Hi Readers: Let kids eat dirt? Yes! At least, that’s my take-away from reading this thought-provoking article. It discusses the work of Emory neuroscientist Charles Raison, MD, who studies the link between cleanliness and depression. His hypothesis is that maybe young people are experiencing more asthma, allergies and even depression because they are less exposed to the benign germs that have been co-existing with and HELPING humans since the beginning of time. One way those microscopic “old friends” may help humans is by teaching the immune system not to overreact to other non-threatening germs and become inflamed. And there…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Readers — A note from a friend, Mark Clark: “Lenore, is it too late to report a crime that first occurred in 1965 and is repeated every year? Charlie Brown’s parents allowed Charlie, and his buddy Linus, to go to the tree lot in their town UNACCOMPANIED BY ANY ADULT and purchase a tree for the school pageant. Where’s the vigilance? My God, won’t someone think of the children?” [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPG3zSgm_Qo] Not quite the right clip, but you get the idea.
Ho Ho Grrrrr, Readers: If I had a sleigh, I’d be on my way out to the Macy’s in San Fran which just sacked its beloved Santa, despite the fact he’d been doing the gig for 20 years. Some folks even made special trips just to visit the man known as “Santa John.” But then he did something unforgivable! According to this report in sfgate.com, he was booted after an adult couple complained about a joke he’d cracked: The joke has been in his Santa bag for decades. But after thousands of tellings, the 68-year-old retired caretaker for the elderly…
Oh Readers — I can’t take it. Look at this crazy “news” story from the Cortez Journal in Colorado: An unidentified man entered a high school. He used the bathroom, left and asked some students to give him a ride, which they did. Said the paper: No weapons were visible on the man, who was dressed in black, but he was carrying a black duffle bag, Cortez Police Department Chief Roy Lane said. Despite rumors, the man was not wearing a mask or anything to conceal his face, Lane said. No one was injured, and no property damage occurred. Is…
Hi Readers: Here’s one of many incensed folks who is slamming the parents who had left their baby in the car for a few seconds when along came a carjacker. (Video below.) The parents — right nearby — valiantly broke the window, climbed in and stopped the guy. But many commenters are saying SHAME ON THEM. They were “irresponsible” for being out of the car (which was left with its keys in the ignition, heat on) even a few feet away, for even a few seconds. Here’s one comment: The whole situation could have been avoided if they acted like…
Hi Readers — Thanks to all of you who sent in the wackiest “What If?” worry of the weekend: News reports that the new Video Barbie — a Barbie with a built-in video camera — “could” be used by child pornographers. The key word for us is “could.” The key words for the media? “Barbie,” “child porn,” “danger,” and, of course, “parents.” The whole thing was just a big Christmas gift for the news, which jumped all over the story. What happened was this: The FBI, which clearly has too much time on its hands, sent out a warning to…
Hi Readers! Over at Lisa Belkin’s Motherlode at the NY Times, there’s a really frank and nicely written piece by a woman who came to the exact opposite conclusion I did. She was mulling whether or not to hire a male babysitter for her child. On the one hand, the young man she interviewed seemed like a dream: He grew up in the nabe, his mom ran a day care center, he sounded warm on the phone and had great references. On the other hand… He was male. In the end, surprised by her own misgivings about men, the writer…
Hi Readers — I went to check the forecast on weather.com this morning and up popped an app, unbidden: “Mom’s Daily Planner.” How the site KNEW I’m a mom I won’t even speculate. But here are the day parts it broke the day down into: Lunchtime PM Bus Stop Evening Activity Excuse me — “PM Bus Stop” is now an official part of a mom’s day? We are EXPECTED to be at the bus stop to pick up our children? Expected to drop everything to stand guard at the bus stops that have existed for decades, where kids used to…
Hi Readers! Allow me to direct you to my piece on ParentDish today (gotta spread the word beyond these pixels!): “Yearbook Blacks Out Kids’ Eyes for Fear of Porn Potential.” And that’s really what it’s about: A principal in England ordered the students’ photos disfigured in the yearbook so that no one could cut and paste their innocent little heads onto child porn and post them on the Internet. Talk about a pervert. Her! What kind of creep even THINKS like that? And, in a related finding so new and surprising that I don’t even have an opinion about yet,…
Hi Readers — Here’s today’s hint of the coming apocalypse. This sign: And here’s the note I got, alerting us all to it: Dear Free-Range Kids: I was visiting a dear friend yesterday in a nearby town and drove by this sign. I was so shocked by it I had to stop and take a picture. I wondered what on earth it could be about — perhaps the school district is getting rid of background checks for employees? Perhaps volunteers don’t need background checks and fingerprinting? Perhaps the door to the school would be left open…