Is 10 the new 2 (year old)?

My memories of summer camp: running between the mess hall and my cabin, sneaking around with friends and boys, and being responsible for getting myself to meals, art class, swim school, etc., on time. No parents in sight—and generally the counselors were at points A and B and C, not anywhere in between. 

 

Over at Free-Range Kids, a blog by Lenore Skenazy about our society's over-protective tendencies, a letter shows what modern-day "camps" can be like when organizations are more concerned about being sued than common sense. In this letter, camp counselors wouldn’t allow a 10-year-old to walk across a 100-foot parking lot to a library to wait for his mother to pick him up after a day at the "museum camp". I ask you: Is that not a bit oppressive?  If you feel your child is old enough to undertake a task like this, do camp rules trump you? What should this mother have done? Leave your comments here by clicking onto "comment(s)" just below.

Would you call out a bad mother?

Telling other moms how to parent is usually a big no-no. No mom wants to be told her way of doing things is wrong, and no one likes a know-it-all. But there might be a fine line in the act of other-mothering—maybe. At least, that’s the debate going on ever since actress Liv Tyler felt the need to intervene when she saw a mother yelling at and hitting a young child in a stroller. It’s unclear what Liv said to the woman, but it was obviously not well-received. So I’m wondering what’s to debate? If I saw a woman lose her temper with an innocent, helpless child, I’d probably say something to cool her down. After all, I don’t know how far she’ll go if I don’t say anything and just walk away. But I think every woman—not even necessarily moms—has her own opinion on the matter.

What do you think? Would you say something? Could you? Or do you think it’s none of your business?

Are you enjoying playtime with your kids?

Blogger Amy Hatch over at Parent Dish has written right there in black-and-white what many moms likely think and feel but don’t have the nerve to actually admit: Sometimes we just don’t like playing with our kids! Gasp! Now, it isn’t because we don’t love being around them, and it isn’t because we don’t love seeing their maturity and imaginations grow, and it certainly isn’t because we don’t love them. But sometimes the play gets monotonous and boring, and sometimes we just don’t have the energy to pull a train along a track after spending the rest of the day feeding, bathing, diapering, dressing, cleaning, cooking, etc. Sometimes playtime feels like work! When did that happen?! What do you think? Do you dread playtime? Do you look forward to it every day? Do you feel guilty when you want to put your feet up and read a magazine, but your kids are begging for you to play Ken to their Barbie? How do you muster up the energy for one more tea party or car race?

More than one-fifth of married mothers say it might be easier being single

It’s hard not to think the grass is always greener on the other side. After all, you’re not over there; you don’t know what you’re missing. All you know is that, even if your life seems perfect (rarely!), there’s probably something you would tweak and maybe it's on that other side. Well, one slightly aged poll of over 14,000 moms and this article in The New York Times of over 14,000 moms asked whether married moms or single moms had it easier. A no-brainer, right? It might depend on whether you’re married or single. According to this poll, 22 percent of the married mothers sometimes wished they were single. I was more than a little surprised by that statistic, but those women had understandable explanations. If they were single, they said they wouldn't have to negotiate parenting with a partner, they wouldn’t have to deal with in-laws, and they wouldn’t have to work on a marriage while raising the kids. I guess there’s some truth to all that.

What do you think? If you’re married, could you give up that second paycheck (if you’re both working) and that built-in partner and confidant?

Kids these days, ruder than they used to be?

Have you noticed that kids are getting more and more rude these days? Bethany Sanders over at Parent Dish is blogging about just this topic, and she’s wondering why it’s happening. One pediatrician claims that parents are so involved in their own kids—making sure they’re always happy—that moms and dads don’t stop to consider how their kids are affecting others. As long as their own are happy!

Some experts are blaming the Baby Boomer parents who raised today's crop of Gen-Xers. The Gen-Xers grew up with divorced parents as latchkey kids. Gen-Xers may be trying to provide for their kids what was not given to them. Also, in a time when families are so stressed for funds, parents may just want to have fun with their kids—not dole out discipline.

What do you think? Have you seen rude behavior from kids at the park or in the grocery store? Do you notice a decrease in discipline from other parents? Or do you believe that kids should be coddled more in today’s stressful situations?

Court-ordered chemo and parental rights. Your thoughts?

Could your religious or cultural beliefs cause you to put  your child’s life at risk? Daniel Hauser is a 13-year-old boy whose mother opted him out of chemotherapy in lieu of the alternative medicines preferred by their Native American band. Doctors say chemo has a 90 percent success rate, but without the modern medicine, the boy has only a 5 percent chance of living. Yet his mother insists on alternative remedies.

Enter: Child Protection. A judge ordered the boy to resume chemo for the remaining treatments. And his mother promptly fled Minnesota with the boy and is believed to be in California.  As of today there is a felony warrant out for her arrest.

 

Do you think it’s okay for the government to step into a private family matter like this? What do you think about either (or both!) of these issues? Can you see both sides? Tell us your thoughts by clicking onto "Comments" just below.

Do you plan on 24-hour help when you bring your newborn home?

You and your husband just got home from the hospital with your brand new baby—now what? Do you take your mom or mother-in-law up on the offer to stay with you until you get everything figured out and a routine established? Maybe you want some alone time with your husband and baby to lay your own groundwork for any semblance of a schedule.

Amalah over at the Alpha Mom website says she pretty much felt like she was a crazy lady from the planet of Gwak when she informed her family that they were not allowed to stay for longer than an average visit for two weeks after she brought her newborn home. It’s hard enough, she argues, to learn how to breast feed without having to figure it out in front of an audience. And to worry that your crying newborn is going to keep your company awake at all hours of the night? Psh. Forget it.

Is it weird that Amalah and her husband wanted to be alone with their baby, or that the family wanted to come and stay 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for who knows how long? What did you do? What will you do in the future? Use "comments" just below to tell us your thoughts.

Eating the placenta? It's not for everyone

It’s not for the weak-of-stomach, that’s for sure. A blogger over at ParentDish recalls a recent story of a woman who ate her own placenta after the birth of her first baby. Willingly. Asked for it, even.  Does the idea of eating your placenta totally gross you out? It seems that there are women who choose to do this because, as they argue, most other animals eat their own placentas, And they believe the placenta contains nutrients and hormone which some believe can help the woman bounce back more quickly from the childbirth experience. Would you eat your own placenta if you thought it could heal you mentally and physically much faster?

[Does anyone else but us think that probably the reason animals eat their own placentas is largely due to protecting themselves and their newborns from predators? Just a thought. We don't know for sure.]

 

 

Are you happy being a parent? The survey says...

If you’re busy reading parenting blogs, then you’re probably at least a little bit interested in the subject of parenting, and it probably means you like being a parent at least a little bit, right? On a scale from 1 to 10, can you rate it? It might be hard to specify exactly how much you enjoy being a parent, but you know you’re happy doing it. Right? Well, a study blogged about over at ParentDish reports that parents are actually less happy than couples who have no kids. They’re saying parents aren’t necessarily unhappy, but that maybe they were a little happier before—when they got more sleep or had freedom in their schedules. So what do you think? Are you happy being a parent? Were you even just a teensy bit happier before such major responsibility? Write us here.

An ever-present Epi-pen?

Peanuts can be the source of some serious allergic reactionss, and you don’t know if kids are going to suffer from an allergy until they’re in the throes of a reaction. But is it going too far to send your kid to school with an Epi pen just in case? This ParentDish bloggerwrote up an interesting story where one mom did just that—sent her kid to school with an Epi pen just in case of an allergic reaction to something or anything. Readers’ reactions about the story were divided. I know what I would say about the Epi-pushing mom’s  fear (why don’t you just crawl into a fire-proof, bomb-proof tent with your kid never let him/her experience anything?), so I was surprised by the mixed reactions on the story. What do you think? Over-protection? Being prepared?  Write us with your comment here. Click onto "comment(s)" just below.