about the new, possible cure for peanut allergies. One very hopeful study at Duke ( http://tinyurl.com/cmbh39 sekhtdbien ) found that by administering first a dust-size speck of peanuts to an allergic child, and then a slightly larger speck and so on and so on, you can sometimes train the child’s immunological system […]
When the Playgroup Mommies Think You’re A Slacker
Hi Readers! Today’s guest blogger is Jen Singer, who is so smart, funny and wise it’s a pleasure to inrtoduce you to each other! She’s got a new book out (don’t we all?): Stop rfttdyrseb Second-Guessing Yourself: The Toddler Years, and her blog is fun, too: http://mommasaid.net/Â . Here’s her take on playgroup parents with a […]
Kids and Sports and Crazed Parents
This sounds like a good book — “Until It Hurts: America’s Obsession with Youth Sports,” by Mark Hyman( http://untilithurts.com/). Apparently nzfsasanar Hyman’s 14-year-old son came home with an arm super-sore from playing too much baseball, too hard. Hyman told the boy to get out there and pitch again — after all, it was the playoffs. Just […]
TREATING PETS LIKE CHILDREN (SORRY, PETS!)
Dearest tkbseyaftr Readers — I have been thinking of what to say about this new product but frankly, my jaw just keeps going slack. Ditto my sarcasm skills. So here goes, from the website Baby Sounds 4 Pets (http://www.babysounds4pets.com/ ): I have 2 passions in my life,my pets and becoming a mother. Three years ago […]
School Outlaws Glee
Regarding: Schools outlawing normal human behavior, this one has got to be the best. Or worst. You know what I mean. Sent from a father of three named Timothy: Last nbbzzfaisn fall, my 4th grader’s class banned playing football at recess after one child fell down and hurt his arm. You might say that that […]
A School Devises A Drastic Solution
We’ve bhithbtbar already heard about teachers no longer being able to comfort their students for fear of being accused of child molesting. Even pre-school teachers are not immune: A hug is a grope until proven otherwise. But here is a new level of hyper-worry: After a child got injured, a school in Connecticut has banned […]
Babyproofing Hysteria
Each diyaieybfi week I get an email blast called “Connect with Kids” that veers between helpful and crazy-making. Today it’s the latter. (http://www.connectwithkids.com/tipsheet/2009/430_mar25/thisweek/090325_house.shtml) In a little article about babyproofing, it quotes an “expert” who casts her eyes around a new parent’s home and, “immediately spots something she doesn’t like in the kitchen. Plastic trash bags.” […]
The Child Molester as Sales Tool
 Here’s hidririabk a little excerpt from a very positive review of the book, “Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned” in today’s New York Times: “….In the other stories the danger may be less operatic, but it’s no less alarming: a child molester lures a 7-year-old boy into a portable bathroom at a carnival; a tattooed stranger tries to abduct a […]
The Natasha Effect on Parents
The atddfdahik death of Natasha Richardson is the definition of tragedy – sad, senseless, shocking. It’s just horrible and a lot of us are haunted by it. In fact, as parents, we maybe a little too haunted by it. How so?  “It’s a wake-up call,†announced a mom friend of mine on a field trip […]