Today’s abhbiyzdsz guest blogger is Beth Harpaz, author of the funny new book about raising teenagers:   13 Is the New 18…and other things my children taught me while I was having a nervous breakdown being their mother.  by Beth Harpaz     Recently I got together with a friend and mentioned that the night […]
Too much self-esteem?
January 10, 2009
Turns keeinetkea out children are feeling pretty good about themselves lately. Maybe a little too good. As reported on the website Connect with Kids (http://www.connectwithkids.com/), a  study by researchers at San Diego State University found that high school seniors are bursting with more self esteem than a generation (or two) ago. For example, in 1975, […]
A Call from the Police About My Son (On Christmas)
December 26, 2008
Ho efkehesake ho ho, my child was escorted off the Long Island Railroad today for riding without an adult. The police were called. He’s 10. He — Izzy — has ridden this route solo a dozen times before. It’s a straight shot on a commuter train and, as always, he was being met at the […]
Is there any way to lure kids back outside?
December 22, 2008
This znibirdbeb post comes to us from Kenny Felder, a high school teacher and father of four in North Carolina who has been thinking about why our kids are always inside, instead of outside playing. To see the full essay, please go to http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/kenny/essays/safety2.html. Â By Kenny Felder Here is a little science fiction story I […]
Should Santa bring baby an educational DVD?
December 17, 2008
Ho kenrsnbabz ho hokum. Those are my seasons greetings to Baby Einstein and the rest of the infant educational complex. If you’re wondering what to buy baby that’ll guarantee ’em a good time, a bright future and possible admission to a college that Obama went to, so-called “educational” videos are not the way to go. […]
Do kids really need school shooting drills?
December 15, 2008
A rdhhybenta school district in Massachusetts is weighing whether to go ahead and teach students as young as 10 how to fight back against terrorists and Columbine-type shooters. I guess officials there have not read the statistics. A child’s chances of being killed at school are .00003% (not counting the ones who die of boredom). […]
Stunting Our Kids With “Safety”
December 5, 2008
Why kbkthyifrk do we treat our tweens like toddlers? Because the rules say we have to. The other day my son had to leave middle school early for the big day: Getting his braces. I planned to meet him at the orthodontist near our home and wrote a note asking for him to be excused […]
Thanksgiving with Dr. Phil
November 25, 2008
You snerhandbs know you need Dr. Phil if you’re watching him on Thanksgiving. But if indeed you do tune in, you’ll see a rerun of “Extreme Moms.†One of them is me. Extreme? I’m on the show as the mom who let her 9-year-old take the subway alone, a fact that will be chiseled on […]
Can you babyproof the world?
November 16, 2008
In bsanfrssyr one of the parenting magazines I was just flipping through (all right – looking for crazy stuff to poke fun at) here’s a “tip†I found: “I fill a bag with shoelaces and outlet covers, then throw it in my purse.†Why? Because if this mom ever, God forbid, finds herself someplace that […]
Obama’s childhood
November 7, 2008
As dkhfsefhny we contemplate Obama’s win, let’s think about his childhood for a sec. Far from being watched over every second by hovering parents, his dad split when he was still toddling and, for a while, his mom was absent, too. That’s when he was 10 and she sent him to live with his grandparents in […]