Home with the Kids Blog » Issues and Politics

Here Goes! Election Day!

Stephanie — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:56:30 +0000

Should be an interesting one. Even though I’m very much interested in the results, it’s not my style to spend the day or even the evening staring at the television to get the results as early as possible. I figure there are more productive things I could be doing.

I’ll be taking care of voting this morning. I had hoped to get out to vote early, but things just didn’t work out that way.

However you’re voting, just don’t let long lines or anything else keep you from it. It’s an important election and you should do your best to make your opinion be heard.

PETA vs. Ice Cream

Stephanie — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:29:34 +0000

I saw this tweeted by eMom about PETA trying to get Ben & Jerry’s to switch to breast milk for their ice cream. Obviously just another publicity ploy, which is about all they ever seem to accomplish, but for once I’ll take the bait.

A stupid notion at best. You just have to look at how hard it is to get human breast milk for babies in NICU, and how many mothers struggle with production anyhow to realize that this is ridiculous.

Hey, I’m pregnant and planning on breastfeeding. Of course this idea annoys me.

So far as I’m concerned, there are very few uses I would allow my breastmilk to be put to. The first is obviously to feed my child. As I have so far always been one of the lucky ones able to produce excess, the rest I hope to donate to a milk bank so that it is available for babies who need it.

Not for ice cream.

Will There Be a Toy Shortage This Christmas?

Stephanie — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 21:13:11 +0000

I was listening to them talking on the news last night about a potential shortage of toys this Christmas. With all the recent recalls it seems that toys will be going through extra safety checks. This means retailers will probably sell out of popular toys before December.

To me this seems like a good time to talk to kids about expectations. I know there are hugely popular toys that come out every year. Many go for ridiculous prices on eBay when the supply available in stores is insufficient.

My kids haven’t done that to me yet. My daughter is just starting the phase of wanting every toy she sees on a television commercial. So far I just tell her we can put it on her Christmas wish list and to remember that she will not get every single things she asks for.

I’ve never understood why people spend so much for toys on eBay just because they can’t buy them locally in time. Maybe I’m crazy, but I’ve often thought that explaining that the toy will have to wait could teach a child patience. Is it really so bad for the child to not own the toy Christmas day?

If this toy shortage comes through, I would suggest that parents take some time to think about how many toys kids get for Christmas anyhow. I know we have to do toy cleanouts regularly, with old ones going to charity, just because my kids have so many. We don’t buy that many, but by the time you get through all the gifts from relatives and friends, it comes out to quite a stack.

A toy shortage does not have to be disasterous or ruin your child’s Christmas. I think if parents talk to their kids and keep expectations appropriate this can be a great chance for kids to learn what really matters in life and at Christmas.

[tags]christmas,toy shortage,toys[/tags]

Are Kids Spoiled These Days?

Stephanie — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 18:23:12 +0000

A lot of people think that kids these days are spoiled. And it’s easy to see why. Kids often have tons of toys, electronics and family life can seem to center around them.

Heck, the Navy even compared the current generation reaching recruitment age to aliens! Basically they feel that kids these days speak such strange jargon with their abbreviations (LOL), and that they are excessively used to being praised.

Well, we can argue that one back and forth all the time. Certainly a lot of parents have been told to do everything they can for their child’s self esteem, and many take that to mean praise every little thing. But I still have faith that most parents do the best they can and try not to overdo it.

I agree with the experts over on WebMD. They have a great list on how to raise a spoiled child.

One of the easiest mistakes to make in my opinion is not enforcing rules consistently. I suspect we all do this to some degree. The challenge is to not do it too much, and most especially to keep it consistent on the most important rules.

I love the idea of knowing how to praise a child properly. In a lot of ways I don’t think it’s so much what you praise as how you praise it. It’s been shown that telling your child that they’re smart is not as effective as telling they you’re proud of how hard they worked. It’s just more motivating.

I do know my kids have a lot more toys than they need. We have a plan to go through them hopefully soon and get rid of at least half. That will take care of a lot of the clutter. And you know what? My daughter is looking forward to it. We just did a smaller cleanout of her clothes, and she was delighted and very proud to have worked so hard on that kind of a project.

I don’t think my kids are too spoiled. I work hard at making sure they know they are a part of my life, but not the only thing. They help around the house. They have rules to follow. It seems to work pretty well.

[tags]spoiled kids,navy aliens,children,family,rules[/tags]

Vaccines & Autism – Off to Court!

Stephanie — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:11:14 +0000

Lots of people have been trying to sue on this one. I know a lot of people believe there is a connection between vaccines and autism, no matter how many scientists insist otherwise. This lead finally to a look at the thimerosal in vaccines, and finally the sense to start taking it out. And now the courts are taking on the first case to see what the legal system comes up with.

I found some points in the article very interesting. Such as the point that children get more mercury from breastfeeding than from vaccines. I’d love to see some numbers on that one. Just seems amazing. That doesn’t mean to me that mercury in vaccines should be allowed, however. Why add more than necessary, especially all at once?

But I am inclined to doubt the connection. As I understand it, autism tends to become most evident at an age when vaccines are commonly given. But I also don’t understand why autism has become so much more common. Is it just a change in how it is diagnosed or is there something we need to worry about?

I really feel for parents with autistic children. At my daughter’s preschool they take some of the kids from the special class they have for autistic children and have them interact with the regular class. It teaches the autistic children how to cope with other people and is really good for the other children too. Much to my surprise, Ariel has really taken to this.

I don’t think her teachers expected this either. Some of the kids in her class were selected for a special program where they go to the autistic kids’ class after their class, just for a half hour. She wasn’t picked.

But these days the teachers who help the autistic children just adore Ariel. She has latched onto a couple of the autistic children and is great at getting them to play with her. It’s great for the ones who would otherwise just do nothing.

I’ve only met one of the moms once; the classes get out at different times. But I do wonder if they feel anything caused their child’s autism and what they would think of this.

[tags]autism,vaccines,vaccine lawsuit,kids,children,school[/tags]

Arrr! I Be Yer Teacher, Mateys!

Stephanie — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 20:39:14 +0000

And this is why you don’t put things you don’t want out in public on your MySpace page. A student teacher has been refused her credential due to a picture labeled “drunken pirate” on her MySpace page, because the college felt the photo was unprofessional. They felt the photo would encourage underage drinking.

Considering that she was rated superior or competent in all other areas, I find this ridiculous. It’s a part of her private life, and it’s certainly not that she was showing underage drinking. Drinking is legal for teachers off duty, after all.

I could even see the college informing her that it would be a good idea to take the image down and remind her that some would see it as unprofessional. But to deny her the credential she had earned over something so simple is ridiculous.

And yes, I would not expect them to require her to remove it. But recommending it seems fine to me.

I don’t mind holding teachers up to high professional standards. They are examples to our children. But that doesn’t mean they don’t get to lead normal lives at a private level. A simple reminder that students could easily find that page would say plenty. But the picture would have to be far more inappropriate than an image of a woman in a pirate hat drinking something from a cup to excuse denying a credential.

[tags]drunken pirate,student teacher denied credential,teaching credential[/tags]

Parent-Teacher Conferences Can Be Interesting

Virginia Tech Shooting

Stephanie — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 23:55:17 +0000

It’s just horrifying seeing the news on the shooting at Virginia Tech. 32 people dead, including the shooter.

A big part of the tragedy is that the bulk of the shootings took place more than two hours after the first. An email was sent out about two hours after the first shootings, but classes continued as normal, and there was no campus-wide announcement.

Admittedly, they thought the first shootings were due to a domestic disturbance, and that the gunman had left the campus. That turned out to be horribly wrong. Unfortunately, I don’t see any way they could have anticipated a second shooting.

If you want an easy way to follow the story, you can try this search I did on Google News. I don’t doubt there will be a lot of changes and details added to the story through the day.

[tags]virginia tech shooting[/tags]

A Serious Injustice

Stephanie — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:37:38 +0000

Sometimes you can just see when justice goes mad. That appears to be the case with what has happened to Shaquanda Cotton. She has been sentenced to seven years in prison for shoving a hall monitor in her school.

Many of you won’t be surprised to hear that Shaquanda is black. It’s disappointing but true that these cases seem to happen all too often on a racial basis. I won’t say always, but definitely too often for mere coincedence in my opinion.

You can read about her on BlogHer, and I also found a story about it on the Chicago Tribune website. The Chicago Tribune website may requie a registration later on, but I was able to read it at the time I posted this.

Consider that this is a girl, now 15, with no prior criminal record. This is not someone who has been a constant problem and finally stepped over the line. The trouble she got into at school appears to have been fairly minor, and not always accurately reported.

I can understand that something like this could go to court as an assault. But seven years in prison… in other words, up to her 21st birthday, in a prison that normally the most troubled children go to, for something like this is insane. Especially when you compare her story to the case of a white teen burning her family’s home down and only getting probation, which would have been far more sensible Shaquanda’s case.

I would love to see more publicity about this case. I don’t like this kind of thing just hiding in the shadows, allowed because nobody noticed. Shaquanda is already in the second year of her sentence. As the word spreads, I hope something can be done about such injustice.

[tags]Shaquanda Cotton,injustice,justice gone wrong[/tags]

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Could Money Problems for SAHMs be Eased with Tax Relief?

Stephanie — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 23:14:35 +0000

Help might just be on the way. The Parents’ Tax Relief Act of 2007 has been introduced in Congress. I don’t see it listed on the Library of Congress site yet, but it was just introduced so I assume it hasn’t been listed yet. Found the Parents’ Tax Relief Act of 2005, which was a prior attempt at this.

I love the idea of this. It is so hard for families to find a way to have one parent stay home, yet many families would love to do just that.

It should also help somewhat with the loss of Social Security protection. Even stay at home moms would be earning towards Social Security, in this bill. Social Security is one of those factors that most don’t consider when making the decision to stay at home, yet the time may come where it will be very important to you.

To quote from the article linked above:

The Parents’ Tax Relief Act extends the Dependent Care Tax Credit to stay-at-home parents; makes permanent the $1,000 Child Tax Credit and fixes it to inflation; and permanently eliminates the marriage tax penalty. The bill also encourages telecommuting, adjusts Social Security credits for stay-at-home parents, and streamlines the home office deduction.

Sounds great! This bill has been introduced in both House and Senate.

I would love to see it more reasonable for mothers or fathers to make the choice to stay at home and raise their children as their partner works. There is so much that could be done to make being a SAHM less financially difficult, so that parents can make the decision that is right for their family more easily.
I can also hardly wait to see what it does for the home office deduction.

I don’t demand that all families have one parent stay at home with their young children. I do recommend all families look at the possibility, then make the decision that is right for them. If this passes, the money side of the equation may be a little easier.

[tags]Parents Tax Relief Act of 2007,SAHM,Congress,House,Senate,Social Security[/tags]

Should MySpace Have to Check Ages?

Stephanie — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:14:26 +0000

A lawmaker in Connecticut wants to require MySpace and other social networking sites to verify user’s ages and obtain parental consent before minors can set up profiles.

This is problematic at best, although I can certainly sympathize with the desire to protect young people from online predators. But confirming ages hasn’t worked so far as it is very easy for people to lie about their age online. I’m very curious about how they expect social networking sites to manage that one.

And they had to use one of the most annoying quotes people use when talking about what we can and cannot accomplish:

“If we can put a man on the moon, we can check ages of people on these Web sites.”

As though one has anything to do with the other.

While I don’t have a social networking site as such, I am wary of such legislation, wondering if they will include forums in this kind of thing. It seems like a small leap to me. I don’t believe they’re planning on including them right now, but since the same sort of issue could arise in a forum all too easily, who is to say?

I would also note how quickly this kind of solution could get expensive. How exactly are sites to confirm ages? Online database with age information? Sounds like a risk to privacy. Contacting parents directly could quickly add up, and how do you know you really have the parents?

I certainly agree something ought to be done to protect children online, but to me it is more the parents’ job and less the government’s or the website’s. Young people will meet people their parents would rather they didn’t sometimes and parents need to know enough about their children’s lives to catch on to problems before they get serious.

No, it is not an easy task. Being a parent has never been worry-free. And yes the internet has made it easy for young people to meet people they shouldn’t. That shows that parents need to be more aware.

Get the internet-connected computer out of the children’s bedrooms. Use tracking software as necessary. Do not rely on businesses to keep track of your children’s activities for you… well, unless you hire them specifically for that purpose.

[tags]myspace,connecticut,social networking sites,protecting children,teens[/tags]