Bunch Family

What the cool parents are reading today:

1. Does What to Expect When You’re Expecting come off as an uber chick flick? Billboards are really highlighting the dad group in the movie, The Dudes, in order to make the dads seem like cool, fun, relatable people, you know, like how women feel about Sandra Bullock and Ginnifer Goodwin. It’s the new dad image. Previously, the dads have always had a more Homer Simpson vibe to them in marketing. Bunch’s own Rebecca Brown tells the Globe and Mail why this is silly.

2. Speaking of the new dad image, one of the dads from the Rise of the Dad Wars article says there is no war, it’s just a ploy. Sure, sometimes he feels different when it’s just him and the moms at the playground, but he’s not alienated.  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. The number of kids with ADHD in the U.S has just about doubled since 2000. Doubled. Sometimes, when diagnoses goes up, it might just mean that we’re better about identifying things, or maybe over-diagnosing things, but wasn’t the over-medicating heyday more like 2000?

2. There’s a $180, 000 nanny. Um, where do we apply?

3. Rebecca Eckler learns the dark side of mommyblogging — when your kid gets old enough to use Google image search.

4. A woman who left her husband and kids for six months to go research in Japan and subsequently broke up with her husband has been receiving death threats for her bad mothering.

5. Do we all know and love PS22? Here they are covering Whitney Houston!

Photo by Ed Yourdon via Flickr

What we’re reading today:

1. Former congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford’s husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, is writing a children’s book. Wait, it gets better! The book will be called Mousetronaut: A Partially True Story.

2. For young moms under 30, most babies are born outside of marriage. But, are they all single moms, or are they babies born to co-habitating parents who just aren’t married?

3. Measuring healthy birth weights, but taking ethnicity into account.

4. One writer/film maker says that distraction is a good thing, and that there’s nothing wrong with his son who is also easily distracted and he rejects the idea that his kids needs Ritalin.

5. A dog can be such an important member of the family, this one is even teaching the baby new tricks:

Photo by tikos79 via Flickr

What we’re reading today:

1. Parents of kids with behavioural or learning issues really, really don’t need you diagnosing their kids.

2. Looking for an old Biblical name for your kid but want something a little more unique? Here are 12 underused names for boys. (Though we’d still stay away from the ones with such negative meanings)

3. If your kid confesses to you that their friends are engaging in some bad behaviour, do you tell those kids’ parents?

4. Some mom who went on Toddlers and Tiaras is now suing a bunch of media outlets for sexualizing her daughter. Um, we’ve seen Toddlers and Tiaras; it’s not the media outlets doing the sexualizing, it’s the crazy pageant moms.

5. Love Walking Dead but wish there was a family-friendly zombie show to watch with your kids? If only!

 Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. Oh Tina Fey. We feel you. Fey was watching 30 Rock with 6-year-old daughter Alice when there was a reference to an erection under someone’s clothes. Alice asked what an erection was and Fey picked the most innocuous explanation she could. “An erection is a building.” But Alice knew that wasn’t quite right.

2. Dr. Spock’s revised his Baby and Child Care so that it now covers autism, ADHD and has a new section for gay and lesbian parents.

3. Looking for some new baby names? Look no further than this civil war general guide! We actually really love a couple of the names on here, but you can blame our Classical education. Also, while we’re not huge on Cullen, the Cullen on Hell on Wheels is tough as nails and mighty handsome, so we could see that name coming back. (Just not coming back in an Edward and Jacob way).  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. What causes ADHD in kids? Could poverty and diabetes during pregnancy have anything to do with it?

2. A healthy living campaign in Georgia is fat-shaming kids. Somehow we think the childhood obesity crisis won’t be fixed by making kids feel bad.

3. The whole economic crisis thing just got real: Sesame Street is losing money.

4. Kids in poor neighbourhoods, despite not being crazy overscheduled with lessons and teams, are missing out on some crucial unstructured playtime. Get those kids to a (safe) playground!

5. On a lighter note (kinda), here’s the trailer for the fake movie, The Lion King Rises:

Photo by Tiggywinkle via Flickr

What we’re reading today:

1. If all small kids have short attention spans, how does a person go about diagnosing ADHD in a toddler? They’re extra squirmy and non-sharing, and it’s hindering their development.

2. “I went clubbing with my son.” Pretty sure we’ve seen this already on Keeping Up With the Kardashians when Rob takes Bruce out somewhere young and hip.

3. Does your kid have a gross habit? Of course he/she does; kids are disgusting. (But so adorable!) Here’s how to get your kid to stop picking her nose.

4. A Michigan dad made the responsible choice when he was too drunk to drive and instead got his daughter to take the wheel. She’s only 9, so he strapped her into a booster seat so she could see over the wheel. Despite the fact that she was “driving good,” police still pulled the pair over.  Read more...

What we’re reading today:

1. New Jersey is proposing a law that would make it illegal to photograph or film kids. The idea is to catch the creepy perverts, but what about event photographers or capturing your kid among their friends?

2. What three words describe your parenting philosophy? Have you ever taken any parenting advice from someone who wasn’t a parent?

3. When is the best time to have a baby? (We don’t know what this one couple in the article is waiting for, Grey’s Anatomy hasn’t been a good show for years.)

4. Could screen time (TV, computer, video game) be causing ADHD?

5. One kid who apparently does not have ADHD, 10-year-old Jonny Mizone has clearly sat down and focused on the banjo for some time:

Photo by Vanto_6747 via Flickr