Strollerderby : Slate

Mom Gives 9-Year-Old Marijuana

Madeline Holler — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:31:00 GMT

Writer Marie Myung-Ok Lee pushes marijuana on her 9-year-old son. She mixes it in cookies and teas. She offers him hits from a bong-like vaporizer -- whatever it takes to get him high. But she's not some kind of hard-partying "if it feels good, do it" hippie mom.

Lee is trying to help her autistic son, who spends large parts of his days and nights in pain from an inflammatory bowel condition and the results of an operation on his spinal cord. And also from aggression that is symptomatic of his autism.

Does it work? Mmmm kind of. Is it illegal? Sort of but not really.

Lee lives in Rhode Island, one of 13 states that has legalized the use of marijuana for medical reasons. Her son's doctor signed off on it. The benefit to her son is better sleep, less aggression and a way to avoid "sedating, antipsychotic drugs like Risperdal."

Writing for Double X, an excellent new smarty pants women-focused Web site that launched yesterday, Lee explains how she settled on pot, how she gets it an, so far, whether it's working.

But since we started him on his "special tea," J’s little face, which is sometimes a mask of pain, has softened. He smiles more. For the last year, his individual education plan at his special-needs school was full of blanks, recording “no progress” because he spent his whole day an irritated, frustrated mess. Now, April’s report shows real progress, including “two community outings with the absence of aggressions.

Anybody else out there medicating with pot? What do you think of this mom's solution? What about the criminalization of marijuana in the first place?

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They Say: Episiotomy Rate ... Cut!

A Really Graphic Homebirth

The Orphan Trade and International Adoption

Photo: DoubleX

The Orphan Trade and International Adoption

Madeline Holler — Tue, 12 May 2009 19:26:00 GMT

E.J. Graff has investigated and written extensively about international adoption, and what she has found is hardly a feel-good story of child rescue. Rather, she concludes that hopeful parents from wealthy nations (the U.S., European countries, Australia) have created a market where babies are bought and sold.

Here's what she has to say, in a New York Times editorial, about international adoption and Madonna's latest attempt to add to her family.

But in trying to adopt a child who already has a family, Madonna is inadvertently exposing the seamier underside of international adoption: the fact that, too often, the amounts of money that Western adoption agencies spend in poor countries is helping to defraud, coerce or kidnap children away from families that wanted to raise them to adulthood.

Graff writes that happy families created in the adoptive countries have, in countless instances, left anguished ones in search of their missing children. Even more heartbreaking is that families who search for -- and, against all odds, eventually find -- their stolen children aren't necessarily reunited with them. So has been the case of a number of children born in Nepal and adopted in Spain.

In a slideshow on Slate, Graff tells the stories of some of the families who were affected by an often corrupt international adoption system.

So how has this happened? With millions of abandoned babies and toddlers throughout the world, how could a baby-selling market thrive? For starters, those millions of babies? Total myth, Graff writes.

From Slate:

Westerners have been sold a myth that poor countries have millions of healthy abandoned infants and toddlers who need homes. But it's not so. In poor countries, as in rich ones, healthy babies are rarely orphaned or given up—except in China, where girls have been abandoned as a result of its draconian one-child policy.

Yes, tens of thousands of needy children around the world—many languishing in horrible institutions—do need families. But most children who need new homes are older than 5, sick, disabled, or somehow traumatized. Quite reasonably, most prospective Western parents don't feel prepared to take on those more challenging kids, preferring to wait in line for healthy infants or toddlers.

The result is a gap between supply and demand—a gap that's closed by Western money. Adoption agencies spend sums in-country that are enormous compared with local per-capita incomes. In poor countries without effective regulation or protections for the poor, that can induce locals to buy, coerce, defraud, and kidnap healthy children away from their birth families for sale into international adoption.

To use the language of globalization, orphans are sometimes "manufactured": Children with families are stripped of their identities so that Westerners can fill their homes....

Families who lost their children aren't the only ones who suffered. More than one adoptive family has found out -- once their child learned English -- the circumstances they truly left behind, including a mother, father and siblings.

Still, others argue that shutting down international adoption ignores the needs of children who truly are abandoned or facing a childhood of institutional living. Four others who work in adoption or study the laws and consequences weigh in on the international adoption in the Times "Room for Debate" feature. Some argue, like Graff, that a lack of oversight and regulation has created this baby market. Others defend Madonna and other families who look overseas for children, saying forget politics, forget money, these kids just need a loving home.

Be sure to check out antiracistparent.com for arguments against Graff's conclusions.

Second Parent Adoption Legislation Moving in Michigan

Crocheted Doll Gives Birth

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Mother-to-Be: Save The Baby's Life, Not Mine

They Say: Episiotomy Rate ... Cut!

Photos: NY Times, Slate

Morning Sickness Now In Style

Madeline Holler — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:33:00 GMT

The bar for "good" pregnant women has been raised much higher than I can see.

Starting now, nothing says "this pregnant lady's really holding it together," like a disposable, compact, afforadable -- yet stylish! -- barf bag. And 50 of them can be nauseously yours for less than 30 bucks.

Called the "Morning Chicness" bag it comes in six different designs, some quite attractive, you know, considering.

Company founder and Morning Chicness bag designer Tara Ramos came up with the idea for the bags after suffering Hyperemesis Gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness. She used airline bags her husband and friends purloined from plane trips.

According to the website, however, Ramos "liked the convenience of airline vomit bags, but hated advertising an airline while vomiting."

Totally. I'm like that with Disney stuff.

Thus, pretty barf bags were born.

Discussion: what did you barf in during your pregnancy?

Pun alert: these would make a great gag gift for a baby shower.

[Hat tip: Slate's XX Factor]

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Church School Teaches Kids to Swear

Photo and image: morningchicnessbags.com

They Say: Organized House = Good Reader

Madeline Holler — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:50:00 GMT

I read the headline to this article, "Messy House, Messy Mind: The connections between kids, reading and an orderly home," immediately closed my laptop and set out to clean the house. I sifted through the books and stacks of paper on my desk, cleared out the piles of artwork waiting to be hung or tossed, found a home for every tiny Littlest Pet Shop animal and accessory that dot our household landscape and swept an arm over the coffee table to rid our home -- finally -- of months-old magazines and outdated catalogs.

I didn't want our messy house to get in the way of my almost four-year-old's march toward literacy. Especially since our home's messiness traces back directly to me.

Only when everything appeared ordered did I go back and actually read the damn article.

That's when I realized I had wasted my time."Orderly" refers to stuff like schedules, actually having one -- and sticking to it. Our schedule is our religion. No barriers to literacy around here.

The study showed that household order related to literacy only in middle-class homes with mothers who have above-average reading skills. Children of mothers with average reading skills appeared to benefit more from simply being surrounded by books and allowed to amuse themselves with them.

Still, what does a regular bedtime and rarely forgotten appointments have to do with why Johnny can read?

The researchers weren't sure, but here's what Emily Bazelon writes about how it might be related:

It may be that "household order taps a more fundamental characteristic of parents or households, such as maternal industriousness, planning ability, or conscientiousness, that gives rise to both orderliness and better reading skills in children." This is the idea of executive functioning, which captures "planning and problem-solving abilities."

The findings are preliminary so don't give up nightly read-alouds just to update the calendar and get everything set up for the morning. There's plenty of research that shows reading to your child regularly is the best way to raise good readers. One aspect the researcher didn't explore but might be relevant is warmth and responsiveness -- asking your kids questions and encouraging their curiosity.

Well, that's all fine and good as long as lights are out by 8!

Photo: Slate

How the Recession Will Mess With Your Marriage

Madeline Holler — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:01:00 GMT

How does that old relationship truism go? The two issues couples fight about most are sex and money? So in this economy -- impossible mortgage resets, yo-yo fuel prices and smaller and/or vanishing salaries -- there's got to be quite a bit of rancor in the nation's households. Care to share your story?

Data show that layoffs are hitting men way more than women -- they're 82 percent of those getting the pink slip so far -- making women the primary breadwinner and men the primary caregivers in more families than ever. Is this a dreamy reshaping of our culture and gender roles and that holy grail of sex equity?

Not so much, some argue, since the data are also showing that laid-off men spend their home time sleeping, watching TV and looking for jobs rather than upping their childcare contributions, and women doing just as much as they were before (plus scowling at their stinky, unshowered partners?).

Over at Slate, Emily Bazelon wants to know how job losses are affecting home life -- specifically, family relationships, and I'm also curious about yours. So far, Bazelon has gotten responses that show women, too, can feel a loss of self-esteem when laid off (check out the wife who calls herself a "freeloader" since becoming unemployed). There's also a husband who resents his wife for losing her job.

And this from Slate:

The e-mails also reminded me how many people don't fit the standard today's-trend story line. A reader named Cecily wrote in to say that she's still struggling with her layoff in October—but her husband is struggling more. He works for the same company she used to work for, and "he seems to think that the company should have known that by laying me off, they would risk losing him, as we might go elsewhere looking for something better, and that therefore, my getting laid off was a personal insult to him." Oh dear.

The NY Times published a piece recently arguing men feel the sting of job loss more than women, which feels half true, half like total BS.

First, the "freeloader" comment wouldn't likely come from someone who thought, "ehn. No biggie." As for the "I am a man, must... make ... money" notion, I'd argue younger men, in general mid-30s and down, don't have that same attitude as the 40-somethings interviewed for the piece and who had such an attitude. But that's just me just guessing. It seems like younger men (again, sweeping generalization) are way more open to the day-to-day equal partnership stuff and have always expected their partners to bring in a salary too.

In any case, nobody takes losing a job easily -- especially if they liked the job and needed the income. And that loss, fear and disappointment is going to show up at home no matter what your gender.

Have you or your spouse been laid off? What's the dynamic -- lots of support and reassurances or are you filled with bitterness and/or shame? Plus, any change in who cleans what?

Photo: dearsugar.com

Babble Talk: When Even the Kiddies are Money-Conscious

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Morning News: Obama Weighs in on Jessica Simpson's New Size

Madeline Holler — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Why is President Barack Obama talking about Jessica Simpsons controversial weight gain? Well, because Matt Lauer conducted another one of his insipid interviews on "Today" yesterday.

So what did the President say about the singer known for playing Daisy Duke, when Lauer shoved a copy of US Magazine in the face of the man trying to, oh, we don't know, fix the economy, restore a little dignity to the Constitution, and lead the country in a new direction as promised? Did Obama really imply that Simpson is fat?

No, no, of course he didn't.

At first, NBC published a transcript of the interview, which had Obama saying Simpson was "losing a weight battle." Shamey, shamey. Then a bunch of freaked out bloggers rewatched the video and Matt Lauer has come out to explain what really happened. Turns out, Obama (reading the headline in front of him) said that Simpson is "in a weight battle."

Moving on ...probably wishing he had new sexy curves to hide behind, Tom Daschle's got bigger tax problems than new Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Daschle only recently paid the taxes he owed on a free car. He also deducted too much for charitable giving. We're trying to keep hope alive and all, but this feels a little icky.

Promises, promises. Michael Phelps pinky swears that he'll never ever smoke pot again. The 23-year-old swimming sensation was embarrassed by a photo of him ripping hits off of a bong. A few years ago, he was sentenced to probation for drunk-driving -- which he also promised to never do again. Okay, drunk-driving, caught smoking pot ... meth comes next, right? Or is it sex in a public bathroom -- we can never keep the celebrity self-destruction sequence straight.

This soldier may never go sky-diving again. During a tandem private lesson, the guy's instructor died in mid-air. He managed to land without getting injured. Unfortunately, the instructor, who had a heart attack, could not be revived.

The nut doesn't fall far from the Dick Cheney. Slate has uncovered and analyzed Elizabeth Cheney's senior thesis from college. She, too, thinks the Constitution is quaint.

One study has found that a third of all American kids take vitamins and most don't even need them. We have ignored tons of advice to give babies iron drops and, more recently, Vitamin D. And we're feeling vindicated. What about you?

Bringing this post around full circle and leaving off with whales. Specifically, older whale moms. Turns out, they make better mothers. (Sure, but they're also super competitive and all they want to talk about is preschool applications for their "brilliant" and "creative" and "advanced deep-sea swimming" little calves. Younger whale moms aren't as uptight.)

Photo: US Magazine

No Christmas Specials for Some Jewish Kids

Brett Singer — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:30:00 GMT

Dahlia Lithwick has a piece over at Slate that discusses which Christmas specials are OK for Jewish kids to watch. Not according to the Torah, which was written pre-TV, but based on her discussions with a few families.

She found that her generation's Jewish kids were allowed to watch "one or all" of the following: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and The Year Without Santa Claus. Two of these are among my personal favorites, but I would include Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer in that list. Apparently that one didn't make the cut for the Jewish now-grown-up kids that Lithwick spoke to.

The reason surprised me – a "no Santa" rule. No Jesus, I get. Jesus is religion. Nothing wrong with religion, but if it isn't YOUR religion and you choose not to watch shows that feature religious elements, that's your choice. But Santa? Was he in the Bible? Frosty was also banned from some Jewish households, according to Lithwick, because of a "no resurrections rule", which I think is pushing it.

Here's the thing – I like Christmas specials. I even like Christmas music. And I'm Jewish. Obviously Christmas is a religious holiday for millions of people. But last time I checked, Rudolph wasn't one of the apostles. So I hereby give permission to all Jewish parents — let the kids watch Rudolph! Why deprive them of the joys of Rankin and Bass? The Island of Misfit Toys? Yukon Cornelius? Hermey the Elf who would rather be a dentist? This a great show! And The Year Without a Santa Claus? Heat and Cold Miser! This is good stuff, people!

Interestingly, A Charlie Brown Christmas does feature religion prominently. Somehow that made the cut in many Jewish households, according to Lithwick. Why? In my opinion, there are a few reasons. First, Linus says it. That makes it automatically more OK than if the same words come out of some claymation dog (Davey and Goliath, anyone?). Second, it's done in the context of "good will towards men", which is hard to argue with. Third, it isn't presented in a way that says, "If you don't believe these words, you will burn in Hell for all eternity." It's actually quite lump-in-the-throat inducing, in a good way. Last, after Linus says his piece, everyone finally starts being nice to Charlie Brown, decorating his tree, and making nice warm and fuzzy holiday feelings. That's my theory, anyway.

Anyway, whatever your faith may be, or even if you happen to faithless, don't ban Christmas specials just because they happen to be about Christmas. Give 'em a chance. Maybe the kids will like it. You might enjoy it as well.

Oh, Merry Christmas. And Happy Chanukah.

Source: Slate

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Are Email Holiday Cards Tacky?

Morning News: Drinkable, Dressable Obamas

Madeline Holler — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Obama -- the latest American brand to go international.

A French entrepreneur has created a new Obama energy drink. He's got a picture of the president-elect and Change we can believe in right on the label. Profits aren't the motivation (we read with eyebrows raised), but inspiring the poor in France. What next? The Yes, We Can vitamin water?

Fashion designers want a hand in developing the female side of the Obama brand. They've sketched out bunches of inaugural ballgown designs, few of which, they're complaining over at Slate, take into account that Michelle is (stage whisper): black. Check out the WWD slide show and you'll also notice, skin tone aside, only a few of them have figured out that Michelle, like many, many women in America (but few who are considered fashion icons in waiting), has an ass.

Let's check in on the other "O" brand, namely Oprah. Is it starting to slide? Though she's extended an invitation to Sarah Palin, the GOP darling has snubbed her. She has yet to book a date on the show.

Maybe Michelle Obama snubbed Oprah too, because contrary to rumors, the first lady of TV confirms the first lady-elect won't be wearing Oprah's fabulous jewels. (Also confirmed, Oprah will still have a show come 2011. She's "multi-dimensional, she says and can handle it all.)

Perhaps Palin should have asked to borrow some of Oprah's accessories. The RNC says it spent an additional $30K on Palin and her family. That's in addition to the much talked-about $150K.

Get this: while flinging billions and billions of dollars at hoarding financial institutions and, very likely, a desperate auto industry, the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve have had a lightbulb moment. Why not help out struggling homeowners and even, OMG, those who opted to wait out the obvious housing bubble.

George W. Bush and Laura Bush feel your housing pain! Like your neighbors, the first couple are facing eviction from their current residence. The two will move to a less modest and even more exclusive home, this one in the suburbs of Dallas. It's a four-bedroom, 8,000 square foot ranch style home. The county appraised the property at $2.1 million, but, also like your neighbors, the Bushes paid waaaaay more than it is worth. (Don't worry, George, there'll be a bailout plan for you too!)

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Photo: Noticias

NY Times (and I) Post Crap Study on Bullying

Kelly Mills — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:31:00 GMT

I'm a big fan of digging deep when it comes to science reporting. It generally isn't that hard to find some serious flaws: Small samples, questionable methodology, and conclusions that stretch far are sometimes par for the course. But when I posted about a study showing bullies may actually enjoy inflicting pain on others, I didn't poke into it much at all.

At least I'm in venerable company, because the New York Times did the same thing.

At Slate they point out some very serious problems with the study, which used MRIs to study the response of "bullies" to images of pain inflicted on others. For example, the study didn't image brains during actual bullying, so the results have more to do with how subjects responded as observers than perpetrators. And teh sample was made up of people who could probably be more accurately characterized as sociopaths than just bullies. The results of the scans themselves are open to pretty wide interpretation.

Slate uses this story to show how the Times reporter just drew from the press release with very little independent reporting. I'm on this one because it was a good reminder to me to think critically when looking at studies getting a pass in the press. Especially when I'm adding to the chorus.

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They Say: Why Your Kid's A Bully Magnet

What Do You Do When Your Kid is an Extreme Partisan?

Kelly Mills — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:25:00 GMT

This has been the most emotionally charged election I can remember since, well, ever, and it makes sense that the kids would pick up on that. But Slate's Emily Bazelon asks, what do you do when your children's political allegiances are extreme? She covers a Halloween experiment in which kids chose candy from either side of a porch: The Obama side--marked with a large sign and life-size cutout--and the McCain side, with corresponding signage and cutout. The blue neighborhood kids gave Obama 78 percent of the vote.

But when offered two pieces of candy at the Obama side versus four at the McCain side, support for Obama only dropped by ten percent. The kids were pretty fixed in their political ways, even though their vote obviously didn't "count" (hmm, like the electoral college.) And Bazelon notes that her sweet kids threw around the word "traitor" to candy defectors. And, she observes, with kids who are reared on lots of lessons in tolerance, it may be that McCain is one of the few people they can clearly think of as a bad guy.

It makes me just slightly uncomfortable to see children actively campaigning, if only because you know that until a certain age, the opinions they express are not likely their own. Then again, isn't it our job to pass on our values, political or otherwise? And I've seen this "death and destruction to candidate so-and-so" in my area too, from young children who just seem to want to be able to freely bash a clear villain. What about your kids? Does it bother you?

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Witch Tricks Obama Kids on Halloween

Prostitutes Stand to Gain from Crappy Economy

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:30:00 GMT

Guess who stands stand to benefit from corporate men’s decreased salaries and hence decreased morale? That's right--the world's oldest professionals. It makes a lot of sense once you think about it.

According to Slate, high-end prostitutes see plummeting stocks as a windfall. These are women who, instead of standing on street corners, work for escort services, strip clubs, or run their own businesses. They often develop relationships with regular clients who see them as mistress, therapist, and friend wrapped in one convenient and costly bundle. (One night with a high-end hooker can cost thousands of dollars.)

Since some 40 percent of high-end sex work does not involve sex, it’s clear that these men are looking for an ego boost as much as anything else. One sex worker said of her increase in customers during the 2006 housing crunch, “They couldn't face their wives, who were bitching about the fact they lost income. Men want to be men. All I did was make them feel like they could go back out there with their head up.”

Personally, I don't see how paying someone 1,000 bucks to say nice things to you would be all that uplifting....

Photo: Slate

Which Netflix Movie Have You Had the Longest?

Madeline Holler — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:04:00 GMT

The online magazine Slate wants to know which Netflix movie you've kept the longest. Oh, man, now I have to face my demons?

Because what I thought would deliver my family from overdue fines at the public library and Blockbuster has actually been something of a burden on my psyche.

Now, instead of returning unwatched movies to avoid hefty late payments (since there are none), I hold on to movies all sealed up in that little package out of guilt, because I haven't watched them. That little red envelope just sits there taunting me. We have had The Departed going on two months now. Why can't I just let go and send it back? Maybe I will. But you go first.

Tell us -- can you bear to return an unwatched Netflix movie? Which one have you held on to the longest?

Photo:

Back Away From The Breast and No One Gets Hurt

Adrienne Martini — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Not since Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" has a work of satire been so brilliantly crafted. While a recent essay in response to the Bush administration's push to protect all people who want to save fetuses before they are even implanted stops just short of suggesting we eat the poors' babies, it is still a work of delicious genius.

In short, Slate's William Saletan takes this piece of legal pokery to its logical end in an open letter to Michael O. Leavitt. All women of childbearing age who breastfeed, exercise or drink caffeine are free game for pro-life advocates who want to protect all possible unborn babies, since all of those activities could lead to a fertilized egg not implanting.

No word yet on Leavitt's response. Also no word yet on when Saletan's updates on the proposed legislation will be pushed through. Enjoy your coffee now, chicas. Soon it can be snatched from your warm, shaking hands.

They Say: Delaying Kindergarten For One Hurts Us All

Adrienne Martini — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:30:00 GMT

Soon, school will start again. And, soon, a small legion of 5-year olds will watch their also 5-year old friends start kindergarten without them. While there may be a few minutes of angst by the 5-year old who isn't walking through the schoolhouse doors, no harm will have been done. Right?

Maybe not, according to this Slate.com piece by Emily Bazelon. The practice of redshirting a kid is becoming as controversial as the practice of not vaccinating a kid. Yes, the individual kid may benefit -- although, in the case of delayed kindergarten, the jury is still out -- but the community as a whole may suffer.

When you couple this with the trend toward academic kindergartens, where kids do more than play and nap, the potential 18-month age range seems to have a negative impact on the younger kids. But should you as a parent care if other kids are harmed as long as your older kid gets what he needs?

It's a tough question to answer, no matter whichside of the debate you are on.

Illo credit: Robert Neubecker

Family Dinners Good For Parents, Too

Adrienne Martini — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Research has shown that family dinners do wonderful things for kids. No one is 100 percent certain why gathering at a table with regularity is beneficial but it is still good to know. Now there is evidence that encouraging parents to have family meals for the sake of their offspring is also good for the parents, too.

Which is good to know, since my Hub and I spend most of our family dinners hectoring the kids to sit and eat. The phrase, "just one bite" also gets tossed out. But, mostly, sitting down together is a routine we enjoy, even if the meal isn't always expert approved.

Slate's Emily Bazelon pokes at the idea of the family meal and tries to figure out why it works, even if it isn't the Rockwellian ideal at her family's table, either.

Illo credit: Rob Donnelly

Strollerderby Playdate: How Do You Feel About American Girl?

Amy S.F. Lutz — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:29:00 GMT

I just sat in on an interesting round table among some of the women writers of Slate on what they think about the whole American Girl phenomenon. Me - I'm torn. On the one hand, the dolls are phenomenally expensive, and the range of accessories means your daughters will never run out of paraphernalia to covet (the American Girl catalog is like crack to my oldest daughter - once it arrives, she carries it around for weeks). On the other hand, anything that inspires kids to read and learn about different historical periods can't be bad, right? I took said oldest daughter to see the movie "Kit Kittredge," and I thought it was great - very educational and engaging, with valuable lessons (help those in need, don't judge based on appearances, etc.).

What do you think? Do your daughters have American Girl dolls, or are you resisting the onslaught?

What Pregnancy Looks Like

Madeline Holler — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:01:00 GMT

We see pictures of pregnant women all the time -- mainly celebrities, often airbrushed, only in the best couture.

But normal is always more interesting than perfect. Which is why it's fun looking at Slate's great slideshow featuring pregnant women around the world in the past 60 years.

This also reminds me that there are, like, zero pictures of my mom when she was pregnant with me or my sister. Well, maybe her face, but her body is hidden. Looking at the shots from the 60s and 70s in this slideshow gives me an idea of what she may have looked like, what with the serious weight-gain restrictions and the maternity muumuus. Maybe.

Photo: Slate

Political Nanny: Boobs for Obama and (Un)Covering the Body Politic

Madeline Holler — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:01:00 GMT

The good news: this year's election -- and the Internet -- have attracted gobs of new voters and political supporters.

The quirky news: selfsame election and Internet have spawned some rather unconventional (or maybe conventional, but never before so easily disseminated) ways of expressing enthusiasm for one candidate or another.

Hence, Boobs4Barack (NSFW, NSFW, once again, Not Safe For Work!), a Web site featuring boobs, all plumped, fondled, adorned and pierced or sometimes simply displayed, we guess?, in an effort to show support for Obama as president.

The site is NOT endorsed by the Obama campaign (nor, for what it's worth, Political Nanny -- so many more meaningful ways to instigate a regime change, but then Political Nanny is, perhaps to a fault, old-fashioned).

Observation: a name with so many vowels has certainly been a boon for creators of neologisms and, as some of the more chesty Barack enthusiasts show, campaign body artists. You can't do that with M-c-C-a-i-n.

Obama Gives MoveOn a Stern Talking To

White Talk, Blackface ... Barf

[via Shine.yahoo.com]

Photo: BoobsforBarack.com

The Right and Wrong Way to Use Timeouts

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:17:00 GMT

Timeouts seem self-explanatory: your kid acts out; you make him go to his room or sit on a chair in the corner, by force if necessary; the worst the offense, the longer the timeout, right?

Wrong, wrong, wrong, says renowned child psychiatrist Alan E. Kazdin, writing for Slate. While timeouts can be effective, relying too heavily on the timeout as a method of punishment will do nothing to change your child’s problematic behavior. In fact, excessive timeouts worsen bad behavior—which means you give more and longer timeouts, which means your child acts out more, which means your home becomes a battlefield.

To avoid this, Kazdin recommends returning the timeout to its original meaning: a “timeout from reinforcement.” Rather than an angry punishment, the timeout was originally meant to be a simple withholding of attention, since kids tend to repeat behavior that garners attention of any kind. To hope that a timeout will cause a child to “think about what they’ve done” and repent is to be self-delusional.

Instead, use timeouts briefly, calmly, and immediately following the problematic behavior. Timeouts should never be physically enforced—dragging your child to his room, for instance, completely negates all of the timeout’s benefits, which are mostly accrued in the first minute or two of timeout. If your child refuses to cooperate with a timeout, raise the penalty by one minute or take away a privilege. On the other hand, always praise compliance with timeouts.

Kazdin points out (rather obviously, though it’s easy to forget in the heat of the moment when Susie hits her little sister for the third time in an hour) that the most important tool for changing problematic behavior is to actively work on replacing the hitting—or yelling or food throwing or painting on the walls—with positive behavior, through constant reminders and positive reinforcement.

And when that’s not working and all you want to do is lock the little miscreant in his room for 20 minutes, perhaps you need to give yourself a brief timeout from reinforcement.

Photo: hometown9.com

If You Like Bar Fights, Don't Read This

Adrienne Martini — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:01:00 GMT

My oldest kid would give herself time outs. We briefly thought that we should consider taking her to a kiddie shrink for this. We didn't because, to quote the old joke, we needed the eggs. It was just so useful to have her sit herself down when she was about to hit or bite or stomp off in a snit.

Her younger brother, however, is the complete opposite. Getting him into time out is like wrestling an alligator. According to an expert, that's because we're doing it wrong.

Alan E. Kazdin writes at Slate about how to make a time out less like a bar fight. Kazdin's advice ranges from not seeing a time-out as the application of justice to praising a kid during the time out for sitting there calmly. In our case, he's right. We have been doing it wrong.

Still, it seems like there ought to be a better way. Have you had much success with time outs? And do you like bar fights?

Illo credit: Rob Donnelly

Greenhouse: Harnessing the Awesome Power of Boobs

Amy Kuras — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:02:00 GMT

We know boobs are powerful. In my younger days I never had to wait for a drink while at the bar (my less endowed friends would have me make the drink runs) and now, well, I have two pudgy, well-nourished babies to my credit.

But the idea that boobs can actually generate power? Like, electricity? That never occurred to me, until I saw this article from Slate blogged all over the place today. Writer Adrienne So spoke with a sports bra expert, nanotechnology guy and someone who made a backpack that uses kinetic energy to power itself to see if the bouncy-bouncy of reasonably good sized breasts during vigorous exercise could generate enough power to, say, keep your iPod charged through a workout.

It's possible, just not easy, it turns out. A D-cup in a low support bra can move 35 inches – that’s right, almost THREE FEET – up and down during vigorous excise, and breasts also move side to side and back and forth. There's a lot of, um, jiggle there –but harnessing it with a sports bra, which has to be comfortable and washable, proved a challenge. Plus, you have to hit the right balance of a bra that controls motion enough to be comfortable but allows enough to generate power.

I have no idea how much power a iPod actually takes to charge, so I have no idea if such a device would make much of a dent in sustainability. But if it would make some of these women I see at the gym harness those ladies already (seriously, it's all I can do to not march over and just wordlessly hand them a Title 9 catalogue) it would be all to the good.

Transgender Man's Baby is Coming Soon, But What About the Birth Certificate?

Erin White — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:00:00 GMT

As the mother of two children with edited birth certificates, I am all about altering this official document when one of the parental categories just doesn't apply. But in the case of Thomas Beatie and his wife they both apply, just not to the right person.

So what's a pregnant man to do?

According to Slate, Beatie and his wife can do what lesbian parents (and gay and straight parents of children conceived through surrogacy) have been doing for years: they can ask for a new birth certificate that accurately documents their family structure. While Beatie will have to appear on the original certificate as "mother," he and his wife can petition the court to issue a new certificate which lists Beatie as the child's father and his wife as its mother.

And maybe then, when everyone is officially and legally just who they want to be, this news story will draw to a close and the Beatie family will live out their days quietly, far from the public eye.

Somehow I doubt it.

Panic at the Soccer Field

Adrienne Martini — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:00:00 GMT

How can you help your kid over a full-blow case of panic, the sort of state where he loses his mind over something that he has the power to fix? If you are one of the lucky few who has offspring who don't come completely unglued every now and again, please skip ahead to the next post. And know that I think you're lying.

Slate's Emily Bazelon, who is on the short list of moms I'd like to drink a beer with, has a five-year old who is currently losing his grip right before soccer practice. Her solution is elegant and involves little more than a Sharpie and a letter on her son's hand. The column is bittersweet, written with both compassion and rue. Hopefully, Ms. B will give us an update on her son's progress.

Now if someone could remind me why I wrote this big "W" on my hand, I'd appreciate it.

What's Up With No Cell Phones in Kids Books?

Madeline Holler — Wed, 14 May 2008 19:01:00 GMT

On about our 20th reading of Llama Llama Red Pajama, it struck me that Mama Llama was doing dishes while talking on a slimline, wall-mounted, spiral corded phone, and I wondered if my kid even knew what that was. I asked, she shrugged her shoulders, which could have meant "no" or could have meant "I'm not a trained monkey ... keep reading!"

Later, I flipped back to see when it was published, 2005. Christ, even my in-laws had upgraded to a cordless by then. That's when I started seeing dated technology in everything we read.

Slate has a nitpicky slideshow -- Llama Llama Red Pajama launches the pictoral thesis (I'm vindicated!) -- delving into why kids lit illustrators don't bring the most updated technology to the pages of kids books. One idea is that by dating the technolgy, parents are able to harken back to their own childhoods and develop a fondness for the book. In deconstructing the huge set of headphones on a passerby in Knuffle Bunny, the writer detects a nod to some Brooklyn dwellers' purposeful embrace of old technologies (yes, but would they call for take-out on that clunker of a phone in Goodnight, Moon? Just asking.)

Image: Slate

Pressure-treated Lawn Ornaments

Adrienne Martini — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:00:00 GMT

My yard is about the size of an SUV. There is a great playground/woodsy creek not two blocks from my house. The kids and I make a habit of wandering down there, when our part of the world isn't covered with enough snow to bury my 2 year old.

But once upon a time, we lived in the middle south, where plastic-and-treated wood playscapes littered backyards. For six months of the year, I never saw kids on them, simply because the slides were too hot to touch. So I can't help but think that Slate's Tom Vanderbilt has a point when he rails about the state of the American Lawn.

Other Slate writers wonder, however, if Vanderbilt is just being a burb-hating elitist because he doesn't appreciate the exhaustion of the modern mom or the energy of kids in the neighborhood.

So what do you think? Are backyard playscapes a blight or a blessing?

Illo credit: Robert Neubecker