Having Kids — Should There Be A Limit?

The folks at WalletPop UK, noting that a survey commissioned by the Optimum Population Trust indicates that nearly a third of people in the UK would support a cap on the number of kids a couple can have, took a look at the financial implications of family size.  Their conclusion?  Although kids are expensive and do cost the taxpayers money, they do pay that back when they become adults and begin paying taxes.  Furthermore, the author notes that at some point in the future, the current crop of parents will be grandparents (Get off my lawn!) and we will need those kids to support us and care for us.
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Police Report Woman for Gestating in a Fixer-Upper

When a newly pregnant 27-year-old in Staffordshire County, U.K., called to report a dangerous driver, she never expected to be reported to social services for being an unfit mother.

But a few days after speaking to a policewoman in her doorway about a driver who almost ran her over, Mary Cooke received a letter from the county council’s children’s services informing her that her unborn child may be referred for services.

Why? Because of peeling wallpaper, stripped floors and unfinished paint jobs in the house. Continue reading »

Actually, Kids Make You Happy

180 alert!

Less than a year ago, parents were buried under an avalanche of studies that concluded kids don’t make you happy. In fact, these studies showed that people raising kids reported lower levels of happiness — life satisfaction, marital satisfaction, and mental well-being — than their childless counterparts.

Oh, and that lower level of happiness? Never. Goes. Away.

Okay, but now out of the U.K., the Journal of Happiness Studies reports that not only do kids not lower their parents’ level of happiness, they actually raise it — a little bit with the first kid. Even more with the second. And (I’m looking at you, Baby Earl!) significantly more with the third!

There’s a catch, though. Continue reading »

Baby’s Parents Fight Over His Right to Live or Die

It’s an impossible situation:  Your one-year-old baby is sick with a severe and progressive disease that leaves him without any quality of life, so sick that even his doctors recommend removing him from life support, sick enough that you can actually begin to imagine that letting him go is the right thing to do.

Or maybe not.

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No Cheese for Pregnant Woman, Says Grocery

Pregnant women are often made to feel like they need to spend nine months in a bubble to keep their unborn baby safe, but this is ridiculous.

UK shopper Janet Lehain was shocked when a deli server at her local grocery denied her request for unpasteurized cheddar cheese. Continue reading »

Girl Puts Grandma Up for Auction on eBay

Marian Goodall is a disabled 61-year-old grandmother who lives with her son’s family, but not everyone is so happy to pitch in and  help.

Her 10-year-old granddaughter recently tired of her “annoying” grandma’s moaning and requests to “make her a drink” and thought of a clever way to hand off the responsibility to someone else:  She put Grandma up for sale on eBay. Continue reading »

Midwives Make Plea for Soft Fake Breasts

Some midwives in the U.K. are looking for handcrafted boobs. Ideally, they’d like soft, supple ones that are easy to see and fun to look at. Well what breasts aren’t?

But keep your shirts on. They want fake boobs (sit down, Ms. Anderson, they want single wool ones in fun, surprising colors) and lots of them.

The knitted breasts are used to teach young mothers how to breastfeed. Apparently, plastic dummies have a “sticky sensation to them,” which is less than ideal. Continue reading »

Scary Texting and Driving PSA Is a Little Too Real

Remember those mock accidents that Students Against Drunk Driving used to put together every spring — usually right before prom — when you were in high school?  You’d come to school to find a car wrecked on the school lawn, bloodied bodies strewn everywhere.

It was never very effective because — come on, we knew it was fake (unless you went to this school), and one of the “dead” victims would inevitably start laughing and ruin the whole thing.

Scare tactics are one way to get teens talking, though, and shock value isn’t wasted on them.  A new 30-minute extremely graphic PSA that’s circulating around UK schools is realistic enough to make them sit up and take notice.  The topic isn’t drunk driving, though, it’s driving while texting.

Before you watch, a disclaimer:  It’s very graphic and not appropriate if your kids are in the room.  Let us know — do you think this is an effective way to teach kids safer driving habits, or did they take it one step too far?

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The Most Disgusting PSA Poster Ever

I know how to get people to pick up their dog’s poop: make posters of kids eating dog s—. Oh wait, that’s a horrible idea. Not so, says the UK. Continue reading »

Mother Develops Allergy to Her Own Baby

British mother Joanne Mackie used to have to wrap her arms in wet towels just to feed her baby. If she allowed skin to skin contact with the newborn boy, she would develop red splotches which eventually turned into blisters.

Mackie, you see, is allergic to her baby. Continue reading »