Toddlers
Stepfathers make better parents than biological dads?
Newborns, Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Teens & tweens, Just for dads, In the news
In some families, the original isn't always the best when it comes to fathers. For 'fragile families', described as low-income urban families prone to non marital births, mothers say that stepfathers are often more engaged, cooperative and willing to share responsibilities than married biological fathers. A new study finds that while married biological fathers and stepfathers may be almost equally engaged with the children themselves, it is their interaction with mom that often makes stepfathers better parents. The mothers surveyed reported that stepfathers shared their parental views and were more open to talking about their parental wants than natural fathers. Rebekah Levine Coley, a developmental psychologist at Boston College, says this is probably because stepfathers "have to work harder to fit in and to have a useful productive role."
Coley says the findings contradict the popular view among social workers and experts that dads are more invested if the child is of their own flesh and blood. "I think this research does, to some extent, call some of those assumptions into question," she said.
The conclusions were made after interviewing 2,098 urban mothers from the The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study and will be published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
Tom Cruise totes tot's toys
Toddlers, Preschoolers, Life & style, Celeb parenting
Tom Cruise is known for being an action hero of sorts -- from prancing about in his skivvies in Risky Business to chasing about as super spy Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible series -- but that doesn't mean he can't carry his kid's playthings out in public. In fact, he was spotted doing just that recently in New York.From a stuffed bunny to a Cabbage Patch doll and from a coloring book to a baby bottle, he'll apparently carry anything his little Suri might need for a day or even a night on the town. So is he no longer the macho star he was before parenthood? Of course not! You can't get much more manly than to carry a child's toy for them, if you ask me.
No, if you want to rag on Tom Cruise, don't do it for taking care of his kid. There are plenty of other things to ridicule him for: his bad acting, the whole space alien religion thing, and his propensity for hopping up and down on talk show hosts' couches.
Suri Cruise STILL sporting a baby bottle
Toddlers, Eating & nutrition, Development, Celeb kids, Life & style, Celeb parenting, In the news, That's entertainment, Mealtime, Extreme childhood
Suri Cruise is nearly two and a half years old. Heaven knows you couldn't forget that if you tried. And while she has more fashion sense than pretty much any other tot on the planet, there is one thing that seems to still give us all pause. No, it's not how her celebrity parents could have actually spawned her, nor is it how much is spent keeping her best-dressed and -tressed. Nah--it's that thing where she's still carrying around a baby bottle.
Yes, still. It seems like this first made the news when Suri was more than a year old and still using a bottle. Like sippy cups are so great. Now she's making headlines again for still sporting the baby bottle--when she's not even really a baby. My question is this: what is the big deal? My kid is nearly seventeen months old and he still occasionally uses a bottle. We've tried really hard to break him of the habit, but, for a while, he simply eschewed the sippy cup. He could use one, sure, but he couldn't get the same amount of milk from the sippy as from the bottle. So, we let him roll with it. Eventually, he switched over to predominantly using the sippy.
I know there are standards and practices for how we're supposed to raise our children. I know that guidelines have been set to help us make our way through this crazy maze called parenthood. But with issues as large as world hunger, violence, abuse and immunizations out there for us to tackle, why does anyone give a rat's butt about whether or not Suri Cruise still uses her baby bottle? I feel sorry for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes--they're busy people who are trying to raise a kid and have full-time jobs too. it ain't easy. And not every kid fits the model she's supposed to. Is it really the end of the world if Suri still uses a bottle?
Daily Dish -- Brush away the dirty teeth monsters
DailyDish - Cut your toddler's nails...while she's asleep
Toddlers, Health & safety, Home remedies
Madonna's rep denies adoption rumors
Toddlers, Adoption, Life & style, Celeb parenting, Rumors, That's entertainment
Last thing we heard, Madonna--who, by the way, ya'll, is now officially FIFTY!--was primed and ready to adopt another child. Rumor had it the child would be a little girl from Malawi, from where Madonna adopted her third child, David. As the rumor went, the little girl's name was Mercy, she was two years old and her family didn't want Madge to adopt her.
Now that the rumor mills are in full spin mode--other rumors circulated that the would-be adoption ws causing the alleged turmoil in the Material Mom's marriage to filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie--Madonna's rep is negating the whole thing. That's what they get paid for, right? Deny, deny, deny.
Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's mouthpiece, insists the rumors are not true. Instead, she says, Madge is headed on tour in a week. Not that a busy schedule ever stopped a female celebrity from giving birth or adopting! Tell that to Angelina Jolie, Liz!
Should airplanes have a kid's section?
Newborns, Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Places to go, In the news
These days, traveling by air can be an extreme test of patience and restraint. Herded like cattle and crammed into tiny seats, most of us suffer quietly and try to make the best of the situation. Most of us adults do, anyway. Kids are often a little short on patience and restraint and being cooped up for hours in an airplane can be pure torture for them. And for those who sit anywhere near them.
What if there were a separate section on the plane where families traveling with children could sit? Wouldn't that make things a lot easier for everyone involved, including the frustrated parent who can't seem to get junior to sit still or use his inside voice? Airfare Watchdog asked that question and a whopping 85% of respondents said that airlines should have a section of the plane reserved for parents with babies and smaller children.
I wish there had been a kid section the first time I flew with a baby in tow. I thought I was being very considerate of my fellow passengers by keeping her quiet with bottle after bottle of apple juice plugged into her mouth. It kept her quiet alright. After about the fifth bottle, she quietly had a massive apple juice-induced blowout in her diaper, causing everyone in our immediate area to reach for their barf bags. I am sure each and every one of those passengers who caught a whiff and glimpse of that mess wished there were a separate section for kids. And I would have been happy to sit there.
But, as 27% of those polled agree, having a section just for babies and small kids will probably never happen and wouldn't work anyway. Airlines want to fill each and every seat and telling non-family traveling passengers that they have to sit in the loud, stinky section probably wouldn't go over too well.
Toddler survives three story fall
Babies, Toddlers, Health & safety, In the news, Mommy musts, Gadgets & tech
Nineteen-month-old Aidan DeBeck is the latest child to beat the odds by surviving a scary fall. He fell 25 to 30 feet, the equivalent of three stories, from his playroom window and walked away with only bruises. His mom. Sara DeBeck, tells of how she left him in the third floor room to take a nap. "I put him in the playpen, which he's just started climbing out of," she said. "He wasn't really sleepy, so I gave him some books, put the gate up and turned on the monitor."She went back downstairs to tend to her three-year-old but could hear Aidan quietly playing through the monitor. Then she heard a thump. She was confused as to the source of the sound until she noticed the playroom curtain laying on the ground outside.
She rushed out and found her son crying but seemingly unhurt. She called 911 and Aiden was transported via LifeFlight to the hospital. Aidan checked out okay and was released the next day. "In the end, he had no injuries at all," Sara DeBeck said. "It was just amazing."
She says that Aidan will no longer be allowed to be in that room alone when the window is open. That is all well and good, but I hope that isn't her entire plan for child-proofing her windows. Give a curious kid like Aidan enough time and he will be able to open that window by himself. Preventing window falls is as easy as installing window stops or guards. I hope the DeBecks do that very soon. It is a very small price to pay for peace of mind.
Dailydish - Make chores a family affair
Have each family member tackle his or her task list at the same time.
Pregnant burglars leave toddler at scene of crime
Toddlers, In the news, Weird but true
(Click the photo for more Shocking Parenting Screw-ups)
Most parents try to protect their children from criminal activity, but in a brazen attempt to burglarize an apartment while its tenants were still at home, two pregnant women put one of the women's toddlers right in the middle of the crime... and then abandoned him.
A 20-year-old woman and a pregnant teen climbed into the bedroom window of an apartment, with the two-year-old in tow. When the apartment's residents confronted the women, they fled, leaving the child behind. The women are now being charged with robbery and larceny, but the 20-year-old mother will face child abuse charges as well.
For the sake of this poor little boy, as well as the sibling that will be born in a few months, I hope these moms find the help they need to get back on track. Two-year-olds belong on a swing set, not a crime scene.
Fisher Price walkie talkie picks up conversation about strip clubs
Toddlers, In the news, Weird but true
My sons have walkie talkies; mostly they use them to talk to each other, from opposite ends of the house. Their conversations go something like this: "Can you hear me?" "What?" "I said CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?" "WHAT???"
Fun for everyone.
Recently, though, a West Virginia mom heard more than she anticipated over her three-year-old son's walkie talkie. The toy was apparently picking up CB conversations between truckers. If that weren't odd enough, the conversations included references to getting high and going to strip clubs; mom Deborah Pancaro describes them as "really explicit." The walkie talkie, made by Fisher Price, is designed to work at up to a distance of 20 feet, but somehow it was picking up CB radio transmissions from the guys driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, over 275 miles from Pancaro's Huntingon, West Virginia, home.
Pancaro wrote to Fisher Price asking for a recall of the Dora and Diego walkie talkies, because, she said, "I'd just hate for little kids to be hearing things like that." The company has apologized for what it terms a "disappointing experience" and has tried, unsuccessfully, to contact Pancaro twice this week. Maybe they need to use one of those walkie talkies to get in touch with her.
What say you -- should Fisher Price recall ALL the walkie talkies, or is this really not that big a deal?
Toddler makes late-night run for chocolate... alone
Toddlers, Health & safety, Weird but true
(Click the photo for more shocking escapes!)
Here's a boy after my very own heart. Three-year-old Max McGrath woke up at 3 A.M. and decided he wanted a chocolate egg. So he put on his brother's shoes, grabbed some money, and even remembered his house key. Then he walked a mile and a half to the supermarket. What he hadn't counted on, of course, was the store being closed. As he stood outside, no doubt disappointed, he was spotted by a delivery driver who picked him up. The boy was safely delivered home to his shocked parents.
 Did you hear about the toddler that drove himself to Applebee's? Or the boy who missed the bus and claimed he was kidnapped? How about the children who broke into a daycare to steal popsicles and Play-Doh, or the teens that went for a joyride in a steam locomotive? |
In all seriousness, this situation could have ended badly. Max's parents call him an "adventurous" boy, but say they never thought he'd try something like this. I woke up early one Sunday about a year ago and spotted my neighbor's two-year-old standing on the curb across the street, munching on an apple. When I returned him home, his parents had a similar reaction -- shock and awe. My own kids won't even venture downstairs in the morning without one of us in tow, so it's hard to imagine them making a cross-town trek in the middle of the night.
What about you? Are you raising an escape artist? If so, do you have a plan in place to prevent your little one from getting out without you noticing?
Daily Dish - Clutter-busting kids' rooms
Toddlers, Preschoolers, Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Teens & tweens, Chores
Plastic toys will lose the phthalates
Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Health & safety, In the news, Shopping & recalls
Last week, Congress passed a law designed to ensure that the massive toy recalls of 2007 are not repeated. The bill, awaiting the signature of President Bush, gives the Consumer Product Safety Commission a larger budget, increases the fines for companies who don't comply with the new stricter rules, and forces those companies to take responsibility for making sure safety standards are met in toy design and manufacture.But it isn't just lead paint and loose magnets the bill hopes to eliminate. The new law also bans six types of phthalates in children's toys. Phthalates is a chemical commonly found in plastics that may disrupt the hormonal development of children. The bill completely bans three types of phthalates - di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP). Three others are temporarily banned pending a study of their effects on children and pregnant women.
This is clearly a step in the right direction, but many believe that banning phthalates is just the beginning. "This has started a dialogue on what else is needed," says Janet Nudelman of Breast Cancer Fund. What is needed, she says, is the passage of the Kid Safe Chemical Act, which would require all chemicals be proven safe for children.
In the meantime, banning phthalates is likely enough to change the face of the toy industry. All those plastic playthings littering your child's room may soon become relics of the past. But buyer beware: this law will not have any impact on toys already on the shelf. Maybe it is time to revisit the past and experience the joys of simple wooden toys. Or perhaps a game of kick the can will keep the kids occupied while everyone figures out how to make toys safe again.
Potty training deadlines
Toddlers, Preschoolers, Development, Resources
Is it ok to set potty training deadlines? I mean for ourselves as well as our kids. Way back when it seems children were potty trained pretty quickly. Now, common wisdom holds you wait until the kid is at least three or that each child takes as long as necessary for that child to, er, get on the pot, so to speak. On the other side of the coin, though, many children must be potty trained in order to attend preschool or daycare.
But when is the right time? How do you tell when the right time is for your child? Also, with that in mind, is it ok to set goals, of any sort, for your child? I have a friend who decided she was spacing her children apart enough so that she would never have two babies in diapers at the same time. This would mean the first one would have to be toilet trained by the time the second one came along. No way of knowing whether or not that would be possible, of course, as every child is different, but it's a noble effort.
I would love it if my sixteen-month-old son were potty trained by the time he hit two years old. I don't know if this is realistic or laughable. I don't even know when a good time to get started on the training is. A colleague of mine, who is from another country, said that in her homeland the children started toilet training as soon as they were able to sit up on their own! She said she knew of kids as young as six months being potty trained! And why two years old for me as a deadline? I don't mind changing two sets of diapers, but I do mind the cost (if I go with disposables). Also, the thought of only one child in diapers at a time has its appeal. Finally, maybe what it all comes down to is that it just seems like the "right" time.
What about you? Did you set deadlines for potty training?
