Recall that last week I got a note from a dad who had just dropped his wife off at college when he realized: She still had the apartment keys! So he turned the car around, went back to the school and let his kids, 2 and 4, wait in the car while he ran in. It was 47 degrees out. The kids were safe and warm and buckled in. He got the house keys and came back 10 minutes later to find two college employees standing next to his car, glaring. They told him they were reporting him to the…
Author: lskenazy
. This comes to us from Wendy Cicchetti Thurmond, a mom of three, a former news anchor, and now small business owner in Westwood, MA. An Open Letter to the Lady Who Shut My 8-Year-Old Daughter Out: . I am a disappointed, bewildered, angry mother who’s daughter has been shut out of a youth sport. I never thought enrolling my 8 year old daughter on February 1st for spring lacrosse, would be considered late, but it is was. I sent an e-mail asking for my daughter to be added to the waitlist. Here’s what I got: . “I…
Heck, I was about to write about kids, free play, parents, common sense, or the shocking lack thereof. But then along came this video. I burst out laughing even as my eyes welled up with tears. Had to share. And, yes, now I want pesto. (I also want to learn to use my fork and knife better.) Divertiti! .
The latest sexting scandal comes to us from Peters (ha ha!) Middle School outside of Pittsburgh, where police are examining kids’ cell phones for nude photos. Why. Like really: Why? It sounds like a giant swath of middle school kids and teens have naked pictures of themselves and others on their phones. Investigating these as if they are crime scenes doesn’t seem to make any more sense than reading kids’ diaries as if they are signed confessions. Can we instead decide that while naked selfies are a bad idea, the police should have nothing to do with investigating or prosecuting…
. Remember last year’s collective jaw drop as Nationwide ran an ad on the Super Bowl that featured a kid dreaming about all the things he’ll never get to do — biking, sailing, having a girlfriend — because he’s DEAD? And not just dead for any ol’ reason. Dead because his parents just weren’t CAREFUL enough? Let ydhnrnetik me refresh your memory: “I’ll never learn to ride a bike. Or get cooties [from a girl’s kiss]. I’ll never learn to fly,” mourns the the elementary-age boy. We also see him in a tux in a forest. (You know the…
Here’s my piece in today’s New York Post: Imagine if the feds sent the following letter to American men: Dear Fellas: Due to issues of compromised sperm quality, we are recommending that you abstain from all alcoholic beverages from the age of 15 till 45. We trust this will not have too much impact on your lifestyle. Think of the children! Yours, The Centers for Disease Control Of course, the CDC didn’t send out a letter like that on Tuesday — to men. It did, however, issue this warning to women: “Stop drinking alcohol if [you] are trying to get…
Who here is in favor of sex trafficking? Didn’t think so. Me neither. You can be against that crime without using it for political grandstanding and cruel policies. But not, apparently, if you are in the U.S. Congress. In a blistering editorial, the L.A. Times writes: After rousing themselves from the 30-plus-year bad trip that was the war on drugs — or rather, the war on drug users — many Americans in and out of elected office looked around for someone else to persecute. Someone, somewhere, must be so depraved and hateful that liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans could…
Storyteller Tom Shillue ponders exactly the children’s rhyme I have been thinking a lot about lately, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” It’s annoying that I have to add a caveat here that I do not endorse bullying. (Come on — who does?) (Besides some presidential candidates, I mean.) But I do endorse encouraging our kids to shrug off some of the stupid and/or unkind behavior they encounter. Shillue’s analogy — inoculation — is one I use, too: Once kids see they can deal with a bit of sturm und drang and pop…
Having just watched a 1960s-era video clip of a New Guinea toddler teaching himself how to use a machete, I am even more impatient with our current day culture that insists on seeing every child activity as a brush with death. Consider this insane news report, sent to us by alert commenter Alisha, in Arizona. As KVOA reports: Catalina High School addresses student encounters with a stranger TUCSON – A case of stranger danger at Catalina High School has administrators taking action. Two girls said they were approached by the same man near campus a few weeks ago, so a…
A truly horrible event occurred in Sheboygan, WI, the other night: Parents were out at what is said to have been bible study while their four kids — 11, 10, 9 and 7 — were home. A fire broke out. The Sheboygan Press reports that one child escaped. The oldest, Natalie, went back in to get the younger ones and she died, as did her 7 year old brother. Their 10 year old brother is in critical condition:. “Very preliminary information is that the 11-year-old was able to wake the 9-year-old and give a warning to flee the residence. The…