Strollerderby : teenager

Erin Brockovich's Daughter Blames Mom for Drug Addiction

KeriF — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Is it really a surprise to anyone that the woman who gained fame wearing a push-up bra to win a lawsuit was caught completely unawares when her own daughter began abusing drugs at the age of 12?

Remember Julia Roberts' cute little girl in the movie? Ever wonder what she was up to while real-life mom Brockovich traveled the world promoting her film and campaigning for her cause du jour?

Apparently she was smoking pot when she was 12 and moved on to cocaine and prescription drugs by the time she was 14. "That was my time to go crazy, because she wasn't there," says daughter Elizabeth. "I would ditch school, I was driving around with kids that were under the influence."

I know Erin was presumably trying to do good in the world, but shouldn't that start at home? No word on who Elizabeth stayed with while Mom was on the road.

Elizabeth is now 17 and sober, thanks to a stay in a treatment facility for teenagers.

"I love her and I'm her parent and I will be there for her," says mom Erin.

Better late than never.

For Those Teens Puttin’ on the Ritz and the Parents Who Can Afford It

SunnyChanel — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:41:00 GMT

I have no desire to be a teenager again. Those years are, thankfully, long gone. But the Ritz-Cartlon is making me wish that I could once again be a teen conveniently aged 13-19. Why? ‘Cos they just launched their Teen Lounge program at a few of their properties in Florida, a place just for the teens where no parents are allowed. Yes, that means you.

At the Ritz Carlton in Naples your teen can chill in the new VUE Lounge that is decked out with Xboxes, Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wiis which are hooked up to 40” LCDs, iMac computer stations, and personal flat screens equipped with DVD Players. The club in Ritz at Amelia Island has flat screen TVs for personal viewing and video game playing, laptops, Ipods, air hockey, foosball and pool as well as their own movie theater. The new teen club Coast in the Ritz in Palm Beach, that opens later in the month (UPDATE: It's open now!), they have equipped with a “state of the art production studio”, a DJ booth, a photography set, along with a pool table. A DJ Booth?! I’m like so jealous.

You know, I’d rather be in the teen lounge than probably anywhere else in the resort. Give me that instead of swimming in the pool, playing golf, or getting a spa treatment. Seriously, they should make an activity club like that for us old folks too.

Yes, the Ritz-Carlton is a pricey place to lay your head, but with activities like these for the whole family, it might end up to be less expensive and more accommodating for all just to shack up here for a little bit. It may be a doable option instead of jetting off to who knows where and have your teen utter those dreaded words, “I’m bored”. With these clubs, that won’t be happening. And yeah, don’t even try to lie about your age to get in, you won’t fool anybody.

Sperm Donor's Teen Daughter Finds Him on Myspace

JeanneSager — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:31:00 GMT

Something tells me the creators of Myspace didn't have this kind of social networking in mind when they set up the site. A California teenager plugged in all the information she had about the man whose sperm her mom used to conceive.

The computer spit back seven possibles - including one photo that looked an awful like her. So Virginia gave Dr. Todd Whitehurst a call.

"I just want to know basic information that most people have access too," the girl said. As a physician, her "dad" could appreciate the importance of a medical history. He was even open to meeting her . . . and eventually nine other children born using his sperm banked at the San Francisco Bay area clinic.

Virginia found her nine half-siblings on the Donor Sperm Registry Website, which she shared with Whitehurst. He then went on and posted information about the two kids he has from more traditional methods. He's since met several of his "kids," including a Gavin from Pennsylvania and Tyler from New York. Like Virginia's mom, the boy's mothers were involved in the process - they were there when their kids met Whitehurst.

It's nice to see a sperm donor who cares about the kids. I've often wondered if the ease of "donation" makes it easier for men to forget about what can come out of the process. Egg donation is much more rare - and a more arduous process - but I can't honestly say that women care more for their progeny than men. We treat them differently, definitely, but I wouldn't say we "love them more."

So why aren't there more donors like Whitehurst out there?

Image: KSV

Dad Wants Daughter Back Despite Negative DNA Test

Father Can't See His Little Boy, But Can He Give Him His Organs?

Juno Goes to Washington? Congress' First Unwed Mom

Blogging Moms Find a Kidney For Teen on Dialysis

JeanneSager — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:02:00 GMT

If you've ever doubted the power of the Internet, just imagine the motivation of helping a kid in need thrown in. This is one of those happy holiday stories to make up for all the bad stuff we ended up writing about here on the 'Derby, but I warn you. Get out the tissues.

"Domestic Diva" mom blogger Lisa posted in early November that she could barely keep posting as she watched her teen daughter, Marielle, suffer through her kidneys shutting down. The family was making a drastic move. They were pulling Marielle out of a Philadelphia hospital and heading to New York's Columbia Presbyterian in hopes that the living kidney donor program there could save her life.

Two weeks to the day later, yesterday, Lisa was back online. Blogging mothers across the country had picked up her story and blogged about it, tweeted it on Twitter and shared it on Facebook. Calls poured into Columbia Presbyterian from every state in the U.S., from Africa, from Saudi Arabia. Marielle now has a donor. A friend her mom met through Ebay called the hospital, went through the process and has come up as a match. The teenager is home, still on dialysis, but home for the holiday as doctors work to bring her body to a state of health that will enable them to proceed with surgery.

Yesterday, the day before Thanksgiving, the family released this announcement to the world:

"Thank you to EVERYONE who sent in donor forms, called, blogged, twittered and help spread the word…BUT WE DO NOT NEED ANY ADDITIONAL DONORS AT THIS TIME. I am amazed by the power of the web and the hearts of those who helped make a difference."

Now wipe your tears and get back to that turkey.

Image: Domestic Diva

Girl Diagnoses Herself With Autism

The Shape of a Mother: The Real Us In All Our Unglorious Glory

Grandma Serves as Surrogate, Gives Birth to Triplet Granddaughters

Too Much Deodorant Kills Twelve-Year-Old

JeanneSager — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:03:00 GMT

If they're not running from the bathtub shrieking, they're swimming in perfume and there's enough gel in their hair to grease a whale. But parents might want to teach their teens that good hygiene can go too far. The death of a twelve-year-old in Britain is being blamed on excessive use of deodorant.

Now before you go running for your medicine cabinet, Daniel Hurley's usage of the Lynx deodorant (a Unilever brand, it's Axe here in the states) has been ruled truly excessive. He sprayed not only his armpits but his clothes, and was prone to spraying the bottle in an enclosed space - despite warnings right on the can that warn against doing so. Even after an incident several weeks before his death when Hurley passed out in his bathroom after spraying the deodorant, the pre-teen continued to violate the instructions on the can.

Clean air experts in Britain have deemed the product safe - if it's used properly. And that's the real issue here. Once kids begin requesting their own toiletries and often using their allowance or earnings to buy their own, are parents keeping up with how they're being used? I don't remember my mother ever sitting me down to tell me how to apply deodorant. She bought me a stick - probably around the time I started high school (seventh grade at my school) - and said, "It's time to start using this." The tampon talk was a little more in depth, but she left the toxic shock syndrome warnings to the folks at Playtex.

A cardiac arrhythmia caused by a build up of deodorant solvents in a child's system is a one in a million tragedy. Thankfully. But milder reactions to over-the-counter personal care products can cause a simple contact dermatitis or a major case of hives.

Yup, another thing to worry about. Kind of makes you wistful for those bathtub fights, doesn't it?

Image: Medicines2U

Boy Tells 'Your Mom' Joke, Boy Goes to Jail

When Moms Collide: Breastfeeder Kicked Out of Pool

Talking Pets, the New Child Safety Gadget?

Neonatal Nurse Puts Preemie in Her Pocket and Takes Pictures

Mom Won't Let Eighteen-Year-Old on Myspace, So He Stabs Her

JeanneSager — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:26:00 GMT

Shelley Sue Pangle might want to pick her battles next time. The Iowa mom told her six-foot-two, three hundred twenty pound son he couldn't use Myspace anymore. Then she tried to confiscate his cell phone charger. Now she says the eighteen-year-old stabbed her. Can you blame him?

Before you get all horrified, don't worry. Pangle is fine. The "stabbing" was a cut on her wrist. Her son, Terry Gene Starnes, was arrested on charges of aggravated assault after police picked him up, riding his bicycle to get away from Momma Lift, er, Pangle. When she'd banned him from Myspace, the Associated Press reports Starnes became agitated started packing his bags to leave. She was trying to take the charger when police say he pulled a knife from his pocket and cut her. Then he took off on his bike.

What part of "he's eighteen," did this lady not understand? Banning him from Myspace? Taking his cell phone charger? Not letting him pack his bags? He's a big boy - in more ways than one (no dig at his weight intended, but it would make me think twice about messing with him). Is this taking parenting too far?

Image: Myspace

UPDATE: Mom Says She Won't Burn Library Book, Still Wants it Censored

Mrs. Robinson Alive and Living in Jersey

Child Safety, Child Schmafety

Parents Say: Don't Reward My Kid

Evangelical Teens' Very Active Sex Lives

Renting Drug Dogs to Search Your Kid's Room: Over the Top or Not?

JeanneSager — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 01:44:00 GMT

Think your kid's smokin' the reefer? Excuse the trip back in time, but the company renting out drug dogs so parents can take them tromping through their teens' bedrooms seems, well, like Joe McCarthy's back and teaching parenting classes.

Sniff Dogs has offices in Ohio and New Jersey and five Labrador retrievers who they say can catch a whiff of a doobie from as far as 15 feet away. The dogs are in and out of the room in five minutes, and the process only happens when a parent is at home. They're even trained to stop and sit at the spot where the scent is strongest, so parents can have the ultimate decision as to whether they want to search the spot or just bring the kids in, have the chat and see if the kids will own up themselves.

None of us want to see our kids on drugs, but isn't this a little . . . I don't know . . . Gestapo-esque? Whatever happened to confronting your kids on your own authority instead of the know-how of a dog's nose? Or making them systematically take their room apart while you watch and direct?

If you're afraid of alienating your kid with an old-fashioned parent-to-kid confrontation, calling in the canines will certainly leave them howling.

Image: Sky News

Furniture Industry Won't Suffer as Long As We Keep Making Babies

Do You Play With Your Kids' Toys?

Mom Carries Teen Son's Urn Into Court to Prove He's Really Dead

Pit bulls and kids: Scared or Perfectly Comfortable?

What Won't Men Do With a Diaper?

Part II: Why Parents of Boys Have It Better (And Why They Don't)

Mom Carries Teen Son's Urn Into Court to Prove He's Really Dead

JeanneSager — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:57:00 GMT

As if Julie Strange hasn't had enough heartache. The British mother lost her teenaged son, Paul, when he was hit by a train near his job at a bakery on Oc. 16, 2006. Then she started getting the letters.

The government said Paul had sold a vehicle and not properly reported it. They wanted their money. But Paul Strange didn't have a vehicle while he was alive, and he certainly hasn't bought or sold one since October 2006. Each time a letter came, Julie Strange called the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and explained her story. She even sent a copy of his death certificate.

Then baliffs came knocking on her door with an order for Paul to appear in court. So he did - in a small wooden box carried by his mother, a brass plaque on the top that read "Paul Richard Strange Died 16th October 2006 Aged 19 Years." The court and the DVLA issued immediate apologies, and the mother of two (still living) children is grateful the flow of letters across her doorstep will finally stop.

Government ineptitude is something we've all come to expect, but sometimes they need to step back and realize - a mother knows best. Watch an interview with Julie Strange here.

Image: Sky News

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

They say: no one with a uterus should vote for McCain

British Parents Defend Son’s Suicide

Anti-Palin Ad Targets Parents With Teenage Rape Victim's Plea

Cloudy With a Chance of GI Joe? Hunt's On for Man Who Threw Action Figure

Woman Makes Up 14 Kids For the Money

Teen Drops Out of School to Play Guitar Hero

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:15:00 GMT

Many parents of gifted children allow their kids to take time off of school to pursue their artistic or athletic vocation. But what if that vocation is playing video games?

Meet Blake Peebles, a 16-year-old from Raleigh, North Carolina who is one of the best Guitar Hero players in the country—meaning, he has a rare talent for pressing buttons on a toy guitar hooked up to a TV screen. Last September, Blake’s parents finally gave in to his repeated requests to drop out of high school and focus on what he loves. Now, instead of attending high school, Blake studies with a private tutor—and puts in long hours with his Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox.

But this is not all fun and games. Blakes hopes to turn his gaming abilities into a lucrative career. Players signed by Major League Gaming (no, I'm not making this up) earn as much as $80,000 a year competing in tournaments.

So far, Blake has won around $1,000—but that money came in the form of gift certificates, gaming equipment, and Chick Fil-A combo meals. He hopes to start bringing in some actual cash after his father takes him to the U.S. regionals of the World Cyber Games.

Concerned family and friends have been quick to condemn the Peebles' decision. But Blake's parents have watched his work ethic and grades improve under a private tutor, and most importantly, they say that Blake is now happy. “I wasn’t really good at anything else that I liked,” he says. Still, the fact remains that being good at Guitar Hero means staying up till 4 a.m. staring at a TV screen.

Do you think the Peebles should have forced Blake to remain in school? Or were they right to trust their son to know what was best for him?

Photo: The News and Observer/Corey Lowenstein

Cigarettes in Kids Movies, In Life, at Grandma's

Madeline Holler — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:34:00 GMT

I can kind of sympathize with Eric Alterman's rage in this post on Media Matters. He's pissed because he took his two 9-year-olds to see "Definitely, Maybe" which, according to him, wound up being cigarette porn instead of a nice father-daughter family flick.

He says the movie glamorized smoking, especially for young females, and also made it appear to be easy to kick the habit.

Also:

It was a two hour cancer commercial. It was morally indefensible and disgusting, since the movie is being marketed to teens and tweens. I wonder if the cigarette companies paid for this kind of loving attention, and I wonder how many people will die of lung cancer to put money in the pockets of the Hollywood moguls who made it.

Strong language, but I get his point. Incidentally, the fact that smoking would be part of the movie was no secret.

Still, here's my question. How DO we bring up smoking with the kids. I live in a part of the country where smoking is banned practically everywhere. You barely even see butts on the ground and it's not terribly common to smell second-hand smoke. (But of course I make a big deal out of gagging when I do.) Would such a movie have been an opportunity to talk about smoking, point it out, say "see, they made smoking look great, didn't they?"

The main smoker in our lives, my mother-in-law, keeps it a big ol' secret from the kids and there are all these euphemisms (lies?) everybody uses to explain why she has to go to the garage but, no, you can't go with her. Isn't that kind of making it interesting by making it secretive and worth lying about too?

So what is it with smoking: should kids see it or not? What do you tell your kids about smoking -- especially if you're a smoker?

2-Foot 9-Inch Woman Survives Pregnancy

Madeline Holler — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:22:00 GMT

And you thought YOU had run out of room in your ribcage during pregnancy. Christianne Ray survived pregnancy and childbirth despite having a very rare kind of dwarfism, spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, which left her at only 2 feet 9 inches tall.

She got pregnant at 19 and panicked, because she and her boyfriend were young. And also because she didn't know whether physically she'd be able to carry a healthy child -- and survive.

The first OB/Gyn she saw recommended abortion. The second, one who specialized in high-risk pregnancies, told her to go for it. One month before her due date, she underwent a c-section and everybody has been doing fine since.

The father, 18, is left to do all the physical heavy lifting for his family. At the average height of a toddler, Ray can't even reach most things in the fridge. But the father, who dropped out of high school, has said Ray -- and now their daughter -- have transformed his life. He's happy to do whatever it takes for them.

Their 9-month-old baby is the length of an average newborn, a growth pattern similar to Ray's when she was a child. Ray had hoped her child would be "normal" but she's likely a little person too. The father sees it another way.

From ABCnews.com

"[He] has begun thinking about what he'll tell his daughter about life as a little person: "That your mom went through it all. That you can do it, too, and you also have someone there to help you."

Teen Kills Herself Over Fake MySpace Boyfriend Created By Adults

Kelly Mills — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:02:00 GMT

If you've been following this story, you know it is devastatingly twisted. Megan Meier, a thirteen-year-old girl, met a sixteen-year-old boy named Josh on MySpace. He told her she was pretty and they had an online relationship. Then Josh abruptly told her he didn't want to be her friend anymore because he heard she was mean. He began posting bulletins: Megan is a slut. Megan is fat. Megan, who took medication for depression and ADHD, went upstairs to her room and hung herself. She died the next day.

Six weeks after Megan died, her parents learned that Josh was not a real person--he was created by the parents of a girl who lived down the street, a girl who had once been Megan's friend. The messages had been sent by the parents and their daughter, and they had invited another girl to join in the fun. Before the ambulance left Megan's house they called this girl and told her not to tell anyone about the MySpace profile. These neighbors were friends with Megan's family. They attended Megan's funeral.

The paper that broke the story did not print the names of these parents, and bloggers howled in protest. Some, most notably Jezebel, went on to print their names. There's some journalistic questions in there, about what information is necessary and important to report and what does more harm than good. All really good issues to consider, but mostly I could give a rat's ass about that because I read this as a parent, thinking of Megan's parents' pain.

I highly recommend reading the St. Charles Journal report on Megan's death, but be prepared for heartbreak. Megan's mother blames herself. She was angry at her daughter for not logging off when asked. She was home when Megan killed herself. She and Megan's father have basically no recourse against the family that did this. And I cannot find strong enough words for the disgust I feel towards adults--parents themselves--who tormented a teenage girl. On some level I understand all kinds of cruelty, but this one is almost beyond me. It's despicable and insanely sick and just gross. I fervently hope the rest of their lives are a daily hell.

Strollerderby : teenager

Erin Brockovich's Daughter Blames Mom for Drug Addiction

For Those Teens Puttin’ on the Ritz and the Parents Who Can Afford It

Sperm Donor's Teen Daughter Finds Him on Myspace

Journalist Suing for Sperm-Donor Dad's Identity

Dad Wants Daughter Back Despite Negative DNA Test

Father Can't See His Little Boy, But Can He Give Him His Organs?

Juno Goes to Washington? Congress' First Unwed Mom

Blogging Moms Find a Kidney For Teen on Dialysis

Are Elementary School Thanksgivings Racist Or Just Outdated?

Girl Diagnoses Herself With Autism

The Shape of a Mother: The Real Us In All Our Unglorious Glory

Grandma Serves as Surrogate, Gives Birth to Triplet Granddaughters

Too Much Deodorant Kills Twelve-Year-Old

Baby Dies After a Game of Airplane

Boy Tells 'Your Mom' Joke, Boy Goes to Jail

When Moms Collide: Breastfeeder Kicked Out of Pool

Talking Pets, the New Child Safety Gadget?

Neonatal Nurse Puts Preemie in Her Pocket and Takes Pictures

Mom Won't Let Eighteen-Year-Old on Myspace, So He Stabs Her

Renting Drug Dogs to Search Your Kid's Room: Over the Top or Not?

Mom Carries Teen Son's Urn Into Court to Prove He's Really Dead

Teen Drops Out of School to Play Guitar Hero

Cigarettes in Kids Movies, In Life, at Grandma's

2-Foot 9-Inch Woman Survives Pregnancy

Teen Kills Herself Over Fake MySpace Boyfriend Created By Adults