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Strollerderby
Press the buttons!
Watching this group of five-year-olds try to explain what computers are in this Sesame Street clip from 1984 is an adorable reminder of just how much our lives have changed with computers. But is also funny to see that kids are still, pretty much, exactly the same.
Their explanations of the computers as “something that you write on” and that “you can press some buttons and make a design” and “it can help you to read” pretty much sums up what a kindergartener might say today.
The OMG! moment comes from seeing a computer of 1984 in action … Continue reading »
Bennet laughs at your ridiculous attempts to get on her list of favorites.
There has been much in the media about parents and “favorites” lately, but Laura Bennett, the former Project Runway contestant (she was the pregnant one in season 3) and current author, designer, and mother of six, takes favoritism among her kids to a whole new level.
Anderson Cooper, exploring the topic of Favorites on Tuesday’s show, dives right in, introducing Bennett with, “You admit you have favorites.” To which Bennett cheerily replies, “Yes. Truman has always been my favorite and most of the kids know that.” A taken aback Cooper speaks for all of us when he says, “What do you mean, ‘Most of your kids know that’?!?”
Her response is both shocking and hilarious as she explains that all her children know about her “List” and even “compete to get a place on ‘The List.’ ” Continue reading »
Every time I turn around there is a new study about the danger of allowing children online. But there is also this: a recent video of a baby using an iPad like she was born to do it. The other day my small girl sat down in front of my Mac and began to use it as though she had never used anything else … when in fact, she first played with a mouse and traditional keyboard.
Computers and the online space represent my children’s future. And so I am okay with them being online. And by “online” I mean, YES, I let my second-grade daughter start a blog.
Part of my willingness to do this is that is that I do not have a fear of the unknown. I KNOW I will be next to them and involved in their online business as long as they have online business to do.
At seven years old, she doesn’t question me looking over her shoulder. And while I know this won’t always be the case … she will, AT LEAST, understand her time on the computer = my involvement.
Are we in danger of medicating away youthful exuberance?
The American Association of Pediatrics has released new guidelines that drop the recommended starting age for evaluating children for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder from six to four years old, raising concerns about medicating children so young and that diagnoses will become even more widespread.
Per the Chicago Tribune, “There is now enough evidence to address this broader age range,” says Dr. Mark Wolraich, the lead author of the report that was released last weekend, “We know that identifying and treating kids at a young age is important … because the earlier we can provide treatment, the better chance of success.”
As a mother of a son who was diagnosed with ADHD at five and started medication just shy of six, even I am alarmed when I hear that four-year-olds are being diagnosed and labeled as ADHD. I am well aware of the fact that ADHD manifests itself in many ways and feel for any parent of a “difficult” child, but it just seems like a bad idea to open this up and invite irresponsible doctors to prescribe medication to children that are barely out of their toddlerhood.
Should women be given a salary for their work at home?
Forget the “push present,” I’d much rather get a paycheck that shows me my work in the house and with the children is not just valued by my husband, but that he realizes and acknowledges that my time spent raising our children is just as important as his working time. And that it is inherently valuable and worth being compensated.
And I’m not the only one. In an interview with CNN, Wendy Luhabe, Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg and an international thought leader, says that women who give up careers to stay home and raise their children should be paid a salary.
Luhabe suggests that allocating a salary equal to 10% of the woman’s husband’s income would help assuage the resentment that some women feel at having to make the choice to stay home and would give more value to bringing up children in our society.
I can attest from personal experience that it really does. Continue reading »
Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
A child obsessed with a particular movie, show, or videogame is a force that must be reckoned with. And while you may roll your eyes when your adventurous child throws on his or her grotty old costume every day after getting home from preschool…. Halloween is that special time of year that geeky parents with some creativity can really help their offspring make their fanatical dreams come true.
One of the things I love best about Halloween is that it is the one day of the year when you might get a glimpse into the future of the neighborhood children and see who the goth-girls and super-geeks of tomorrow might be. Or at least which parents are the closet fanboys and fangirls of yesteryear. Because more often than not, they are dressed up with their kids, too. And you probably won’t recognize their costumes because they are that much hipper than you.
I’ve put together some of the coolest costumes to be found on the web that highlight the pint-sized nerds, geeks, fangirls, and the up-for-anything kids that take their costumes very seriously indeed. Added bonus: A few pictures of the moms and dads that proudly spawned some of the featured late-bloomers and creative techies of tomorrow. Continue reading »
Brace yourselves... Kids cost A LOT.
It’s no secret. Kids are expensive. It starts when you get that eye-popping bill from the hospital for giving birth. After that it just keeps on keepin’ on.
Each stage of childhood has its own huge costs. I’m in the formula/diapers phase. Two kids in diapers. It’s killing me. But what’re you gonna do? I guess give thanks that I don’t have two kids in college. Or two kids begging for karate or gymnastics classes.
As CNNMoney reports, just providing a child with the basics has become more than most parents can afford.
Can you guess the cost of raising a kid from birth to age 18 for a middle-income, two-parent family?
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