Judith Warner made her name on writing about panicky, high-stakes parenting styles of the very few.

I think before we make generalizations about American kids and, by extension, their parents, we need to make sure we’ve actually observed samples from the entire nation. By the “entire nation,” I mean families whose children haven’t, by birthright, been saved a spot in the Ivy Leagues. And by “we,” I mean Judith Warner.

It’s an observable tick of Warner’s to write about her own bubble-encapsulated life and call it the state of the American family — the Age of X.

Take her book “Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety,” which, if read by aliens — or unsuspecting new parents — would leave them thinking they’d better get a handle on Google docs because that’s the only way they’ll meet stringent deadlines for getting their pre-born fetus wait-listed at the perfect preschool, the best dance academy, the most sought-after Algebra tutor and, at some point, the renowned-but-somewhat experimental mental health professional who can undo all the damage from the aforementioned anxiety-inducing requisites of modern childhood. (For a broader exposition of the mental health situation in American childhood, see Warner’s more recent: “We’ve Got Issues: Children and Parents in the Age of Medication.”)

Warner writes about her newest “age” in Time, a response to all the French-are-superior-parents articles kicking around the web this week. Warner takes the temperature inside her bubble and concludes that, indeed, we are a sick nation. American kids are brats; it’s all the parents’ fault. Once again, Warner really nails it — for her very tiny world that doesn’t quite include the rest of us.

(Possible future book title: “Non, Merci: Parenting in the Age of WHY CAN’T AMERICANS JUST BE FRENCH?!”) Continue reading »

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So what if she can't dance, it's her dream!

Maybe don’t go over to Breed ‘Em and Weep, where you can read about blogger Jennifer Mattern’s dream-crushing tendencies. You might see yourself in her story and, if you do, you probably won’t like it.

Mattern hasn’t always known she was a dream-crusher, but her daughter was kind enough to point it out one recent evening. Continue reading »

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What's Beckinsale's beef with the baby?

Eat your broccoli? Quit chewing your toes? Sleep through the night, or else? What does Underworld star Kate Beckinsale have against this baby? Does she think Lycans have taken on the disguise of chubby little infants? Continue reading »

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Homeless teen is guest at the State of the Union address. Pictured here with her Long Island congressional representative.

The Today Show‘s Ann Curry interviewed science whiz Samantha Garvey early this morning, after the girl drove all night from Washington, D.C. to make it to New York City for the interview. Garvey had been in D.C. to attend last night’s State of the Union Address, where she was one of the President’s guests.

Garvey shot to fame when journalists discovered that the teen, who had been named a semifinalist in Intel Science Talent Search, was homeless. She was interviewed on TV, she scored the SOTU invite, Ellen Degeneres gave her $50,000 for college, and her community rallied to support the budding scientist. An anonymous donor even paid to get their dog out of a shelter.

Everything seems to be looking up for Garvey and her family. Except for this detail in the interview with Curry [via Jezebel]: Continue reading »

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Somebody's putting baby in a corner.

Moms who want to bring their breastfeeding babies to the London Olympics this summer will have to get a ticket for the baby as well as themselves, according to current policy. Some ticket holders are challenging the rules — and have even asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission to get involved. A few are even threatening to bring a sex discrimination suit.

Should parents have to pay extra to bring nursing babies? Attending Olympic events is an all-day project and one that would require hours and hours of mother-child separation. Moreover, most under-1 nursers would be strapped to their mom or dad anyway. It’s not as if they need their own seat.

Still think parents should get the extra ticket? Well, consider this: Continue reading »

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The average Afghan woman has six children -- usually not all at once.

When Sara Gul found out she was carrying sextuplets — that’s six! — she tried to end the pregnancy by jumping off a wall. An impoverished 22-year-old, she knew she and her husband could not afford to raise six kids all at once.

Her efforts to abort the fetuses didn’t work and she recently gave birth. Five of the six babies are healthy, one is underweight and still being cared for by neo-natal specialists.

So why did Gul risk getting pregnant with multiples? Continue reading »

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Cuts to public education will leave some kids stranded at home.

All over the U.S., leaders have made cuts in education spending in order to get their state’s fiscal house in order. That has meant the loss of extra programs, such as sports and music. Spending on special needs and other support services have also taken a hit.

In California, the governor’s budget pulled the all funds for transportation for the rest of this year. Next year, funding for transportation could be eliminated all together. The result in urban areas is bad enough –  kids who relied on free school busing to get to magnet schools will have to return to their neighborhood schools.

For a small but significant number of rural kids, these cuts mean they won’t be able to go to school at all. Continue reading »

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