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	<title>Parenting Off the Map with Backpacking Dad</title>
	<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad</link>
	<description>Just another Babble Voices site</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 17 May 2012 19:36:20 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>&#8220;Take Our Children to the Park&#8230;and Leave Them There Day!&#8221; Are You Crazy?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve mentioned before that my style of parenting is somewhere between helicopter and free-range. I call it Satellite Parenting, because if there&#8217;s one thing I like, it&#8217;s making up terms for concepts that probably already have terms for them. I grew up pretty free range, but because of addiction and single, working parent necessity rather [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/05/17/take-our-children-to-the-park-and-leave-them-there-day-are-you-crazy/</link>
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		<title>Dadventures In Parenting: A multiple-ending story for your enjoyment.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When I was a kid I used to read those Select-Your-Own-Ending books (in which there was an adventure of your own that you would choose&#8230;am I being too subtle?). I loved them. They were always so weird. I&#8217;m a shark now? What the hell? But parenting is its own adventure, and not one that ever [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/05/01/dadventures-in-parenting-a-multiple-ending-story-for-your-enjoyment/</link>
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		<title>Why You Should Ignore Your Kids</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Ignoring my kids, just the right amount, might be paying off. &#160; Of course, there are concerns about giving kids the attention they need and not setting them up to act out or blah blah blah. &#160; But in my house, the attention kids need does not match up with the attention kids want. And [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/04/28/why-you-should-ignore-your-kids/</link>
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		<title>Empowerment Through Sugar (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Cupcake)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My daughter is now in charge of her own dessert. &#160; We tend toward not using food as reward/punishment objects in our house, but we&#8217;re also a little miserly with the treats: The kids get some watered-down juice, if they want it, maybe once a day; they get ice cream sometimes at the park if [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/04/27/empowerment-through-sugar-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-cupcake/</link>
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		<title>This Is What Happens When Your Daughter&#8217;s School Doesn&#8217;t Have An &#8220;Invite Everyone&#8221; Policy About Birthdays</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There are 30 kids coming to my daughter&#8217;s birthday party this weekend. That seems &#8230; excessive. But there are factors at play here. &#160; Although we&#8217;ve been through the party circuit before, this is the first year that it&#8217;s felt really political, exclusionary. Or at least that&#8217;s the worst way to interpret it. &#160; For [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/04/27/this-is-what-happens-when-your-daughters-school-doesnt-have-an-invite-everyone-policy-about-birthdays/</link>
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		<title>The Top 10 Secrets Kids Tell Each Other. You will be shocked!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; Your kids talk to each other. They whisper. You don&#8217;t always know what they&#8217;re saying. Would you like to? Well, you&#8217;ve come to the right place. After years of research, countless hours of listening to recordings from the hidden microphones in your house totally legitimate recording sources, I&#8217;m finally willing to share my results [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/04/12/the-top-10-secrets-kids-tell-each-other-you-will-be-shocked/</link>
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		<title>Kindergarten Wars 2: Revenge of the Bureaucracy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Well. Kindergarten application season has drawn to its inevitable, stressful close. For our family, at this time, in this situation, we were privileged enough to have school choices available: Our local public school, a local charter school next door, and a private school a short distance away. Being completely ignorant of the school application process [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/03/30/kindergarten-wars-2-revenge-of-the-bureaucracy/</link>
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		<title>Why I Won&#8217;t Let My Daughter Be A Girl Scout (Updated! Now With More Girl Scout Lies!)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Most people probably view the Girl Scouts as adorable little scamps, doing good deeds, learning about nature and citizenship and whatever the hell else they care about. Many of you might have been in Girl Scouts, or have daughters who are in Girl Scouts. You probably love them. You&#8217;re clearly insane. First, Girl Scouts are [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/03/29/why-i-wont-let-my-daughter-be-a-girl-scout/</link>
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		<title>Is Disney&#8217;s &#8220;The Little Mermaid&#8221; Just the Worst? A Father&#8217;s Rant</title>
		<description><![CDATA[So, despite being a Disney-phile, I have to tell you, dear readers, that I can&#8217;t stand The Little Mermaid. My reasons are varied, and of course I will share them with you, but let me first share this particular point of pride: When my daughter met Ariel at Disneyland the exchange went like this: Erin: &#8220;You [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/03/22/is-disneys-the-little-mermaid-just-the-worst-a-fathers-rant/</link>
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		<title>Problem Solved: How a Four-Year-Old&#8217;s Ingenuity Pays Off</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My daughter had a problem: She had a brand new umbrella she wanted to play with and a scooter she wanted to ride. Both required the use of her hands, but she only has so many hands. She asked for my help, but I don&#8217;t like to just do things for my kids: I want [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/03/18/problem-solved-how-a-four-year-olds-ingenuity-pays-off/</link>
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		<title>Stress Wars: Return of the Jed-eye</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Just before Christmas I did something to my left eye. That adventure has been detailed already, here and here. Today I went back to the ophthalmologist for a follow-up appointment about what appears to have been stress-induced crazy eye. I had my eyes dilated, and stared at, and photographed with bright, bright lights again (thus the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/02/29/stress-wars-return-of-the-jed-eye/</link>
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		<title>Oppression Disguised As Cultural Norms Of Modesty Sure Starts Early</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My daughter has been in swimming lessons for, woah, years, now, and this means we&#8217;ve been buying swimsuits for her for, yep, years now. Once she outgrew her last toddler suit we started buying two-piece suits for her (shorts/t-shirts) because come on! Those suits are totes adorbs! My son has also been going to swimming [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/02/28/oppression-disguised-as-cultural-norms-of-modesty-sure-starts-early/</link>
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		<title>Get Up And Go: How I Live Without Naps</title>
		<description><![CDATA[So, I used to love napping. If I could squeeze in a nap between Judge Judy and Maury Pauvich of an afternoon, I would gladly do so. Sometimes I felt like I had to nap, because the kids were tiring me out, or I had to get up with them too early in the morning [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/02/27/get-up-and-go-how-i-live-without-naps/</link>
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		<title>Work-Life Balance Is Stupid</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A last-minute decision has resulted in about 300%  more work for the most-at-home parent in our house (me). It was my decision, so it&#8217;s not like anyone foisted it on me. But it&#8217;s still more work. Not parenting work. Out-of-the-house work. This has led to some changes.  I go into my office four days a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/02/25/work-life-balance-is-stupid/</link>
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		<title>Playing Army</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The children in my daughter&#8217;s class, 3-5 year olds all, have been growing more and more familiar with things like armies, guns, and violence. The classroom is experiencing a lot of play involving mock-guns. One of the teachers created a transcript of the conversation she had with the kids, and it was interesting to hear [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/01/31/playing-army/</link>
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		<title>A Cardboard Box and an Afternoon</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The garage is piled high with cardboard boxes, distaff from Christmas morning. The boxes used to hold promises, now they hold styrofoam and packing peanuts, refuse I&#8217;m too lazy to properly discard. With some time on my hands, and two kids in my face, I opted for activity over indolence. &#8220;Let&#8217;s get some scissors,&#8221; I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/01/25/a-cardboard-box-and-an-afternoon/</link>
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		<title>Kindergarten Wars</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Happy January, everyone. Or, as parents of the under-6 crowd have come to know and love it: Kindergarten Application Season. Hooray! Crank the stress-o-meter up to 10 (not 11. 11 is awesome and this is not awesome.), fill out paperwork, memorize deadlines, schedule tours and parent info nights. Get on the ball before the ball [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/01/17/kindergarten-wars/</link>
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		<title>Hopscotch</title>
		<description><![CDATA[She ran into the bedroom early, too early, in the morning to shake me awake and make her demands. &#8220;Daddy! Can I play Kirby? I really want to play Kirby.&#8221; My technophile daughter had a jones on for a Wii game she&#8217;d been playing since Christmas. I am not opposed to kids using television or [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2012/01/08/hopscotch/</link>
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		<title>I Was Prepared to Hate &#8220;Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked&#8221; and Instead I Had a Good Time</title>
		<description><![CDATA[With the kids home for far, far too long over the holiday break, we decided to use some of our &#8220;family time&#8221; to sit in a dark room with a bright light and fifty chattering three year olds and their shh-ing parents. That is, we went to the movies! My daughter has seen and loved [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/12/29/chipwrecked/</link>
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		<title>How Christmas Nearly Ruined My Eye</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Hahahahahahahaha. So. Previously, on Parenting Off the Map, I told the long, sordid, tragic tale of a man who was getting his butt kicked by Christmas Eve, letting it get to him, and going crazy. Think of this one as an update of that one. The Christmas tree scraped my left eye. This was annoying, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/12/27/how-christmas-nearly-ruined-my-eye/</link>
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		<title>How I Nearly Ruined Christmas</title>
		<description><![CDATA[All I wanted was a Christmas tree. We had returned from vacation two days before Christmas, and the thought of waking up on Christmas morning to an empty living room inspired aching sadness in me. I could not let it happen to my kids, to me. Mostly to me. It was all about me. I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/12/26/how-i-nearly-ruined-christmas/</link>
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		<title>Back Off, Moms, I&#8217;m Parenting Here</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My son halted his ascent up the iron staircase just short of the platform that was his goal. If he could make it there, he would have access to the train engineer&#8217;s vantage and he would flip his lid. He loves trains, and he loves this park, Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey, and he [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/12/12/back-off-moms-im-parenting-here/</link>
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		<title>Beware Big Salad Dressing</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There is a strange study showing up online this week about kids and broccoli. Entitled &#8220;Offering &#8220;Dip&#8221; Promotes Intake of a Moderately-Liked Raw Vegetable among Preschoolers with Genetic Sensitivity to Bitterness&#8221;, the study is sourced to the Journal of the American Dietetic Association and looks into the problem of getting bitter-sensitive kids to eat broccoli. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/11/29/beware-big-salad-dressing/</link>
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		<title>New PETA Campaign Inadvertently Encourages Kids to Eat Dogs</title>
		<description><![CDATA[PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) unveiled a new campaign just in time for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, PETA has fallen for one of the classic blunders (apart from &#8220;Never get involved in a land war in Asia&#8221; and &#8220;Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line ha ha ha ha [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/11/15/new-peta-campaign-inadvertently-encourages-kids-to-eat-dogs/</link>
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		<title>A Very Harold &amp; Kumar 3D Christmas Is the Most Dad-centric Film of the Year</title>
		<description><![CDATA[So, I can&#8217;t believe I actually wrote that title. I can&#8217;t believe I wrote it, and that I meant it at all sincerely. But it&#8217;s true. A Very Harold &#38; Kumar 3D Christmas is a movie that, beneath layers of hijinks, penis-jokes, drug-humour, violence, and waffles, is all about looking at fatherhood from some of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/11/11/a-very-harold-and-kumar-3d-christmas-is-the-most-dad-centric-film-of-the-year/</link>
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		<title>I AM&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[So, Alli is doing this &#8220;I Am&#8230;&#8221; thing that seems to involve women taking pictures of themselves and posting them on the Internet, then declaring &#8220;I Am&#8230;&#8221; something somewhere on the picture. Maybe I&#8217;m not supposed to play along, because I&#8217;m a guy, but it&#8217;s a chance to take a picture of myself and post [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/11/02/i-am/</link>
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		<title>Stumbling Through Manhood</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For my own amusement, I went stumbling through StumbleUpon last night looking for something interesting. I went into the &#8220;Interests&#8221; menu and saw that one of the things I&#8217;d told StumbleUpon that I was interested in was &#8220;Men&#8217;s Issues&#8221;. Men&#8217;s issues? What are men&#8217;s issues? I decided to do a little experiment: Stumbling through the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/10/31/stumbling-through-manhood/</link>
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		<title>Will You Let Your Child Play Contact Sports?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[So, I never played contact sports as a kid. I was never a good skater, and in Canada that meant I wasn&#8217;t going to be playing hockey. My father played hockey, recreationally, while I was growing up, and if I&#8217;d expressed any interest in it I&#8217;m sure he would have signed the forms without a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/10/20/will-you-let-your-child-play-contact-sports/</link>
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		<title>Grimm&#8217;s Tales Are Grim Indeed</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Reading to your children can be a real delight. You can get them away from TVs and video games for a while and enthrall them in worlds built on words. I&#8217;m trying to move on from picture books with my 4 1/2 year old daughter. I don&#8217;t think she&#8217;s too old for books with pictures; [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/10/13/grimms-tales-are-grim-indeed/</link>
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		<title>Jezebel Tells Moms that Stay at Home Dads Are&#8230;Okay?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s a great day for stay at home dads everywhere. Jezebel has, kind of, sort of, told women that stay at home dads are okay. After gesturing to that study showing testosterone levels are lower in involved dads, and playing it up for a few good gags, writer Tracy Moore moves on to note a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/10/05/jezebel-tells-moms-that-stay-at-home-dads-are-okay/</link>
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		<title>A Parent&#8217;s Survival Guide to Disneyland: Part One</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;To all who come to this happy place, welcome.&#8221; This is how Walt Disney welcomes us to Disneyland. If only he&#8217;d added &#8220;And be sure to bring a blanket to sit on while you&#8217;re camping out on Main Street waiting for the fireworks to start for two hours.&#8221; Maybe you&#8217;re an old pro at going [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/09/29/a-parents-survival-guide-to-disneyland-part-one/</link>
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		<title>Life in the Fast Food Lane</title>
		<description><![CDATA[My mother tells me that my first full sentence was &#8220;Nobody can do it like McDonald&#8217;s can.&#8221; It was probably 1979, and there was a McDonald&#8217;s located prominently on the single road into and out of town. Since the area was home to my mother&#8217;s entire family, even after we moved away every visit would [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/09/26/life-in-the-fast-food-lane/</link>
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		<title>The Preschool Socialization Myth</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The mom turned away from watching the chaos that was the children&#8217;s play area at the aquarium, and asked me &#8220;How old is yours?&#8221; My son and hers, approximately the same size, had been chasing each other around, and tussling over the play stations and objects. Every now and then my son, or hers, would [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/09/21/the-preschool-socialization-myth/</link>
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		<title>Netflix Adds a &#8220;Just For Kids&#8221; Tab and I Wonder If It&#8217;s Evil</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Netflix recently added a &#8220;Just for Kids&#8221; tab to their main page. We&#8217;re heavy Netflix users in our house, having cancelled cable almost six months ago. We have Internet-ready devices in two rooms, both of which access Netflix pretty easily, and my eldest can navigate the Netflix menus to find things to watch . One [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/09/07/netflix-adds-a-just-for-kids-tab-and-i-wonder-if-its-evil/</link>
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		<title>Faster Than a Speeding Pink Taffeta Gown</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Where are the heroines, the champions girls can look to so that they are inspired to make the world, and their own lives, better? As they get older, they will encounter more (and more complex) role models: powerful real world women, literary characters, philosophical ideals. But for very young girls, where can we turn to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/08/30/faster-than-a-speeding-pink-taffeta-gown/</link>
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		<title>Call Me &#8220;Mr. Mom&#8221;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Although I really like the John Hughes movie &#8220;Mr. Mom&#8221;, I haven&#8217;t always liked being called &#8220;Mr. Mom&#8221; in my role as primary caregiver to my kids. But I think there is a sharp disconnect between the image people think they are evoking with the name, and the image that&#8217;s actually on offer in the film. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/08/23/call-me-mr-mom/</link>
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		<title>That Front-carrier Looks Ridiculous On You, Dad.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In a recent poll (I asked Facebook), people (mostly women) said that they thought a guy wearing a baby in a sling or a front carrier looked sexy and not ridiculous. In a less recent poll (I asked myself), people (myself) said that they thought a guy wearing a baby in a sling or a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/08/11/that-front-carrier-looks-ridiculous-on-you-dad/</link>
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		<title>You Should Make Your Kids Feel Stupid</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m all in favour of making kids feel stupid. I don&#8217;t mean that we should go up to small children at the park and tell them no one will every really love them because of how stupid they are. But, kids are stupid. They come to stupid conclusions about things. They come to amusingly persistent [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blogs.babble.com/babble-voices/shawn-burns-parenting-with-backpacking-dad/2011/08/11/you-should-make-your-kids-feel-stupid/</link>
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