Hey Readers — Here’s a piece I wrote for the Wall Street Journal a little while back that I can now legally reprint here! Bringing Up Baby and Fretting About Vital Signs New gadgets, like diapers that monitor kidney function, are turning baby nurseries into ICUs. By LENORE SKENAZY Almost anything you can put on a baby is cute. A hat. Sunglasses. A bib (especially the one that says, “Some moron put my cape on backwards!”). But now comes the Owlet Baby Monitor—a little electronic device strapped to a sock at bedtime. It measures your baby’s heart rate, blood oxygen…
Author: lskenazy
Yep, kids built a fort on an empty lot. Then someone called in a complaint. First off, here’s the letter the kids wrote to the city: Dear City, Please do not tear this house down! We have all worked for almost a year on it, for hours and hours. We have all had fun climbing on it, camping in it, having picnics in it. Many happy memories were forged here. We all hope that it won’t be torn down. So please don’t tear it down! Can you guess what happened next? Here’s the story, from KCTV in Missouri. Missouri! Isn’t…
From my mailbox, ever-filled with flacks seeking publicity: Hi there — Hope you’re well. Wanted to reach out quickly with an interesting snow storm related story idea: with kids stuck at home with a snow day, they are more likely to be on their smartphones/computers, increasing the chances of them cyberbullying someone or getting cyberbullied themselves…. If you’re interested, I have a client that launched the first anti-cyberbullying app today… What’s next? “Hi there. Hope you’re well. With all the snow, your children will be surrounded by white crystals, perhaps starting them on a tragic life of cocaine addiction….” And…
Hi Folks! Let me start by saying my own sons do the dishes only occasionally. That’s why I usually shy away from “parenting tips.” I don’t think there are a bunch of items you have to check off before you can call yourself a Free-Range parent (or even a “good” one). But I do like the way this mom, Melissa, got her kids helping out at home. She’s a mom of 5 kids 9 and under, and started the how-to video site, CloudMom. The Key to Getting Kids To Do Chores, by Melissa Widespread media reports of our spoiled and…
Readers — Here’s my piece that’s in today’s New York Post! The site doesn’t take comments, but if you want to write a letter to the editor, drop one to: letters@nypost.com. NJ court takes ‘child neglect’ to extremes by Lenore Skenazy Did you ever wait in the car while your mom ran an errand? New Jersey says you were abused — and your mom was a criminal. In an appeals court decision last week, three judges ruled that a mother who left her toddler sleeping in his car seat while she went into a store for five to 10 minutes…
Readers — I always love Jen Singer’s funny, thoughtful take on things. It’s nice to see her son appreciate her, too! — L Mom, You Did Something Right. “Wait, What?” by Jen Singer, a.k.a., MommaSaid January 15, 2014 When your parenting is chronicled for all to see, you run the risk of screwing it up in a big public way. Or you can get something right. As we approach MommaSaid’s 11th birthday, I am pleased to report that my own child told me that I had done something right when it comes to parenting. He and his buddy Drew were…
Readers — Canada’s “Contrarian” explains how the media work (and even how upset parents sometimes behave). Read the whole piece here.- L Fear-mongering as news: turning sad stories into bogus trends (1) A teenage girl becomes involved in sexual activity that most grownups, regardless of their own sexual behaviour as teens, find shocking and horrific. (2) The girl’s parent or parents learn of the activity and are utterly devastated. (3) A family crisis ensues, with outcomes that can range from good to horrendous. (4) In their struggle to process shocking new information about the child they…
Behold Hank Green (bro of John “The Fault In Our Stars” Green) summing up pretty much everything about why, despite the fact we are surrounded by good news, it’s the rarest, worst news that we take to heart. Kindly, ponder each point. Spread the message. Feel slight stabs of envy at how good this video is. But mostly gratitude that someone is saying this so perfectly:
Readers — On Tuesday a New Jersey state appeals court ruled that a mom who let her 19-month-old wait in the car for 5 to 10 minutes was guilty of abuse. According to this story by Salvador Rizzo in the Star-Ledger: “A parent invites substantial peril when leaving a child of such tender years alone in a motor vehicle that is out of the parent’s sight, no matter how briefly,” Judge Clarkson Fisher Jr. wrote for the three-judge panel. He cited the risk of “car theft or kidnapping” and the possibility that “on a hot day, the temperature inside a…
Readers — This is an outlier of a case: A mom was walking with her baby on a promenade when someone saw them, judged the child under-dressed for the weather, and called the cops. The cops came a-running and the mom (a nutritionist with two other kids) gave them no truck. Wisely, I’d say! (Maybe she reads this blog?) According to the Daily Mail (which I know is not the New York Times): …After refusing to reveal who she was, Mrs Andrew, from Scarborough, was asked: ‘So you don’t want to co-operate?’ She said: ‘I told them that it was…