Strollerderby

New Report: Fan Use Cuts Down On Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

SunnyChanel — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:17:00 GMT

When my toddler was a baby, I lived in fear of sudden infant death syndrome. The thought that a child, my child, could just die from no apparent malady, affliction or action and there was a chance, albeit slim, that she'd just suddenly stop breathing, totally freaked me out. I like it when there are reasons and answers. But the mystery of how or when SIDS may strike is one that is a prevailing fear in paranoid parents like me.

When my daughter was an infant, I’d go to her room several times throughout the night, just to make sure she was breathing. Fortunately, she always was. But the fear still lingered. Had I known about this new study, I would have slept much better. A report published this month in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine states that keeping a simple fan on in your child’s room as they sleep cuts down on SIDS. Along with having your child sleep on their back, a firm mattress, removing pillows and toys from cribs, and not letting babies get to warm, this new addition is to simply make sure that there is adequate air circulation.

The pieces of the puzzle are coming together, and although the before mentioned practices cut the death rate in half, SIDS is still the leading cause of death for babies from one month to one year of age. Hopefully with some fans, this number will go down even further.

Via AP

Berkeley Breathed Retires Opus (Again)

Shannon LC Cate — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:26:00 GMT

After three incarnations, Opus the penguin is biting the dust for the last time. Berkeley Breathed has announced he will retire from comic strip writing for good and focus on his children's books from now on. According to Breathed, Opus the penguin might actually die, making it impossible to bring him back yet again, as Breathed did with "Outland" and then "Opus" after ending "Bloom County" in 1989.

Breathed told Editor and Publisher that retiring from comics is a patriotic act, suggesting that the best thing he can do for his country in such difficult times is "write funny stories for America's kids. I call on John McCain to join me."

His latest kids' book began as a drawing by his daughter at age five. It's called Pete and Pickles and will be in bookstores on 16 October 2008.

Image: JimHillMedia.com

Look! Over Here! Baby Animals!

Amy Kuras — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:02:00 GMT

Grrr. Sigh. Grrrr. I am well in the throes of Palin rage. Cannot deal with her and her g-dropping folksiness. Any. Longer. Crabby. Very, very crabby.

So! Baby animals! Look! The Virginia Zoo in Norfolk has had a baby boom of sorts, with ten different babies born in the last couple of months. Four snakes, a couple armadillos, some turtles and a baby bongo, which I did not know exsisted before I saw this story in my Google Alerts (it’s a type of antelope). That's her over there. Kind of pretty, huh? her name is Eva.

Many of the animals that were born at the zoo are endangered. The bongos, for example, are nearly extinct in their native Africa and earlier babies were sent to a breeding program in Mount Kenya in an attempt to repopulate the animals.

The zoo’s also raising two six-banded armadillo babies, the first ones to survive beyond a month in any US zoo.

So cruise on over, and take a soul-soothing look at cute baby animals – endangered ones, at that. It’s helped my political angst considerably.

Learning to Read through Video Games

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:30:00 GMT

Increasingly, books for children and young adults are being released with related video games. Since 97 percent of children ages 12 to 17 play computer and video games, this seems like a surefire to draw at least some reluctant readers into books. But when libraries host gaming tournaments and elementary schools incorporate video games into English lessons, you have to wonder, “Is this still reading?”

A large number of writers, publicists, and educators believe it is—and that, in the age of digital media, computer skills may be more important than proficiency with print media.

PJ Haarsma is a former advertising consultant who now designs online games about his science fiction novels for preteens. He argues that pairing video games with young adult literature “brings the book into their world, as opposed to going the other way around.”

But, as I pointed out in my tribute to Roald Dahl, the mark of a good book is precisely the ability to get lost in it, to live inside a world of which one has no experiential knowledge. This is particularly important for children, who largely learn empathy, respect for the imagination, and the value of introspection through reading. When one is being tested about a book’s plot in order to advance in a video game, the quiet, self-forgetful pleasure of being lost in a good book gets obliterated completely. Children learn that the only character who matters is the one holding the controller.

Photo: New York Times

Banned Books Week

World's Tallest Man Now Father to Average-Sized Baby

Madeline Holler — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:01:00 GMT

The world's tallest man -- China's Bao Xishun -- is a new father. His new son has some growing to do if he's going to literally fill his father's shoes.

Bao's son, who was born 22 inches long, is a far cry from the country's record-holder for length a birth, a little boy measuring 29.5 inches.

But he's happy and healthy despite his average-ish size. Though Bao is 7 foot 9 inches, the mother is 5 foot 6 inches. And probaby glad the boy wasn't a lung-shrinking record-holding length while in utero.

Still, it looks like Bao, who had been a sheepherder in Inner Mongolia until he left all that behind to hire himself out for parties and freakshows, is hoping his little baby will turn into a big, but not quite as big, man as himself.

Before the child was born he said:

"I hope he or she can be about 2 metres tall," Mr Bao, 57, said last year about his wishes for a child. "Then he or she can play basketball."

Photo: UK Telegraph

The Good Manners Books - What Do You Say, Dear? vs. Tea for Ruby

SunnyChanel — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:41:00 GMT

One of the things that is just about the cutest, sweetest and most breathtaking sites is a toddler or small child with good manners. Currently, I’m in the midst of trying to get my own offspring to possess a pocketful of pleases and thank yous without having to be cued to recite these pleasantries on demand. In the quest to instill some manners, I checked out one of my child hood favorites on the subject from my local library, What Do you Say, Dear? By Sesyle Joslin and illustrated by the great Maurice Sendak.

I had such fond memories of this book. As I read it to my toddler and got to the pages with passages such as “You are a cowboy riding around the range. Suddenly Bad-Nose Bill comes up behind you with a gun. He says “Would you like me to shoot a hole in your head” What do you say dear?” along with scenarios of crashed planes, a orchestra of bears who want to eat the party goers, and a knight who cuts off a dragon’s head.

Instead of instilling manners in my baby, I may have inadvertently instilled some nightmares into her subconscious. I’m all for the odd and quirky, but I think this book may have been a wee bit to brutal for my sensitive little one. More her speed would be the girly-girl Tea for Ruby by Sarah The Duchess of York Ferguson and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser of Fancy Nancy fame. This tale is of a young girl getting a crash course in manners in order to get ready for a tea with the queen and I doubt there is nary a gun, sword or plane crash on any of the pages. This is the fourth children’s book by the Duchess of York and it was released last week. She sites the disapperance of manners in both the US and the UK and wanted to address the topic, and teach the kids a thing or two with this new book. And really, who better to know how to get ready for tea with the queen than with someone who’s actually done it right?

Dress Up Your Kids - Win Big Prizes!

editors — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:34:00 GMT

Another Halloween, another princess costume your princess wanna-be won’t take off . . . But this year you can take advantage of your kiddos refusal to wear anything other than their cape to school for the entire month of October. Snap a photo and enter our Babble Playground October Photo Contest: Best Halloween Costume and win big, big, I mean – big prizes. Proof, after the jump.

Okay, so you won’t be winning this adult-sized Babysitter Balance from BabyBjörn, but it was awfully comfy and if it’s good enough for one of the, ahem, Babble editors, it’s even better in normal size for your small fry who still finds bouncing to be a perfectly reasonable way to wile away their afternoon.

Enter today and win over $500 of prizes from BabyBjörn and show off the creative costuming that goes on in your house. – April Peveteaux

One in Four Mammals Nearing Extinction

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:00:00 GMT

The Ice Age cometh—that is, if we don’t drastically change our consumption habits now. According to a comprehensive report by an international coalition of scientists, governments, and campaign groups, one in four mammals is in danger of extinction due to overhunting, habitat loss, and climate change.

A leading scientist summed up the report this way: “Although 5 percent of mammals are recovering, what we observe are rates of habitat loss and hunting in Southeast Asia, central Africa and central and South America that are so serious that the overall rate of decline has steadily increased during the past decade.” Amphibians are similarly threatened, with 33 percent either endangered or extinct.

Other scientists working on the report pointed out that if we continue emitting greenhouse gasses at the current rate, biodiversity will decline by 40 percent by the end of this century. This means that, unless we immediately begin taking conservation very seriously, the extinction of all species is a very real threat.

Photo: New York Times

Mob Mol Who Smuggled Sperm Says Prison System Hates Her Child for Being Born

JeanneSager — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:32:00 GMT

She foiled the federal prison system in 1999 when she snuck a vial of her husband's sperm out of a Pennsylvania penitentiary, but now Regina Granato says the feds hate her daughter for ever being born. The government is keeping Kevin Granato, a one-time Colombo mob associate, as far from the family's New York City home as possible. So far that the 9-year-old daughter with a heart condition (conceived with that vial of sperm) never gets to see her father.

Since being transferred out of the Allenwood Federal Penetentiary, Granato has spent three and a half years in solitary confinement and seen daughter Gianna only once. Kevin was 13 years into a 25-year sentence for drug dealing and racketeering when his wife appeared at the prison, showing off a baby girl she said was her husband's. Strange, thought prison officials. Since the early 1990s, federal prison inmates have been denied conjugal visits. Gianna was born in 1999.

Since then, Granato has been bounced around. He served time in Oregon, including the stint in solitary, before being moved to West Virginia. Repeated requests to be moved to a facility within 50 miles of home have been denied. The cryogenic sperm kit used by the then 35-year-old Regina Granato earned her husband an extra 16 months in prison, which means he won't be released until 2013. If visiting Dad were as simple as hopping in a car, Regina would make the trip with Gianna. But she told a Staten Island, N.Y. newspaper that her daughter has been diagnosed with "a mild case of mitral valve prolapse, a genetic heart condition that causes a racing arrhythmic heartbeat, dizziness, shortness of breath and chest pain."

"She can't be in a car for more than two hours," Regina says. "I want to, but the cardiologist urges me not to take her in a car that long." Regina served her own sentence - nine months probation and 100 hours of community service - for the sperm smuggling. But she says it's her daughter who is being punished now. "State prisons can have conjugal visits. I didn't want a conjugal visit," she said. "I wanted a child. But they hate us for what we did. They hate us just because she was born."

I can't help but point out that Kevin Granato is in prison for a reason. And his wife knew it when she decided to have his baby. Her clock was ticking, yes, and chances are without committing a crime, she never would have had the baby she always wanted. But shouldn't she have known her husband's fate was up to the prison system? Should the federal government really be expected to make allowances for two convicted criminals and the baby they had illegally?

Image: eHow

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Soldier Dads Get to Watch Kids' Born from Overseas

Texas Judge Orders Woman to Stop Bearing Children

They Say: Drop the Hamsters, Kids, and Get Back in the Bubble

Madeline Holler — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:08:00 GMT

I'll admit petting zoos aren't my favorite. And I sometimes shudder thinking about the iguana that roams freely in my daughter's classroom. The germs! The bacteria! The salmonella!

So on the one hand, I'm ready to jump on board with this latest recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics: no exotic pets for kids. Exotic, incidentally, includes hamsters.

On the other hand, I like the idea of kids and pets.

The reason kiddie doctors want you to get rid of the animals and send your kids back to the bubble are (1) disgusting bacteria and (2) bites and scratches. They say kids under 5 are particularly vulnerable.

From Yahoo!

For example, about 11 percent of salmonella illnesses in children are thought to stem from contact with lizards, turtles and other reptiles, Pickering said. Hamsters also can carry this germ, which can cause severe diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps.

Salmonella also has been found in baby chicks, and young children can get it by kissing or touching the animals and then putting their hands in their mouths, he said.

One doctor recently treated an infant who got salmonella from the family pet iguana that was allowed to roam the house (my stomach's turning just thinking about it). After four weeks of treatment, the kid is doing fine.

The docs say to think twice about any pets for those under 5. And also to put a big emphasis on hand-washing.

I'm all for the handwashing and think exotic pets are weird and totally overrated in homes. But I also have a hard time thinking of hamsters as exotic. Also, this feels like another way we're over-protecting kids. Though under 5, it makes sense. Still, what about older siblings who always have to wait for the younger ones to grow up?

What do you think? Ever gotten sick from your pet? Think you'll get rid of your hamster now? Did you hop on board the hedgehog fad?

Photo: Yahoo!

Female Med Students Underestimate Themselves

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:30:00 GMT

It’s clear that women have shattered the glass ceiling of achievement within the medical profession. They just don’t feel that way.

According to a new study, female medical students feel more anxious and less confident about their knowledge and abilities. Males, on the other hand, tend to overestimate their competence, even though women consistently do as well or better than their male counterparts in medical school. And, at the end of medical school, males tended to unhesitatingly report that they felt like doctors, while women tended to weigh their medical knowledge before answering the question.

According to the study’s authors, more than half of medical students are female, but educators may not be taking into account different learning needs between the genders, overlooking, for instance, the issue of self-confidence.

Although I'm glad that this question is being raised, what bothers me about this and similar gender studies is the implication that women’s natural tendencies are wrong. Personally, I would rather have a female doctor who was just as competent but a bit less cocksure than a male doctor who believed himself more competent than he actually was. Then again, if women are less confident and more anxious because they have been conditioned to feel that way, parents and educators have a whole lot of work to do well before youth even get to medical school.

Photo: Student BMJ

Dad To Step-Daughter: Clean Your Room or I'll Lock Us All In Here

JeanneSager — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:02:00 GMT

His stepdaughter did not "adequately clean her room." So he kidnapped his family?

South Carolina stepfather James Kevin Moss is giving new meaning to the term anal retentive. Unhappy with the clutter in his 14-year-old stepdaughter's room, Moss locked the family inside their trailer. That's right. He apparently said, "Gee whiz, Kid, it's such a mess in here, we might as well all stick around in the middle of the filth." Whatever happened to good old fashioned grounding? Or parking yourself at the bedroom door with a Hefty bag and a pair of plastic gloves to protect yourself from the biohazard that is a teenager's room?

I do feel a little pang of sympathy for the guy - some teenagers' rooms seem to have more in common with Baghdad than they do a bedroom. A video by a South Carolina news crew shows the Mosses live in a small house, and who knows how far into the rest of the house the mess was overflowing. I guess I can even see how locking a teenager up with the rest of her family could be construed as punishment. How many 14-year-olds do you know who are just aching to spend extra quality time with Mom, Dad and the rest of the fam?

But there's a difference between grounding your kid and grounding the whole family. When other people ask to be let out of the house and you throw a remote control and a pad of paper at them, you're not teaching your child how to do much more than be a bully. And when the cops show up because your stepdaughter called them in, the common approach is to walk calmly to the door and tell them you're disciplining your kid - you don't force them to break down the door.

I'm tempted to point to the rebel flag flapping in the breeze outside the Mosses' trailer, but I know I'll earn a ration of "heritage, not hate" comments (I married a Southerner, I've heard it all). Instead I have to tell you, if it's all about heritage, wouldn't you say this guy comes from the shallow end of the gene pool?

Image: Boston Globe

Librarians Banning Books? Another Take on Banned Books Week

Miriam Axel-Lute — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:40:00 GMT

Let me start off by saying that I adore librarians (being the daughter of two, including a children's librarian), and have immense respect for the fights they've been fighting to in defense of free speech and access to controversial content, as well as all they put up with from people who think they know how to do a librarian's job better than the librarian.

But I couldn't quite write off this post by small-press author Joe Ekaitis charging that library policies that limit purchases to books reviewed in high-profile journals are limiting the range of what kids have access to just as much or more than moralistic wackos who rarely succeed in getting a book banned in more than one or two individual places. In fact, he argues that celebrity-penned books with bad reviews get bought, while books that got published on merit alone are being overlooked.

And ayway, he asked, "how does a book build up a readership without some exposure, beginning close to home? Isn't the library the place to discover books you can't easily find elsewhere? Everyone knows where to find best-sellers. They're at Wal-Mart."

There's clearly some sour grapes tone to the argument, but also a worrying charge. It shouldn't take more time to read and judge a picture book donated by a local author than to read a review of it. (Or maybe the donation is the problem, since a librarian doesn't want to feel obligated to shelve something she doesn't like because it was free.) And yes, I don't want my library to just replicate the shelves at big box bookstores. (For the record, I don't feel like mine does.)

What you do think? How are the shelves in your library? Are you worried about defacto censorship by publishing monopoly?

Strollerderby's recent banned books week coverage:

James and the Giant Peach; Kama Sutra for Kids; Smother the Fire and Read a Banned Book

In the Night Kitchen; Little Women; R.L. Stine's Goosebumps; Sarah Palin; And Tango Makes Three

Shel Silverstein; Where's Waldo?; Judy Blume and 'Forever'; Is Racism Packaged as Children's Literature Defensible?

Roald Dahl's The Witches

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As the Cookie Crumbles: The Disheveled Family Rescue Plan

Madeline Holler — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:00:00 GMT

I guess what's missing when the husband and I take our girls out is a "cohesive family look." What with the heat sensitive husband always in shorts, the cold sensitive older child in a hooded jacket, the color insensitive younger one in mix-and-not-match colors and patterns and me, mostly in jeans and a kicky top (usually clean). We've never thought of ourselves in that Von Trapp "we'll look good on stage" way. Once, we all accidentally wore green shirts to a picnic and felt a little on the silly (and/or Amish) side.

As usual when it comes to style, though, I was mistaken. The goal is to dress alike, especially mothers and daughters.

Thank goodness for the October issue of Cookie magazine. They tackle the challenges of raising a child as an accessory and give you plenty of ideas for ensuring your kids never come up with their own ideas on what to wear.

Let's start with this month's big event: Halloween. To get you out of your "lame" witch hat habit, you are encouraged to coordinate family costumes. So, if your son is dressing as Sherlock Holmes this year (what? Yours isn't begging you for a houndstooth cloak?), you need to go as Dr. Watson. Orange cat outfit for the little one? Focus all attention back to you and shimmy into a black shift and pearls. You're a dead ringer for Holly Golightly!

The monkey kid (looking less than thrilled with his round ears and peeled banana -- "but mooooommmmm! I want to be a Transformer!" ... "Shut up and get cohesive, son!") will be a perfect sidekick to your Man with the Yellow Hat idea. There's also Tinkerbell/Captain Hook and Bucket of Chicken/Colonel Sanders pairings. Cute, sure -- and you're the star of this show!

Wait, whose Halloween is it?

Next in mini-me stylings is the "Separated a Birth" section, this time with winter coats. Gorgeous wool coats for kids should match your own gorgeous wool coat (remember: cohesion). My favorite pairing? Mom's taupe tie-neck coat from H&M ($129) and a kid's Dominique Rouzier "recital coat" for $450 (oh, she'll wear it all the time!). That's the sign of a truly cohesive family unit -- a mother who shops discount so her daughter can wear couture.

So many lessons.

Oh, the shambles that is my uncoordinated, uncloaked family unit!

As the Cookie Crumbles: A Taste of the High Calorie Magazine

Photo: Cookiemag.com

Drop the Kid and No One Gets Hurt

JeanneSager — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:36:00 GMT

You and your toddler are dangling 35 feet above ground on a broken amusement park ride. What are you going to do now?

I'd be clinging to my daughter for dear life - screw the crazy people on the ground telling me to just let go and it will be fine. One Florida mom had a much firmer grip on reality this weekend (or a much closer relationship with the Big One Upstairs). When emergency officials instructed Sherri Pinkerton to drop her little girl from the stalled Crazy Bus at the Family Days celebration, she did. The girl landed safely in the arms of a police officer.

Firefighters rushed with a ladder to rescue Pinkerton, who was hanging on for dear life from the Ferris wheel-like ride. Officials said families were exiting the ride when it suddenly started moving again, and Pinkerton and her daughter were swept along for the ride. She clung to her daughter with one hand and the ride with the other, but when people on the ground saw she was losing her hold on the ride, they told her to drop the girl.

I've got to give Pinkerton an incredible amount of credit. If she hadn't let go, this story may not have the happy ending it has. But I don't know if I would have had the intestinal fortitude to just let go. Could you?

Image: Corey Leopold

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How much is Sarah Palin worth?

Brett Singer — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:00:00 GMT

One of Sarah Palin's claims during the debate was that she was "Joe Six-Pack" (shouldn't that be Jane Six-Pack?), part of her folksy, "I'm just like you, America" thing.

So I thought I'd find out just how much money she actually had.

In the past, I've never been terribly interested in Presidential candidates' financial disclosures. This is probably because I assume that if someone has reached a point where they can run for President or Vice-President of the United States, they probably have a few bucks. But when Palin made her claim at the debate last week, my curiosity was piqued.

Sarah Palin and her family seem to be on the lower end of the political wealth spectrum. According to their tax returns, "The Palins paid $22,721 in taxes on $166,080 adjusted gross income last year."

I couldn't open the PDF file provided by the McCampaign (here it is if you want to try: PDF link), so I dug a little more and found Palin's financial disclosure forms from when she ran for office in Alaska. In addition to her family's income, they have investments that look like they total about $200,000. I say "about" because the money is in various funds and the value fluctuates, especially these days. Plus the form is from 2007, so who knows what her money is in now. So maybe the value is between $100,000 and $200,000, depending on the day.
(Note: here is the site where I found the link to her return, which is available here as a PDF file.)

Does that make her rich? Not really. She has five children, and Bristol has one on the way. However, if you include "the estimated value of their property and investments…[the Palins] appear to be worth at least $1.2 million," according to ABC News. I admit that I'm not sure if this number is accurate, but it sounds plausible. Palin and her husband also have no credit card debt, unlike most Americans. Bottom line: even if you go with a low-ball estimate, the Palin family are not exactly living paycheck to paycheck.

What's the point of this exercise? Palin may claim to be "Joe Six-Pack", but I think she's more "Jane Case of Wine." That's fine with me, by the way. But why lie about it?

Image: ABC News

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Palin: Women Who Don't Support Other Women Go to Hell

McCain Talks to the Gays: Part Two, Adoption

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A Guy’s Take on Why You Shouldn’t Circumcise (and Why You Should)

Cole Gamble — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:00:00 GMT

To cut or not to cut: that is the question. Any parent about to have a boy faces this quandry. In ancient times circumcision was a must. Lack of proper hygiene made foreskins a liability. This is the modern era, however. The old slice n’ dice routine is more choice than mandate. Some of you made your decision the second you discovered the sex of the baby. “I’ll chop the sucker off myself if I have to.” Some of you were a bit more hesitant. The same problem saddled my wife and I two years ago. One of us was very pro-circ (wife) and the other less so. For full disclosure’s sake, I myself am not circumcised and it doesn’t bother me one iota. So I laid out my case to save the foreskin. Here’s is what I told my wife:

Penis Styling as Fashion

Save the religious exception, most parents chose to cut because they simply think it’s a more fashionable look. The line I got from my wife was, “Girls like them better.” To which I replied, “You married me, didn’t you?” At which point she added, “Oh, but yours is…special,” patting me on the head reassuringly. Um, nice save. My father in law tossed in his two cents: “The boys in the high school showers will make fun of him.” “Oh really?” I said, “Well then my son can just say, ‘Dude, you’re the one staring at my penis.’” Face it, parents circumcise because they want their boy to be like all the others. They’re shaping their child to conform from birth. Is that what you want, a conformist? Do you want to a kid who is a genital sheep, or do want one who rocks the system with a penis with personality?

Great Names

All the euphemisms for circumcised are played out. Bald headed soldier. One eyed snake. Yawn. Think of a cut penis as a wellspring of inspiration for new names. Like “The Sleeping Bag” or “Mr. Turtleneck.”

Men with Uncircumcised Penises Have More Pleasurable Sex

Okay so you’re not giving a lot of thought to your child’s future sex life. Fair enough, but many experts believe that circumcision leads to lessened penile sensitivity because the foreskin is jam packed with nerve endings. It is even said that an un-snipped penis is better for the woman as well. Leave the foreskin alone and, believe me, your son will thank you years from now. Not that you would ever, ever, ever want him to.

Possible Surgical Risk

Any and all surgery (and circumcision is surgery) comes with risk.

It Is Not Too Much Trouble to Care For

This was the big argument my wife trotted out. “You don’t want to clean it everyday, do you?” Turns out you are not even supposed to touch the thing until the boy is three, and by then it pulls back naturally and you clean it just like you would a normal penis. So there, you penis scrubbing fanatics!

Read Part 2: The Pros of Circumsicion

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Let Them Eat Cake, But Not At School

JeanneSager — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:33:00 GMT

It was the one big drawback to the summer birthday. Sure I never got a pop quiz on my birthday, but I didn't get to hear my name broadcast over the loudspeaker during morning announcements either. And with the exception of one year when my mother was feeling overly ambitious, I never got to walk the aisles between the desks, doling out cupcakes.

Now it looks like the cupcake kid is a thing of the past. Schools around the country are beginning to ban birthday celebrations in the classroom. They take away from teaching time, says one Minnesota principal. They sugar the kids up, and they make kids feel bad when they don't have a Martha mom at home mixing up batter before the bell rings.

I can recognize a bit of truth in all of that. But I wonder if this is just another case of taking the sweetness out of childhood.

I still cling to every detail of the late June day in third grade when my mother arrived with platters of cupcakes. Row after row was generously heaped with frosting in shades of red, white and blue - not, as most of my friends thought, for July 4th but for Bastille Day, the French holiday that falls shortly after my birthday. Glad I was showing at least a modicum of interest in the Saturday morning French lessons I'd been moaning about all year, my Mom gladly fulfilled my request for French-themed goodies. And I finally got to be the kid prancing from desk to desk, fulfilling requests for the blue, the red, the white one with the little flag on top.

So maybe I just proved their point - it sucks to be the kid who doesn't get to do what every other kid gets to do. But, by the same token, the in-the-classroom birthday parties are one place where kids have to be all-inclusive, where they have to be nice to EVERYONE. The same can't be said for the parties outside of the class, the parties a group of select kids are always chatting about at the lunch table while the classmates who weren't invited eat quietly, their eyes trained on the PB&J in front of them. For those kids who aren't invited out to hop around in the bounce house or build a bear, there are those in-school mini-parties, the chance to be just like every other kid. For the kids handing out the cupcakes, there's a chance to learn to give of themselves, to share with everyone, to learn the gift of making other people happy.

As for the time taken away from instruction, I'm not buying it. In a classroom of 25 kids, there are 25 possible days when a half hour will be taken up by a little song and cake routine. That's assuming none of those kids have a summer birthday, none have a birthday over spring break. So we've got a possible 12 1/2 hours of instruction time lost to a chance for kids to be kids over the course of 180 days . . . hours that could just as easily be lost to two-hour snow delays, to the busywork assigned when a substitute teacher's at the helm of the class.

At the end of the day, school is a place for learning about life - not just about Washington and the cherry tree and the multiplication tables, but socialization, sharing, celebrating, embracing the good things life throws at you to overcome the bad. If life throws you cupcakes, you eat them.

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10 Names to Give Your Under 5 Daughter for Her . . . You Know

Miriam Axel-Lute — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:01:00 GMT

10) Cha-cha/hoo-ha/etc. In other words "Something whose name we dare not speak, so we replace it with nonsense syllables." Not promising in terms of open information sharing. With the right attitude, I suppose it can be pulled off, but for me these have all been tainted irrevocably by the "Hoo-haa Monolgues" episode.

9) Mariposa. A near miss. A beautiful sounding word, meaning butterfly in Spanish, but also a colloquially appropriate term. Unfortunately, to many, it's kind of like the Spanish equivalent of "pussy."

8) Vajayjay. Made famous by Grey's Anatomy (made up by Grey's Anatomy?), and adopted by Oprah. Fun and jaunty, but also screams, "There's this other word I'm avoiding saying!"

7) Vagina. Considered the medically accurate term, but it technically only describes the internal part, which is generally irrelevant to young kids and not what they were asking about. Thanks to Eve Ensler, considered the de rigeur empowerment term for those not comfortable reclaiming the c word.

6) Vag/Gina/Giny. More like nicknames than actual names (and the bane of women named Regina everywhere), these have the benefit of implying casual familiarity, not something to get all work up over. But it also seems silly to teach them to a kid without teaching her what they're short for.

5) Vulva. Word of choice for those who think "vagina" sounds ugly (not like "penis" is particularly mellifulous, but whatever). Describes the external part, so at least it's what she might see in the mirror, even if it's not the whole shebang.

4) Private parts. Definitely carries the "and we don't like to talk about them in any more detail" aura. Still, it is what teachers and law enforcement officials are likely to use, making it useful. We're going to have to figure out how to teach about the different between privacy and shame sometime. Plus it's the only gender neutral option out there.

3) Girl parts/girl bits. Some how has a less stuffy, more fun feeling than "private parts," even though it's still aggressively vague. I can just hear it now: "What's this bit, Mommy? How about this bit?"

2) Yoni. If you're going to other languages/cultures, this is a standout. Yoni comes from Sanskrit—it is often used to refers to the whole package (there is just no non-vulgar English word that manages that), and is not actually a swear word. In fact it means "divine passage" and is associated with goddesses.

1) Scheide. ("Shy-duh") If Yoni is a little too New Age for you, sensible German can come to the rescue. Of course almost no one will know what she means.

0) Well, honey, there's lots of words for that. You want her to be able to talk to teachers or doctors and have them understand her. You don't want to generate a 1950s hush-hush atmosphere and raise a young woman who thinks she needs to put a tampon in her urethrea. You want to be accurate and you also don't want a word that's all about the reproductive organs when all your three-year-old wants is a word for the area where her pee comes out. You want a word that's OK for your toddler that you won't have to take back when she's 14 (because she sure won't be all that keen on a vocab lesson then).

And you also want painless teething and toilet training at six months. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but despite what seems like our endlessly inventive language, there's no one word that fits the bill. But who said you have to pick just one? Give her one (or more) to use when asking you questions and also something professionals will understand.

(And please remember, whether or not you want to go there, that the accurate anatomical answer when she says "My brother has a penis, what do I have?" is "clitoris.")

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Morning News: Who's Winning With Only 30 Days Left?

Madeline Holler — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Q: How is the media like an impatient pregnant couple just itching to decorate the nursery?

A: They can't wait until election day to find out if they're having an Obama or a McCain!

It's the part of elections that are most annoying -- the part toward the end where the electoral map gets continually recolored and we hear definitive declarations over who is winning. Can't we get out and rock the vote first?

But we know, we know, you're curious. Here's the latest on who has pretty much cleared a path to victory: things are looking very good for Democrat Barack Obama.

On "Meet the Press" yesterday, NBC's Chuck Todd said the Illinois senator is one state away from clinching the win. Of course, there's the plausible scenario that Obama and John McCain could tie, in which case the Democrat led House of Representatives would decide (though here's a baffler: the Dems might not have enough votes to give it to Obama ... Pelosi, is it too soon to start working the phones?)

While things are looking good for Obama, his campaign isn't taking any chances. Or maybe they're taking the biggest chance of all. In anticipation of the flavor-of-the-week smears (Palin launched it with her "he's palling around with terrorists comments" over the weekend), Obama's campaign will launch a multi-media campaign reminding voters of McCain's involvement in the Keating 5 scandal. This includes blasting a link to this site, where a 13-minute documentary on the Keating 5 will air at noon EST today.

The GOP is fighting back (or are they fighting for survival?) with a call to audit Obama's campaign funds.

The LA Times dares to go there ... "there" being questioning John McCain's competence and judgment as a pilot back in the day. Yikes! Dan Rather, room for two more journalists wherever you are?

Think it's time for John McCain to stop taking weekends off? I'll bet his campaign thinks so.

They also think it's time to fully unleash Sarah Palin. We do too! We do too! (Diane Sawyer? The View? Oh, no, you wouldn't ... Rachel Maddow?!!! It doesn't matter. We love Sarah's interviews!) All this talk of Sarah puts us in the mood for some Daily Palin.

First, our favorite version of the Alaska governor: in the body and mind of Tina Fey! Go here to watch her debate Joe Biden. Check out the other videos too. In fact, maybe it's time to start actually watching SNL again.

Onto the real Sarah: seven Alaska state employees who had initially refused to testify in Troopergate have agreed to honor their supoenas. And so has husband Todd!

Stepping away from the campaign bubble ... Good news for the 90-year-old woman who tried to commit suicide over her home's foreclosure. Fannie Mae has forgiven her loan. OK, but, people? They're only doing it this once!

China has arrested six suspects in the tainted milk scandal. And melamine has been found in some Cadbury products in Hong Kong (Easter's just not going to be the same this year).

Not yet under arrest is whoever managed to steal 160 bras from a Victoria's Secret in Fort Myers, Fla. Apparently there's a bra-stealing ring and they've already taken some $19,000 in merchandise from two of the lingerie stores.

Photo: worldmag.com

The Flu Shot: Do You Dare Not to Get It?

Jen Chaney — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:04:00 GMT

It's that time of year again: Flu shot season. As items like this remind us, it's especially important for pregnant women to get the vaccine because the flu carries potential risks for both baby and mother. Really, anyone with a child under the age of five is encouraged to sign-up for a shot for the same reason: It's no good for a kid that young to contract a potentially serious virus.

All that said, I find myself wondering how many pregnant women or parents ignore this advice and don't bother getting flu shots. I ask this as someone who never once got the shot until I was pregnant and felt like I had to. I had absolutely no solid medical reason for believing this, but I always thought the flu shot was b.s. I knew people who got it and still wound up sick. And I knew people who didn't and were perfectly fine.

Of course, once I was pregnant and a walking candidate for an HOV lane, I figured the potential benefits of the flu shot outweighed any doubts I had about it. And I'll probably get my third consecutive one this year, primarily to protect my son from any germs I might inadvertently pick up.

But what about you? Is anyone bold enough to admit to avoiding the flu shot during pregnancy or while raising young ones? Or, on the flip side, do you have a flu horror story that will scare all of us into running to the nearest doctor's office to get the vaccine? If so, by all means, post a comment. Just do me a favor: If you must cough or sneeze while adding your thoughts to this post, please -- cover your mouth.

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They Say: Get Your Kid the Flu Shot

Redefining Death to Preserve Life

Shannon LC Cate — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:00:00 GMT

When a family faces the tragedy of a dying baby, the last thing they need is to be asked what definition of death they'd prefer be used to determine when that baby no longer needs its vital organs. But according to The Washington Post, that's just what a recent essay in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests be the new protocol for organ harvesting. At the Children's Hospital in Denver, doctors have harvested the hearts of babies declared dead of heart failure after 75 seconds, only to transplant them and restart them in the bodies of other babies.

The problem is that in this age of high-end medical technology a definition of death--which has been shifting for several years now--is now almost impossible to agree upon, especially when it comes to decisions about when organ donation is appropriate. Ethicist, Robert Truog believes that rather than change the definition of death, we should allow those making decisions for these babies (and other patients) the right to decide at what point it is okay to take the patient's life by harvesting organs. Call it organ retrieval from a living person, but a person with "devastating neurologic injury."
Okay, but now who decides what's "devastating?"

As in all decisions about the end of life and people with disabilities, it is critical to make sure that "devastating" doesn't fluctuate with the ability of a patient or her family to pay for medical treatments or long-term care. And given the fear and loathing so many typically-abled people in our culture have towards disability, it seems possible that "devastating" might depend on one's level of education about disability issues or experience with disabled people (in this case, especially with severely mentally disabled people).

I'll admit it. This would not have seemed like a big deal to me until I became good friends with a blind-deaf mother of twins who has educated me extensively about disability issues. Now, shifting definitions of death and devastation worry me. Too many people assume that having less than a 100% able body is a burden to others or is a "life not worth living." Once you are tuned to listen for it, you hear these ideas tossed all over our culture. I know brain "death" is something much more serious than Down Syndrome, but I still worry about these ever-shifting lines in the sand and wonder how we can make decisions about ending and saving life when we, as a culture, are so ill-educated about what it means to be human.

And now a paradoxical caveat: If you aren't already, consider becoming an organ donor. I am one, and would make the choice for my loved ones to be as well, if I came to my own line in the sand. Organ donation has saved the lives of some of my friends and waiting too long for organs has taken the lives of others. These are difficult issues. All we can do is keep muddling through. Have you ever had to make this kind of call? How did you make the decisions?

Image: Stanford School of Medicine