Strollerderby : grandma

Grandma Busted Going 103 MPH with Grandkid in Car

SunnyChanel — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

How do you teach a 10-year-old boy about the hazards of speeding? Why by stepping on the gas and going 103 MPH to prove your point. If this particular grandma’s point was to prove that driving illegally over the speed limit will get your busted by the ‘man’, well she succeeded.

According to the AP, in Salem, Oregon, police arrested a 53-year-old grandma for going above and beyond the posted speed limit, clocking in at a dangerous 103 MPH. And she wasn’t alone, she had her 10-year-old grandson in the car with her. According to the authorities, she claimed she was going that fast to teach her grandson “about the dangers of speeding, and warned him never to drive the way she was about to.” Yeah, I bet she’s the same kinda grandma who would lock a kid in a closet with a bottle of Jack to prove that hangovers suck. She was later charged with reckless endangerment and reckless driving.

What’s the fastest you’ve ever driven with kids in the car?

Source

Don't Let Your Kids Grocery Shop With Grandma

JeanneSager — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:24:00 GMT

Are there any four words in the English language worse than, "But Grandma lets me?"

In our case, it's technically Oma, but you get the point.

Because now, when you repeat the words "No, you may not have the plastic egg filled with candy that the oh-so-ingenius grocery store designers have placed at eye level," you will sound like the heavy. The meanie. The grinchiest grinch from grinchville.

Because Grandma - or Oma, or Granny, or Nana - bought them an egg LAST week on the trip to the grocery store, filled with little bunnies whose ears loop together like an Easter version of the barrell of monkeys you weren't allowed to have twenty years ago (but asked for, on more than one occasion).

So you try explaining, "No, you already have an egg."

"But I want anoooother one," they tell you (insert exagerated eye roll).

"You don't need one."

"But I want one. Please, please, pretty please." Which, you all know, works when you're informing them they cannot have another cookie until they say "please," so why won't it work this time?

I could relate the entire conversation, complete with the fit at the tail end, right near the cash register where the older women who work part-time during the day while the teen cashiers are in high school stand, clucking and whispering, "Oh, but she asked so nicely, and isn't she a doll?"

No, she didn't get an egg. I'm the grinchiest grinch from grinchville, and as soon as I get ahold of Oma, I'm cancelling all future visits to the grocery store.

Image: Slashfood

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When Grandma Wants to Be 'Glamma'

Jen Chaney — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 21:28:00 GMT

As Shirley MacLaine made abundantly clear in "Terms of Endearment," not everyone immediately gets jazzed about being dubbed a grandmother. It's a signal that you are undeniably, unequivocally old, the sort of person who keeps a pair of square-framed glasses perched at the tip of her nose and has lengthy conversations about arthritis pain.

But as the Wall Street Journal reports, some Baby Boomer grandparents are rejecting the dentures-and-early-bird-dinner trap. How? By refusing to call themselves Grandpa, Grandma, Granny, Bubbe or any of those other Oldy McOlderson monikers that stand in stark contrast to the forever-young attitude of their generation. Some of the alternatives they're going with: Papa Doc (for a grandfather who happens to be a doctor), Coco (an homage to Coco Chanel) and -- for my money, the most ridiculous -- Glamma, the "glam" version of Grandma.

I have no problem with bucking tradition. I also completely understand why someone might want to put his or her personal stamp on grandparenthood. But at the same time, it seems a bit absurd to try to "young up" that important new role. I mean, Glamma? Really? Something about that choice reminds me of those 57-year-old woman who still try to shop in the juniors department. It seems to me there must be a way to stay young at heart and age gracefully, but still acknowledge the fact that you are, indeed, aging.

Then again, this could be one of those things that's all about context. When you personally know the people choosing these nicknames, and they aren't being depicted in an article that lumps them together with all those stubborn Baby Boomer stereotypes, their choices might seem much less inane. Plus, 25 years from now -- when I decide to call myself Super Nana -- I might find Glamma much less goofy.

But what do you think? Do you know any grandparents who have given themselves hipper sounding names? Do you embrace the idea or think Grandma and Grandpa still works just fine?

Image: senior-monitor.com

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Say Hi To Grandma Through the Screen

JeanneSager — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:28:00 GMT

My three-year-old likes to show her grandparents her nursery school projects. Too bad they're in Virginia, and we're in New York. Seeing a construction paper elephant is a tough job when you're looking through a phone line. We're still working on that.

But if an article in yesterday's New York Times is any indication, there may soon be a nation of toddlers who never have to use adjectives to tell Grandma about their new artistic creations. Grandma and Grandpa have gone digital so they can keep up with their grandkids living half a world away.

With half of American grandparents living at least two hundred miles from their grandchildren (according to the AARP) and two-thirds of kids seeing at least one set of grandparents only once a year, Web cams are stepping into the void to make sure kids feel that family connection. Some parents even use on-screen Grandma as a remote babysitter, setting their kids up in front of the computer to chat while they get some work done around the house.

With my in laws living so far away, their biggest fear seems to be that my daughter will forget them. They once handed me a picture of them - so she doesn't forget us, they said. We make sure that doesn't happen with weekly phone calls, and we bring them up in regular conversation. She runs to them when they arrive just as quickly as she does my parents, who live across town and talk to her on the phone even more often (what can I say, my side of the family tends to have bigger mouths!). We haven't purchased a Web cam yet, but it is a temptation. My in-laws will want to see the first loose tooth, the First Communion dress. A photographer by trade, I take pictures of these things, but I don't always have the energy to actually get them online and e-mailed four states away.

One expert quoted in the article said she worries grandparents will get too hooked on what technology offers; that they'll be tempted to visit less because they've already "seen" the grandkids. I kind of doubt it. The kind of grandparent who would power up their computer just to get a look at that cute little monkey is the kind of grandparent who would be there in a heartbeat . . . if they could.

A kid bouncing around in front of a camera has nothing on a kid wrapping their arms around you.

Image: New York Times

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Cole Gamble — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:30:00 GMT

As a parent, I’d like to think I’m reasonable cool. I can only hope as a grandparent I’ll be cool enough to sing OutKast, MC Hammer and Chamillionaire.Hopefully I'll be as cool as these octegenarians:

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Grandma Serves as Surrogate, Gives Birth to Triplet Granddaughters

JeanneSager — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:25:00 GMT

Kim Coseno's triplets had the same exact start in life as their mother . . . right down to the womb where they spent their first formative months. The surrogate "mother" who gave birth this week to Coseno's three little girls is also their grandmother.

Coseno's mom, fifty-six-year-old Jaci Dalenberg is possibly the oldest-ever surrogate to give birth to triplets. And lucky for her, she doesn't have to give them up! Well, not exactly. Already a mother of two, Coseno was no longer able to have children when her second husband, Joe, said he wanted them. The couple tried adopting, but were getting nowhere when Dalenberg made an offer they couldn't refuse.

Still in the prime of health, Dalenberg said she'd undergo in vitro fertilization. On the third try, two eggs transplanted into her uterus took.One embryo then split, creating a set of identical twins. Their sister is essentially a fraternal twin to each.

Although the "I am my own grandma" jokes go hand-in-hand with this story, I've got to give this granny a whole lot of credit. Triplets. At her age.

And while surrogacy kind of skeeves me out (for the surrogate, not for the parents-to-be), this seems like the best possible option. The Cosenos knew they could trust their surrogate completely, and that their babies were in a truly safe "home." Dalenberg, on the other hand, doesn't have to hand over the babies she carried and never see them again. She will be able to spoil them to bits, and then hand them back to Mom and Dad for the discipline and diaper-changing. She is, after all, Grandma.

Image: CBS News

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Nine-Year-Old Takes Car, Drives to Granny's

JeanneSager — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:25:00 GMT

A nine-year-old Japanese boy apparently decided to avoid over the river and through the woods on his trip to Grandma's house. He just hopped in the driver's seat.

The kid got caught after calls were made to police that an unmanned car was seen rolling down the street. The boy was too short to be seen from outside the car, although he apparently managed the pedals and steering just fine. He came to a stop at a convenience store when he couldn't find his grandmother's house, and police brought him home to his parents.

The boy told them he'd learned to drive by watching his dad and playing arcade games. When he saw the keys in the ignition of the family car, he decided to give it a go. His parents were warned not to leave him unattended in the future.

Since my daughter began climbing around in the car, jumping in the front seat while I unpack the groceries, I've been extra careful about removing the keys. Some parents won't even let their kids play in the driver's seat, but she loves to spin the wheel. Where do you draw the line?

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Obama's Grandmother May Not See Election Day

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:03:00 GMT

In an interview that aired on Good Morning America this morning, Barack Obama told ABC that he’s had to accept that his grandmother may not make it to Election Day. He has suspended his campaign due to her illness, and is currently in Honolulu at her bedside.

85-year-old Madelyn Dunham helped raise Obama, and was a powerhouse in her own right. Obama was grateful for the chance to sit down and talk with Dunham, who is still alert. He was unable to have a last talk with his mother before she died of ovarian cancer at the age of 53, and he didn’t want to repeat that mistake.

Obama said his grandmother has received flowers, phone calls, and emails from strangers all over the country. "And so maybe she is getting a sense of long-deserved recognition towards the end of her life," he said.

Photo: USA Today

Family Keeps Dead Mother in the Freezer For More Than a Year

JeanneSager — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:28:00 GMT

We've all got a relative who runs hot and cold, but at least they've got personality. A mom in upstate New York who police found in the freezer - more than a year after they suspect she died - was just kind of stiff.

Suspicious bank activity in the woman's account prompted cops to knock on the family's Cooks Falls, NY door this week, and they found the elderly woman in a large chest freezer. Although she was over 100, and old age might well have been a factor in her death, police weren't able to tell what killed her until they thawed the body out. Aaaack. You can't make this stuff up.

What freaks me out about all of this - other than the fact that this happened in my neck of the woods (and I broke the story for the local newspaper) is the fact that police said the freezer in question was right inside the house. She wasn't tucked away in the basement or out in a shed. The family was walking past the freezer every day and ignoring her freezing body.

Now that is cold.

Image: GE

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What Won't Men Do With a Diaper?

JeanneSager — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:31:00 GMT

I'm beginning to wonder if some men just have a diaper fetish.

First it was the guy stealing dirty diapers off porches in upstate New York. Now a Ukranian boxing champ is extolling the use of his son's wet diapers to reduce swelling in his fists.

"Baby wee is good because it's pure, doesn't contain toxins and doesn't smell," Vitali Klitschko told a German newspaper this week. "The nappies hold the liquid and the swelling stays down."

Apparently he's had one knock too many on the noggin.

Let me poke a little at his bubble. I'll do it carefully; I don't need to be "wee'd" on. See, babies are little humans. In other words, he's wrapping his hands in human waste. Doesn't sound quite as nice as baby wee, but what the hey.

Oh, and about those toxins. Apparently he doesn't keep up with the 'Derby. Because Amy gave us the lowdown months ago on all the toxic nasties that have been popping up in baby piss tests of late - think that unpronouncable hot parenting word, phthalates. Considering he got the idea from his Grandma, I guess we can excuse that part. Granny wasn't worrying about phthalates or BPA when she plopped her kids in their lead-painted crib.

Remind me not to shake hands with any boxers from the Ukraine.

Image: DiaperReview

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Grandma Takes In 7 of 9 Abandoned Kids

JeanneSager — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:13:00 GMT

After a horrible year that included the loss of their mother and the abandonment of their father, the Straton kids of Nebraska got a break this week - from Grandma.

Joanne Manzer welcomed seven of her 10 grandchildren into her home after nine were abandoned at an Omaha hospital by their father, Gary Straton, under Nebraska's widely criticized safe haven law. Two other Straton kids opted for other homes so they didn't have to change school districts while a third is over 18 and already living on her own.

Straton spoke out last week after news broke of his decision to drop kids ranging in age from 1 to 17 at the hospital, stating the loss of his wife forced him to quit his job to take care of his kids. In turn, the loss of income made it tough to make ends meet, and Straton admitted he "fell apart." No wonder - it's the type of burden most of us can't imagine. But offers from family members that poured into the state after his story went public, and Manzer's offer to house the kids temporarily (they're still, technically, in state custody) makes me wonder: where were they the last few months? A father of 10 loses his wife, is forced to quit his job, worries about the rent, and the family just stands by? Did he refuse their help or was none ever offered? Was this grandmother in so much pain from the loss of her daughter (or daughter-in-law?) that she was blind to the problems?

This story and that of a mom reunited with her daughter after dropping the pregnant teen at another have put into perspective just how desperate the measures sometimes need to be to make up for desperate times.

Source: Associated Press

Image: Virtual Tourist

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7-Year-Old Steals Grandma's Car, Becomes Hero

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:00:00 GMT

You may remember Latarian Milton, the seven-year-old who stole the keys to his grandma’s SUV and took it for a joyride with his friend because “it’s fun to do bad things, like drive into a car?” (He did, in fact, drive into several cars on his joyride.)

Well, just in case Latarian’s grandmother didn’t teach Latarian right and wrong with her violent threats—“If I thought they wouldn’t take me to jail, I’d whip his behind,” she said—Latarian has now become a sort of star for his bad ass ways. This recent radio interview starts with the interviewers telling Latarian that they are big fans of his. When they ask if people stop him and ask for his autograph, he says, "I'm a celebrity."

So basically Latarian has learned that acting out in potentially lethal ways makes you cool, and that violence is a great way to express your anger, so long as you don’t get caught.

Photo: ecoustics.com

Three-Year-old Takes Joy Ride Atop Grandma’s Lexus

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Whatever your worst nightmare is when you leave your kids with Grandma, it can’t be worse than this.

A 54-year-old grandmother in the Florida Keys was arrested and jailed after she was spotted driving her Lexus around a parking lot with her three-year-old granddaughter on top of it.

According to deputies, Brenda Bouschet (pictured) said “she was just giving the child some air and letting her have fun.” She also said she had one hand out the window, holding the child’s leg, and that she was driving at “snail-speed.” Bouschet seemed genuinely surprised to learn of laws requiring children to be in car seats, and, uh, not on the roof of a moving vehicle.

Although Bouschet has been released from jail, she faces child felony abuse charges. Her claims that she would never “let anything” hurt her granddaughter seem genuine, but her behavior was frighteningly reckless. What do you think? Should Grandma be let off the hook?

Photo: CBS4

Book of the week: The First Adventures of Incredible You

editors — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:03:00 GMT

The First Adventures of Incredible You by Sarah Riley Headrick and Sarah Foreman Rivera (henceforth referred to as “The Sarahs”) isn’t so much a children’s tale as your child’s tale. This dreamy story that “celebrates the stars, the moon, the flowers and trees,” is actually collaboration between you and the authors. Don’t panic, your part of the process is easy: Log on to the Custom Made for Kids website, plug in your kiddo’s particulars and let the Sarahs create a story book that includes your babe’s favorite parks, zoos, activities and people.

The tale begins as so:

The day you were born

Was a dream come true.

It began the lifetime

Adventure of incredible YOU.

(Your kid’s birthday here), was the

special date of your birth – the day

(Your kid’s name here)

arrived on this magnificent earth.

From there you and your literary little one will dive into a day in the life of them.

Especially enjoyable are the pages where my daughter looks up at the stars with her Grandmother Ruth and enjoys pancakes made by Dad in our newly established weekend tradition. She also loves pointing to the colorful human/animal illustrations and labeling them with her friends and teachers names, which just happen to appear in the text above. Whether you want to capture your child's life as it is currently, or fill in the blanks for a baby that you are sure will love going to Dodger’s games with Dad, The First Adventures of Incredible You will give your kids hard back proof that their own stories are interesting enough to tell again and again. Because – trust me - you will be reading it, again and again and again . . . - April Peveteaux

Big Deal: Custom Made for Kids is offering Babble readers 15% off your book purchase. Enter the code babble15 to get your discounted story.

The First Adventures of Incredible You is available at Custom Made for Kids for $32.95.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

Strollerderby : grandma

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