We had the in-laws in town for a 4-day playdate, so if the Freakout list is late and lazy, I hope you'll understand. Besides, isn't swine flu enough of a freakout this week already?
- Obligatory swine flu freakout: a charter flight carrying around 260-270 civilian family members of US military personnel was quarantined on base after landing at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. A 4-mo American baby had apparently shown symptoms of swine flu. No confirmation yet, of course, but it's comforting to know a snot-nosed infant with a fever is all it takes to close down the biggest US naval base in Asia. [excite.co.jp, google translate]
- "Dad bit toddler son in the neck, Reading police say": "[Recently evicted baby daddy come back to make trouble 32-yo Aaron] Barragan-Cruz then grabbed the couple's 1-year-old son from a crib and bit him, tearing out a large chunk of flesh near his throat." the Reading Eagle say. "HOLY CRAP!," daddytypes say. [readingeagle.com]
- To everyone who sent it along, yes, the North Dakota woman charged with child neglect for breastfeeding her 6-week-old baby while she was, in the words of the police officers who responded to her domestic disturbance call, "extremely intoxicated," is definitely Freakout material. [thesmokinggun.com]
- OTOH, I remember a friend talking at an affair at the Southampton Beach Club Corporation one evening, saying she probably shouldn't have another drink because she had to go home and feed the baby. But she persevered, and apparently the kid slept till the mid-afternoon. I suspect they found that consequence rather tempting on those summer weekends.
- Kindergarten is being regimented and ruined by homework and teaching to useless standardized tests, and what it needs to do is go back to pedagogically sound, play-based learning, says a report by the Alliance for Childhood. The report analyzes nine studies of kindergarten populations in NY and LA. [allianceforchildhood.org, pdf, via nyt]
