Amy Hatch
When Moms Bully Moms, Online and Off
Just For Moms, In The News, Playground Bureau, Mommy Wars, Media, Resources, Extreme Childhood, Bullying
More and more parents are being bullied, online and off. Credit: it's life, Flickr
The New York City mom of one tells ParentDish that what she saw as a friendly conversation about feeding cereal to infants ended up exploding in her face.
"She ... won't stop passively aggressively attacking me, making snide comments, being just plain mean," she says. "And now, of course, the silent treatment. Nice, huh?"
Twitter, Facebook and the good old-fashioned listserv are great ways for moms to connect across geographical and cultural lines, but they often have a dark underbelly. The simple fact that you can't see another person's face makes it a little too easy to start slinging insults from a comfortable spot in front of your keyboard hundreds of miles away -- or even from the apartment next door.
Nominate An Amazing Kid For The Build-A-Bear Huggable Heroes Contest
Kids 8-11, Teens & tweens, Amazing Kids
The Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes Classs of 2009. Nominate your amazing kid today. Credit: Build-A-Bear Workshop
Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes -- now in its seventh year -- recognizes outstanding kids for their contributions and community service by awarding 10 children a $7,500 scholarship each and another $2,500 to donate to their pet charitable causes. Winners also receive a camera and a two-day trip to meet the other heroes and take part in a professional photo shoot.
Super kids ages 8 to 18 can be nominated now through Feb. 26 by visiting the Build-A-Bear Workshop Huggable Heroes Web page. It only takes a minute and it could make a big difference in someone's life -- just like the amazing kid you nominate already does.
Prom Turns Into Booze Cruise for Chaperones
Teens & tweens, In The News, Weird But True, Alcohol & Drugs, Education, Extreme Childhood
A luxury prom aboard a yacht turned into a drunken bash for teachers from a Brooklyn, N.Y., high school, and one chaperone was bounced from the classroom after allegedly making out with a student.
A group of students from International High School at Lafayette enjoyed a three-hour cruise around Manhattan last June, and bartenders opened the bar for the grown-ups tasked with preventing the teens from engaging in forbidden shenanigans. Instead, the New York Post reports, the adults enjoyed themselves a little too much and 25-year-old chemistry teacher Lindsay Dunaj was caught locking lips with a student on the dance floor.
The kiss was broadcast to revelers below the upper deck dance floor on a large-screen TV located on the lower level of the yacht -- appropriately named "Fantasy." Stunned classmates, teachers and even school principal Michael Soet watched the action.
"They were making out," an unnamed student tells the Post.
Jessica Alba Says Her Daughter will be Raised Bilingual
Toddlers, Celeb Kids, Celeb Parenting, In The News
Jessica Alba wants her daughter, Honor, to grow up speaking Spanish because she didn't. Credit: X17online
Celeb mom Jessica Alba says she wishes she'd been raised bilingual and she's making sure her daughter grows up knowing how to speak Spanish.
Alba, who has been criticized in the media for trying to distance herself from her Latina roots, has already hired a language tutor for her 19-month-old daughter, Honor, according to a story in People magazine. The actress hired a Hispanic studies professor to teach her child Spanish.
Alba tells Siempre Mujer magazine that she wants to protect her child from the kind of criticism she took when her inability to speak fluent Spanish made headlines 10 years ago when she was just 18.
"God knows that I wish I was raised bilingual," Alba says. "But it wasn't to be."
How to Talk to Your Kids About Money Troubles
Be honest and open when discussing financial hardships. Credit: pfala, Flickr
Very few families are immune to the problems that come with a difficult economic climate. Job loss and cutbacks are making it harder and harder for some parents to make ends meet, and experts say talking to your kids about financial troubles is important to their future relationship with money.
Rick Kahler is a fee-only financial planner and co-author of "The Financial Wisdom of Ebenezer Scrooge: 5 Principles to Transform Your Relationships with Money." He says being honest with your children when money troubles strike will pay dividends in the future.
"Parents need to understand that what individuals think, feel and believe about money -- 'money scripts' -- influence the financial choices they make every day," Kahler says. "Money scripts are tied to past experiences around money, often starting in childhood. During tough economic times, children can develop fearful money scripts that may keep them from managing money successfully as adults and lead to destructive financial behaviors such as over-spending, excessive debt or financial infidelity."
Hot Super Bowl Recipes to Make With Your Kids
Preschoolers, Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Eating & Nutrition, Playground Bureau, Mealtime
Including kids in the cooking can encourage them to try new foods, like chicken pot pie. Credit: Patti Green
Patti Green, founder of Ginger Kids and author of "Ginger Kids Cookbook -- Kitchen Basics," has great memories of cooking with her family when she was growing up. That's what inspired her to start her business, which brings cooking workshops to schools and private homes with the goal of bringing families together and teaching kids about how food gets from field to table.
Kids today, Green says, often don't realize that the pre-washed, pre-cut lettuce in a plastic bag that you get from the supermarket actually came from a farm. "I think a lot of kids don't have an association of where foods come from," says the Buffalo, N.Y., cooking expert. "I had a class in one private home, and the child asked me why I was using flour in the cookies. He said, 'This is not how my mother makes it.'"
Green recalls that when she asked the boy how his mother made cookies, he replied that she "got a log" from the grocery store. "I asked him where bread came from, and he said, 'from a bag."
Moms Have More Leisure Time Than They Think, Researcher Says
Just For Moms, In The News, Playground Bureau, Weird But True, Mommy Wars, Chores
Researchers say moms have more time on their hands than they think they do. Credit: zoutedrop, Flickr
Time-use researcher John Robinson is needling moms with the assertion that they aren't working as many hours as they think they are, according to The Washington Post Magazine. He says his data shows that Americans are working fewer hours than they did 20 years ago.
That's not so bad; shrug-worthy, even. But wait, Moms: Robinson also says his data -- collected via "time diaries," in which subjects listed their activities over a set period of time -- reveals that mothers and fathers have nearly equal workloads, including both paid and unpaid work. And here's the real gotcha: He says mothers -- actually all Americans, in fact -- have 30 to 40 hours of free time a week.
Hot Super Bowl Mocktails
Fun & Activities, Eating & Nutrition, Alcohol & Drugs, Mealtime
Virgin cocktails are a welcome addition to any party that includes kids. Credit: alpha du centaure, Flickr
Natalie Bovis-Nelson, also known as "The Liquid Muse," is a professional mixologist in Los Angeles and author of "Preggatinis™: Mixology for the Mom-To-Be," and her cocktails have been featured at famous venues ranging from high-end restaurants to The Playboy Mansion.
She tells ParentDish that delicious and refreshing beverages don't need alcohol to make them interesting.
Abstinence Education to Blame for Rise in Teen Pregnancy Rates, Report Finds
Teens & tweens, Love & Sex, In The News, Media, Extreme Childhood
Teen pregnancies are on the rise again. Credit: jupiterimages
A Jan. 26 report from the New York-based Guttmacher Institute reveals that the pregnancy rate among 15- to 19-year-olds rose three percent in 2005-2006, the first increase in more than a decade. The nonpartisan think tank looked at its own data and that of the federal government to determine that more teens are getting pregnant now than since before the 1990s.
What's causing the jump? According to Guttmacher, it was the focus on abstinence-only programs that began in the early 2000s, which were prohibited by law from including contraception information. As a result, teens' use of contraceptives declined.
Web Game Creator: Buying Condoms, Adopting Orphans is 'Stylish' Fun
Kids 8-11, Teens & tweens, In The News, Media, Extreme Childhood
The controversial new My Minx Web craze has outraged parents' groups. Credit: Tim Stewart News / Rex USA
The "My Minx" Web game encourages young girls to buy condoms and engage in all kinds of scandalous virtual antics, London's Daily Mail reports. They also can visit an "adoption agency" -- where orphans are named after the adopted children of celeb parents such as Jolie -- to choose a child as an accessory to make their avatar more fashionable.
The paper goes on to report that 4-year-old Zahara is said to be Ethiopian and a fan of eating guinea pigs, while Maddox enjoys cockroaches. Actor Ewan McGregor's adopted Mongolian daughter, Jamiyah, doesn't escape unscathed, either. She, apparently, prefers a diet of rats.
Chris Evans is the founder of Blighty Arts, the UK-based company that created "My Minx." He tells ParentDish that the game is intended for users ages 11 and up. He says the kerfuffle over the Web site is the work of "rogue journalists" who don't have their facts straight.
