Political Correctness Gone Too Far
By admin | July 1, 2008
A serious debate has heated up in the Swedish blogosphere on Monday after an eight-year-old boy’s failure to invite two classmates to his birthday party resulted in a complaint filed with parliament. Nearly 200 outraged comments had been posted on the website of the local southern Swedish daily Sydsvenskan on Monday, just days after the paper reported about the unlikely string of events that followed a young boy’s decision to invite all of his classmates to his birthday party except two.
The policy at the boy’s school in the southern town of Lund was that all children (or all the boys or all the girls) had to be invited to parties when their invitations were handed out in class. When a teacher noticed that two children had been left out of a party list, she promptly confiscated all the invitations, according to Sydsvenskan.
“Two people in class had not been invited, and that is not allowed. The ones who were not invited felt sad and left out,” the school principal, who was not named, told the paper.
The boy’s father meanwhile decided to file a complaint with the Swedish parliamentary ombudsman, insisting his son’s rights had been trampled on. He told the paper that the two boys in question should not have been surprised that they had not made the guest list. “One of them did not invite my son to his birthday and the other has bullied my son for six months. You don’t invite your antagonists to a birthday party,” he was quoted as saying, adding that he had not been aware of the school policy.
“My son feels terrible about this. No one has the right to confiscate anyone’s property in this way. It’s just like stealing mail,” he added. Most of the comments posted on Sydsvenskan’s website appeared to take the father’s side
The parliamentary ombudsman is scheduled to rule in the case on September 8. This PC BS has gone way too far, a child should be able to invite whomever they want to their own birthday party.
Topics: Odd News, Stress of Parenting, Joys of Parenting, Kids, Kids, Kids, Parenting News | No Comments »
Baby For Sale, Again.
By admin | June 3, 2008
So selling your baby on the internet is all the rage? Vancouver Island police say another Internet posting advertising a baby for sale is a hoax. The ad appeared on Craigslist on Friday. Police say the posting was traced to a Saanich home.
They say it appears someone had hijacked the Internet address at the residence. Police confirmed that no child is in danger. The posting follows on in the Vancouver area earlier this week which was also found to be a hoax. The parents in that case admitted to posting the ad, but say it was a joke. They were arrested but not charged. As the saying goes, anyone can have a baby but it takes special folks to be parents.
Topics: Odd News, Babies, Joys of Parenting | No Comments »
New Child Seat Saftey Study
By admin | May 10, 2008
Here is an interesting tidbit on child seat saftey. Positioning child safety seats in the center of the back seat could cut infants’ and toddlers’ injury risks by nearly fiftey percent, a new study suggests. In a recent study of car crash data from 16 U.S. states, researchers found that children younger than 3 years old were 43 percent less likely to be injured when their seat was fastened in the center of the back seat rather than one of the side seats.
Experts already recommend that parents position car seats in the center of the rear seat, and the current findings bolster that advice, according to Michael J. Kallan and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Unfortunately, only 28 percent of children in their study were sitting in that position at the time of the car accident, the researchers report in the journal Pediatrics. There are obstacles to placing a car seat in the center position, Kallan’s team acknowledges.
It is physically harder to strap a child, especially a heavier child, into a center-positioned seat. A centered child seat can also make it difficult for other people to sit in the rear of the car. But based on the current findings, the researchers write, this center position is the safest place for babies and toddlers to ride.
The results are based on data from 4,790 car crashes involving children ages 3 and younger that occurred between 1998 and 2006. At the time of the accident, 41 percent of the children were in a car seat positioned in the right-hand back seat, while 31 percent were in the left-hand seat.
The center position was the least popular, but the safest. The reason, in part, was that children in a centered seat were better protected during a side-impact crash, according to Kallan’s team. Very compelling informtaion.
Topics: Kids Safety, Babies, Toddlers, Stress of Parenting | No Comments »
Workout Time is Tough for New Parents
By admin | April 6, 2008
New parents find it really hard to keep those extra pounds off by hitting the gym. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh studied 525 adults and found that although marriage has almost no effect on how much time men or women exercised, having children does.
New moms lost about a third of their pre-pregnancy workout time; new dads lost about half. Men worked out about two hours more per week than women did before becoming parents, so in the end it all pretty much evened out. Male or female, having kids equals less working out.
But what’s the reason for this fitness phaseout? According to Dr. Andrea Sharma, an epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the answers won’t surprise anyone. The usual suspects are at work: “The barriers [new parents] usually cite are fatigue, limited time and [lack] of social support.”
Sharma, whose work at the CDC includes identifying and breaking down barriers that prevent us from getting enough physical activity in our daily lives, says the biggest exercise obstacle that new parents face is time. But it’s not what you might be thinking.
The University of Pittsburgh study looked only at new parents, so things might ease up as the children grow. I know now that my kids are growing up, ages 12 and 8 I find much more free time to hit the gym.
Topics: Babies, New Mom's, Parents Health, Stress of Parenting, Joys of Parenting, Parenting Advice | No Comments »
Anyone up for a Game of _ _ _ _?
By admin | March 17, 2008
So who likes to play games? I do, I do!!! Seriously I am 40 years old but I love to play all sorts of games. I remember when I was young, a pre-teen, my favourite game was monopoly and something called ‘Movie Makers’. I was actually able to find that one on Ebay a few years ago and might break it out to play with my kids soon.
These days you can find a zillion games by heading over to your nearest web browser any typing in free online games, your search will yield tons of great time-wasters from racing games to card games.
One of my favs recently has been Scrabble on Facebook, but I keep losing. Whoa, time to go I see the triple word scrore is available.
Topics: Fun Stuff, Kids, Kids, Kids | No Comments »
How to Monitor Your Kids on the Web
By admin | March 6, 2008
The Internet can be a dangerous place for children and teens, especially if parents do not effectively monitor the actions and behaviors of their children while online. This includes physically checking in on what your children are doing online by looking over their shoulder. It can also include using parental monitoring software.
Today, parental monitoring and control software can be a tremendous tool for parents to keep an eye on their kids and ensure that they are not getting into trouble or being taken advantage of by someone online. Statistics say that one in four teens are solicited for sex online and many others unknowingly make their parents victims of identity or credit card fraud.
With these monitoring programs, parents can read their kids’ email, instant messages, chat conversations, see the websites they visit, the search terms they use on Google, Yahoo and other search engines and much more. Parents can install these programs secretly or let their children know that they will be monitoring them.
A few of the better programs that allow parents to monitor kids online are WebWatcher, Spector Pro and PC Tattletale. A few of these programs even offer remote monitoring services, which allow parents to see what their kids are doing on the computer in real-time, no matter where the parent is located. The parent can be at work, in a hotel or in their bedroom and they can monitor their children’s computers.
Protecting your children while they are online is an important role for parents in today’s day and age. Unfortunately, this can be a difficult task unless you incorporate the use of these types of programs. Yes, it may feel like you are invading the privacy of your child or teen, but it is also a necessary means of protecting them.
Topics: Kids Safety, Kids & Tech, Kids, Kids, Kids, Parenting Advice, Parenting News | 1 Comment »
Trouble-Free Lactation
By admin | March 5, 2008
Lactation often involves slumping and wiggling into a position where your baby can stay latched properly. However, this position most often is not comfortable for the mother. Thankfully, breastfeeding pillows can help your baby stay in a good position while being fed and also help keep the mom’s arms and back relaxed. These baby pillows are designed to be comfortable for any mom. They can be rotated around the mom’s body to accommodate different breastfeeding positions, and has even been used to breastfeed twins at the same time. The cover can be removed and washed easily and with it’s attractive design and colours, a nursing boppy is a great present for your best friend or anyone else who is breastfeeding. Some moms find it easy to position their baby comfortably but for others, these minutes of unique togetherness can bring about considerable frustration. Nursing pillows guarantee that breastfeeding will be a more comfortable experience for both mother and baby.
Topics: New Mom's, Babies, Stress of Parenting, Joys of Parenting, Kids, Kids, Kids | No Comments »
ADHD News
By admin | March 2, 2008
Parents of children who are prescribed psychostimulants for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) might have one less thing to worry about now that a new study has concluded these kids are no more likely than their peers to abuse drugs and alcohol as young adults. The report, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, is published in the March issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
“The results should reassure clinicians who might be hesitant to treat ADHD because of concerns about future substance abuse,” said study co-author Michael C. Monuteaux, assistant director of research at the pediatric psychopharmacology program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Past research looking for a link between ADHD medications and substance abuse has produced conflicting conclusions. “Some previous studies showed an increased risk of substance abuse associated with stimulant treatment, and other studies showed both no association and also a protective effect from treatments,” Monuteaux said. “But those studies had some methodological limitations, and not all of them followed their samples well into late adolescence and early adulthood.”
The Massachusetts General Hospital investigators designed their study to overcome the shortcomings of previous studies. They followed their research subjects up to a median age of about 22, included an assessment for psychiatric problems such as conduct disorder that are associated with substance abuse, and applied rigorous methods to accurately analyze data. The research study team interviewed 112 young men (ranging in age from 16 to 27) a decade after they had been diagnosed with ADHD about their use of alcohol, tobacco and a variety of psychoactive drugs. Seventy-three percent of the subjects had been treated with stimulants at some time, and 22 percent were currently taking the stimulant medications.
The study found no relationship between having ever received stimulant treatment and the risk of future alcohol or other substance abuse. The age at which stimulant treatment began and how long it continued also had no impact on substance use.
Symptoms of ADHD include impulsiveness, hyperactivity and inattention. According to a study published last fall in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, almost 9 percent of American children have ADHD, but only 32 percent of them are getting the medication they need. I personally think I could have used some treatment when I was a child.
Topics: Kids Health, Teen Health, Stress of Parenting, Kids, Kids, Kids, Parenting Advice, Parenting News | No Comments »
Crazy, Funny Pacifier
By admin | February 10, 2008
This one is guaranteed to get some laughs and probably damage your childs psyche for the rest of their lives.
Topics: Parenting Humor, Parenting Pics, Joys of Parenting, Kids, Kids, Kids | No Comments »
Lead Poisoning Info
By admin | January 4, 2008
Since exposure to even low amounts of lead among children can cause learning disabilities and behavioral problems, it’s important for parents to be aware of as much information as possible.
The Environmental Protection Agency offers these suggestions:
Have your child tested regularly by a pediatrician.
If your home was built before 1978, have it tested for lead paint.
Always have your child wash his or her hands before eating.
Wash bottles, pacifiers and toys — and anything else that may be put in the mouth — frequently.
Keep floors and window sills clean and free of dust and paint chips.
Use cold water, not hot, for drinking, cooking and preparing baby formula. Let the water run until it is as cold as possible.
With all the recent problems of so many toys being recalled this is a great time to remember the above!
Topics: Kids Health, Parents Health, Stress of Parenting, Joys of Parenting, Parenting Advice, Kids, Kids, Kids, Parenting News | No Comments »
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