babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
Those who opposed healthcare reform are suddenly grateful for it.
A Los Angeles area woman who was recently diagnosed with stage three breast cancer has this to say to President Obama about the healthcare reform law he signed into law and what she and many others derisively called “Obamacare”: I’m sorry.
That’s right. Spike Dolomite Ward is sorry.
Why? Well, when the 49-year-old mother got a cancer diagnosis, her family hadn’t had health insurance for several years. Not because they’re selfish freeloaders who thought they were invincible … no, not at all. Her family had to make a choice that millions of Americans make every year: health insurance or their house. Continue reading »
What turns an earthquake into a tsunami?
As we’re all consumed with news of Japan’s massive 8.9 earthquake and resulting tsunami, I’m here on the coast of Southern California watching the water and anticipating what meteorologists say will be the resulting tides hitting our shores at 8:32 a.m.
Needless to say, I panicked this morning when I heard the news and darted to the window. It looks like just another calm, warm and sunny morning here. But as we speak, the ripple effects of Japan’s earthquake are headed my way.
Here’s what scientists are saying about the effect on the shores of of the west coast. And a breakdown of what exactly causes a tsunami of this size in the first place: Continue reading »
Annie, Get Your Gun!
That was the response of a heroic Orange County, California mom, when a neighbor’s dog attacked her six-year-old daughter yesterday morning.
The girl and her three-year-sister were playing in their home’s driveway in the suburban community of Lake Forest, when a local dog, described variously in press accounts as a boxer or pit bull , attacked the older child. Neighbors and the child’s mom and one and fourteen-year-old brothers heard the screams, and rushed outside.
A combination of a neighbor spraying Windex in the dog’s eye’s and the older brother punching the dog allowed the mother to pull the girl away from the dog, but not before the child was bitten seven times. But the dog wasn’t done with the family. As they attempted to reach their home and safety, the crazed dog attempted to attack them again, lunging at them and snapping at the pants legs of the one-year-old boy.
And that’s when mom snapped. Continue reading »
Experts, make up your mind already! I’m getting confused.
Didn’t we just read a couple of weeks ago in “The New York Times” that social networking was bad for kids? Experts claimed that all that time online was preventing our children from forming meaningful relationships.
Now “The Los Angeles Times” has published a story which quotes an expert who says that children who spend lots of time on social media sites are “the healthiest psychologically.” Huh? Continue reading »
Let the daycare battle begin…again.
The latest report from the long-running U.S. National Institutes of Health study about the affect of daycare on kids is sure to add fuel to the so-called Mommy Wars.
Depending on how you spin it, the study, which was published in the journal Child Development, is either good news or bad news for working parents with kids in daycare.
Reuters emphasizes the upside of daycare: children in high-quality childcare scored slightly higher on measures of academic and cognitive achievement years later as teenagers.
But the Los Angeles Times highlights the fact that at age 15, the kids who spent long hours in day care as preschoolers are more impulsive and more prone to take risks than teens whose toddler years were spent largely at home. Continue reading »
A new study linking parental age to autism has found women who gave birth when they were over 40 were two times more likely to have autistic children than women who conceived and gave birth before 25. Fathers over 40 who had significantly younger partners had a pronounced increase in the number of autistic offspring, as well.
The study, published online in the journal Autism Research, looked at 5 million births in California during the 1990s. More than 12,000 of the babies were diagnosed with autism — a large en0ugh sample for further statistical analysis. From these numbers, they concluded the following: Continue reading »
Hey, ladies, are you bad at math? Know who might be to blame? Mrs. Rutledge, your second-grade teacher, because she was bad at math too!
(A nice break for your mother, who is to blame for all of your other shortcomings.)
A new study shows female teachers who are scared of math teach their girl students to fear it as well. The result? A gender gap.
The study looked at elementary school teachers — specifically females — who said they struggle with math and have math anxiety. Researchers found such teachers were more likely to believe that boys are hard-wired for math and that girls are more skilled in language.
They passed on this belief to their female students. Continue reading »
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
9