Is Your Child An Orchid or a Dandelion?

Most kids grow like dandelions. They bloom everywhere, growing up sturdy and strong in the most desolate neighborhoods or the ritziest.

Others seem to come into the world fragile. They’re sensitive kids who are prone trouble, but also brilliance. The kind who grow up to poets or addicts or both.

In the new issue of Atlantic Monthly, David Dobbs outlines the “orchid hypothesis,” an emerging genetic theory that offers some insight into how, and why, our genetic differences shape how we grow and who we become. Continue reading »

Division of Labor - What Does It Look Like in Your House?

My husband and I have a very clear division of labor in our marriage:  He calls the cable company whenever there’s a problem.  I don’t.  That rule was created about three years ago, after an hour long phone call with a service rep that left my with a nearly permanent eye-twitch.

Other than that, we’ve got a pretty flexible system for dividing household chores based on strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and the number of hours in the day.  Since I’m a stay-home parent, much of the household work falls to me, but the man knows his way around a vacuum cleaner and is not afraid to use it.  Gadgets we split:  Computers fall to me, iPods to him.  And the dishes are simply the responsibility of the last one up every night.

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What’s the Best Punishment For Kids?

What do you do when your kids misbehave? A poll by the self-proclaimed “World’s Strictest Parents” on Country Music Television’s new reality show suggests that 80% of parents - or at least 80% of parents who visit  the “World’s Strictest Parents”  website - favor punishing misbehavior in children by removing privileges. Continue reading »

New Company Vets Strange Baby Names

You’d think people who want to give their kids unusual names wouldn’t really care about what Zuma or Suri or Nahla mean. You’d think!

But Today Translation is hoping some people will care enough to shell out $1,700 to be reassured that they are not giving their kids weird names in any language other than English.

Hollywood’s done pretty well balancing obsessive originality with the world’s languages, though the service did find a few red flags regarding everybody’s favorite mini-Scientologist.

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Baby Safe After Being Trapped in Washing Machine

Two Mississippi tots found a fun way to entertain themselves while their mother did laundry at a local laundromat: The four-year-0ld pushed his seven-month-old baby brother around in a rolling basket.

The game turned (more) dangerous, though, when the older boy pushed the basket up against his mother’s washing machine.  The baby leaned over to get a closer look, and the boy pushed the baby in.

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Balloon Boy Parents Expected to Plead Guilty

The balloon parents reportedly plan to plead guilty tomorrow morning on a variety of offenses linked to the hoax.

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“Tough Love” is Good for Kids

A British study has concluded that a “tough love” approach to parenting brings out the best in kids. The study showed that kids whose parents were engaged in their lives and set clear rules and expectations had the most “character”.

According the report’s author, Jen Lexmond, “It is confidence, warmth and consistent discipline that matter most.” Continue reading »

2-Year-Old Can’t Cry, It Would Kill Her

Kids cry all the time. I think my son cried this weekend when I screwed up and didn’t call him by his recently chosen name “Grand Master Batman Flash” (I think I called him “Grand Master Batman Fletch“). There might be no mode that comes more naturally to children than crying.

But for Two-year-old Tianna McHugh crying is not an option. When Tianna cries her body seizes and stiffens, her skin turns white, her heart stops beating and she stops breathing.

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