This teacher went too far.

It’s been an odd few weeks in teacher news. At the end of September, we covered the story of the teacher who banned saying “bless you” in his classroom. While his punishment of taking points away from students who uttered the phrase was unfair, the discipline was not physical.

But recent news of a teacher’s discipline of a junior high student crossed the line and was just, well, plain weird. In Texas, a teacher found a purely strange way to discipline her student for committing a hair code infraction.

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Do you ever get fed up with your children? Even, occasionally wish they would just, like,  GO AWAY? Well, you’re not alone. The scourge of the young is such a wide-ranging problem that people are inventing things to get those darned kids outta here. You may be familiar with the principle behind these devices. It’s the same technology used to clear the vicinity of other pests. For example, rodents.

I am the owner of one of these devices. The “Sonic 2000″, pictured at left,  came into my life at the intersection of some very convincing Hammacher Schlemmer catalog copy and a tail poking through the ceiling fixture in my apartment. The device was supposed to emit some inaudible frequency that would make whatever was attached to this tail—and all his presumably furry friends—run squeaking into the tenement building next door. It did not work. Fortunately, I no longer live in this apartment. Using the same basic technology as the Sonic 2000, The Sonic Screen Vandal Deterrent promises to rid your premises of unwanted youth.

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The HPV shot: right for your kid? Probably.

Let’s just go with “yes” on this one.

Need more detail? Here’s one mom’s story of how she decided to bite the bullet and sign her daughter up for the HPV vaccine. She’d initially decided to skip it, given how new the vaccine was and how young her little girl was. Did her 9-year-old really need to be protected from a sexually-transmitted infection? She liked to think not.

Now the vaccine has been around for a few years and her daughter is a few years older. Her thinking on this shot has shifted.

With Michele Bachmann still grabbing headlines over her silly claims about this vaccine, it’s a great time to reiterate why your daughter should have it.  Continue reading »

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In a somewhat extreme move, a British school is enforcing a ban on make-up by removing the mirrors from the girls’ bathrooms. They’ve also issued “make-up removal kits” to teachers to deal with any make-up applied before school hours.

The school is co-ed, but the rule applies only to girls. I guess boys wearing too much eyeliner wasn’t a big problem this year. The school administrators say the issue isn’t just that heavy make-up can be distracting, but that girls were congregating in the bathrooms to stare at themselves and tweak their make-up instead of focusing on school. Some of them were even bringing their lunch into the school bathrooms.

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The wrong message or harmless humor?

Lately it seems like there’s a controversial new shirt for children being produced every week, particularly shirts for girls.

The boom of inappropriate shirts has bothered me but I am also pleased by the immediate response of outrage by parents everywhere. It means we’re concerned and critically thinking about the messages being sent to our children.

However, unlike the ‘Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels‘ shirt or the ‘I’m too pretty to do my homework so my brother does it for me‘ shirt, the new ‘Allergic to algebra’ shirt being sold by Forever 21 isn’t really bothering me. Continue reading »

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Mama's boy fo sho!

I am head over heels, cuckoo crazy in love with my little Henry boy.

This kid is a peach, A PEACH, I tell you!

From day one the little feller just goes with the flow and grins more than any human being has a right to grin, really.

I love him so stinking much I’m certain I’ll turn him into a mama’s boy.  And I’m super cool with that.  I’ve always said mamas’ boys treat women better. Ever dated a guy who’s really close with his mom or a fellow who only has sisters?  They always seem to be more sensitive to women than a big jock of a fellow who grew up with a bunch of rough and tumble brothers.

Now, a study backs up my claim.
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Who's in charge? Whose rules apply?

Sleepovers are a huge part of growing up.  But releasing your child to the care of another parent can be tricky.

Rules vary drastically within households.  What one family considers important may not be on the radar in another home.

For example, you may not be inclined to let your 11-year-old walk to a nearby convenience store for a soda and candy or whatever it is 11-year-olds are into.  But maybe the parents of your 11-year-old’s friend think it’s no big deal to allow the kids to do so.  If they do allow the children to walk to the store, do you hold them responsible or do you hold your child (who knows the rules) responsible?

Similarly, if a child sleeps at your home and you know they aren’t allowed to drink soda, is it your obligation to police the child?  What if the kid has a soda while watching movies with your children?  Is it your job to confiscate the soda?  AWKWARD.

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