1. New play date trend: signing a waiver. Are people threatening legal action action play dates gone wrong? Can we add sub-clauses re: reasonable, expected childhood injuries like scraped knees from skateboarding?
2. You know how toddlers are so irresistibly cute and you can’t get mad at them but you have no trouble yelling at their older siblings if they’ve misbehaved? Yeah, science shows babies loose their cuteness at 4.5-years-old. If any genius 3-year-olds are reading this, live it up while you can! You can’t rely on your adorableness to get you out of trouble forever.
3. Parents are going to have to shell out a little more money on Easter eggs this year. Europe is low on eggs. Between Norway’s butter shortage and the current egg crisis, it’s like the world is trying to deny Europe rich desserts. Egg production has dropped about 10-15 percent since the EU’s new requirements for bigger, better cages for egg-laying hens. Eh, maybe this is the Western privilege coming out, but raising egg prices and making them slightly less easy to come by doesn’t seem like the worst idea… Read more...
4. Ever doubt your parenting skills and need reassurance? If you’re not sending your kids to a dance teacher like the one featured in this week’s Dance Moms, you’re doing OK. To be fair, it’s not the parents’ fault that the dance teacher doesn’t know any better. Giving those outraged moms the benefit of the doubt, they probably just wanted to send their girls to the local competitive dance school and trusted the choreographers would know what’s appropriate for 9-year-olds. From now on, don’t trust a choreographer who doesn’t look like they’d be able/willing to do most of the routine themselves. Read more...
1. Want to give your kid an unusual name? One couple in Israel have named their baby girl Like, as in, the Facebook thumbs up action. Says the dad, “If once people gave Biblical names and that was the icon, then today [the Facebook Like] is one of the most famous icons in the world.” Via Mommyish
2. The botoxing mom from Good Morning America has lost custody of her 8-year-old. Via Jezebel
3. Junior Kumon. It’s a thing. You can start them at age 3, or younger so long as your kid can sit still for 15 minutes and pay attention. Via New York TimesRead more...
1. Enough with the sneaky vegetables, Babble! If you’re going to make a delicious zucchini bread, tell the kids the dish they just enjoyed was indeed zucchini bread! Likewise the eggplant parm pasta sauce. And who are you kidding, thinking a picky eater will fail to notice the peas and broccoli in his macaroni and cheese, the bright green leafy things in a translucent rice paper wrap, or the fact that his tasty calzone is chock full of mushroom and spinach? That said, the recipes look absolutely delicious.
2. So teaching kids about civil rights is pretty important, yes? And teaching kids that certain groups of people haven’t always been seen as equal and have had to fight/continue to fight to have equal rights as their non-minority counterparts is a giant part of teaching civil rights? So why did some private school parents in San Francisco object to a tour around the Castro neighbourhood to learn some local history and about Harvey Milk and such? Via JezebelRead more...
But if you’re looking for some sound parenting advice anyway (aside from “Don’t get your toddler drunk”) check out our friend Alyson Schafer‘s new book, Ain’t Misbehavin’. Cory Doctorow says Schafer provides “solutions that allow you to retain your sanity and your integrity without escalating spats into fights and fights into wars.” Via BoingBoing
So apparently filming the finding out of pregnancy tests results is a whole genre on youtube. We’ve seen a lot of positive pregnancy tests popping up in our facebook news feed, but have yet to encounter one of these videos from our friends. Slate looks at WombTube
An invitation-only preschool in San Francisco is “sort of a toddler’s version of being tapped for Skull and Bones at Yale.” Via New York Times Read more...
