Strollerderby : orphans

Separate Planes: Sensible Idea or Touch of the Crazies?

Madeline Holler — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:25:00 GMT

Back before I had kids, a friend told me how her parents, who traveled frequently overseas, always booked separate flights. If one of the planes went down, they reasoned, their children wouldn't be orphans.

I thought their gloomy scenarios were a little over the top -- did they also always take separate cars? Then I became a parent.

Suddenly, their precaution seemed entirely reasonable. Though I've never intentionally booked separate flights for my husband and me, leaving my kids without either of their parents was what I thought about the few times we've flown without our kids -- how could I have been so careless and cruel ...

Am I right or am I crazy? And before you answer, know that this year's favorite actress Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes not only think it's NOT crazy, but they go the extra frequent flier mile and refuse to get on a plane together -- ever. They've got some 9/11 and threatened hijacking near misses to fuel their insecurities.

Has this ever crossed your mind? Do you and your partner fly separately? Come on, Kate, Sam, my friend's parents' and I can't be the only ones, right?

Photo: telegraph.co.uk

Did You Give Your Son a Criminal's Name?

Mom Stuns Docs With Extra Baby, Stuns Us With Ambitious Feeding Plans

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Damned if You Do, Doomed if You Don't (Breastfeed, That is)

Brad and Angelina Open Children's Clinic in Ethiopia

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:30:00 GMT

If only all fame and fortune were channeled into the common good....

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have donated $2 million to start a center in Ethiopia for children with AIDS and tuberculosis. About 900,000 children in Ethiopia have been orphaned because of AIDS, and the country has the seventh highest rate of tuberculosis in the world. Though curable, tuberculosis continues to ravage the population in large part due to inadequate treatment.

The center will be named after Brad and Anelina’s adopted daughter, Zahara. “It is our hope that when Zahara is older, she will take responsibility for the clinic and continue its mission,” Pitt said.

This statement gave me pause. While raising one’s children to be activists and humanitarians is certainly laudable, Zahara is three years-old. This is sort of a hefty weight to place on her shoulders. If I heard a father of a three-year-old saying it was his hope that his daughter would grow up to be, say, a leading litigator at a big law firm, I would inwardly groan. On the other hand, I wish all rich parents encouraged their children to use their inheritance to be philanthropists.

What do you think? Is it okay to pigeonhole one's children into a certain line of work if that work is widely beneficial?

Photo: pursepage.com

Update: Baby Whale To Be Euthanized

Amy S.F. Lutz — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:35:00 GMT

The baby whale who tried to suckle from boats off the coast of Sydney is in such poor health that officials have decided to euthanize it today.

The whale - named Colin by the Australian media - had injuries consistent with a whale shark attack, and veterinarians thought it unlikely the baby would survive through the night. A tentative plan involved sedating the whale, towing it to shore, and injecting a fatal dose of medicine into its heart.

Many Australians - who had been following the saga since the baby was discovered last Sunday - were heartbroken at the decision. A rescue group even designed a device to try to get nourishment to the weak baby, who - since he was too young to have been weaned - couldn't eat on his own. This plan, although well-intentioned, was unlikely to work anyway - experts said that tube feeding only has a 2-3% success rate, and that it is nearly impossible to raise animals of this size in captivity.

9-11 Charities Shut Their Doors

Amy Kuras — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:33:00 GMT

Remember all that money that poured into 9-11 related charities after the terrorist attacks on that day? Remember the telethon, the concert, all the fundraising?

Well, that money is drying up. Almost seven years after the attacks, the Red Cross distributed the last $40 million to 26 groups it still funded, down from the $1 billion it had right after the attacks that went to more than 100 organizations.

Those groups have slowly gone away as funding has waned. Many donors felt a sense of needing to make a one time response but question the need for ongoing funding.

But organizations that help kids of 9-11 victims say that some are just now beginning to express their feelings about losing their parents in the terrorist attacks, especially some of the younger boys.

It makes sense that kids, especially those who were pretty young when their parents died, are just now getting the language and thought processes to truly grasp what happened. And while such things as music lessons for the families of victims might have run their course, I hate the idea that counseling services, for example, are beginning to shut their doors due to lack of funds.

An estimated 6,000 kids lost parents in the 9-11 attacks. I have to think that losing a parent in such a tragic and public fashion would be the kind of thing you might need to seek help for, long after the money runs out. Lots of us donated money in some desperate attempt to feel like we were doing something to help in the face of such a frightening event. It's kind of disheartening to realize there are still needs yet to be met.

When You're Afraid Of Your Own Kid

Amy S.F. Lutz — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:05:00 GMT

When they heard about the Columbine shootings in 1999, Elaine and Tom Sonnen had a very different reaction from most parents. Instead of shock, or grief, what they felt was recognition. The anger and alienation of the shooters reminded the Sonnens of their own son, Richard, who had been prone to aggressive and unpredictable outbursts since shortly after they adopted him from Bulgaria when he was four years old. The Sonnens resolved to keep a very close eye on Richard, who - although he was only ten years old - had already screamed at his parents many times that he wanted to kill them.

It turns out, the Sonnens were right to be wary. Richard continued to struggle with social and behavior problems. In eighth grade, he was diagnosed with both bipolar and obsessive-compulsive disorders, for which he was prescribed anti-psychotic medication. Then, two-and-a-half years ago, when he was a junior in high school, Richard confessed to his mom that he had drawn up a hit list of eight classmates he wanted to kill, and had constructed an elaborate plan on how to do it by planting bombs at strategic locations throughout his school. Subsequently, he added a teacher, his mother and his sister to the list. Richard's mother immediately had him committed to a mental institution.

When I started reading this article on CNN, I assumed there was a happy ending, since both Richard and his parents had taken their story to the press, hoping to both encourage troubled kids to seek help, and to educate their parents about what warning signs to look for. But although Richard was released from the hospital after about eighteen months of treatment, and even started college at Lewis-Clark State College with the help of a cocktail of three anti-psychotics, the Sonnens are still very concerned about their son. Shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings, Elaine Sonnen was contacted by police because of threats Richard allegedly made against his own school. Richard claims his words were misunderstood, and that he was talking about the threats that caused him to be institutionalized when he was sixteen, but his parents aren't so sure. Mental illness is something that never really goes away. The Sonnens are still so afraid of what their son is capable of that they keep an alarm on his bedroom door when he comes to visit them.

Saving the World in Junior High

Amy Kuras — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:06:00 GMT

Kids today. Why, when I was Tara Suri's age, I was…well, doing not a whole hell of a lot, actually, compared to what she's accomplished.

When she was 13 years old, Tara went to India with her family. She was profoundly saddened by the poverty she observed, and wanted to do something to help the orphaned children she saw there and the Sudan.

"It was somewhat of a revelation for me," Tara, now 16, told CNN. "It was the first time I recognized the economic disparities and the gender inequalities that were there. And that really touched me and I knew I had to do something about it."

So she began HOPE, for Helping Orphans Pursue Education, which helps kids with housing and other needs so they can go to school.

Since its founding three years ago, Tara has parlayed bake sales and recycling drives into two other charities, Turn Your World Around, which aims to link teens with grassroots projects, and Connect a Kid, which works to improve access to education in developing countries as well as an umbrella organization, Aandolan, which means "movement for change" in Hindi.

Tara's gotten all sorts of well-deserved accolades for her work including being named CosmoGirl! Of the Year 2007 and a "Very Best In Youth" by Nestle (is it wrong that I am irked that the Cosmo award included a makeover? Like, you're totally great and doing amazing things and all, but you'd better put on some eyeshadow, honey).

Damn world-changing, idealisitic kids, making it impossible for me to be cynical….