In the immortal words of the philosopher, "Sometimes you just gotta say, WTF?" For alliterative purposes, this is one of those times:
One day, and you can't swing a Russian baby on the Internet without hitting a fevered reaction to Dadwagon's exclusive look at Russia's hottest new babyswinging trend. I'm sure it's concerned and inquisitive parents and not the addition of a new gallery of freedivers at the topless Egyptian babyswinging resort that brought down the fellas' servers. [dadwagon via everywhere]
On a completely unrelated topic, Lenore "Free Range Kids" Skenazy says that everyone else says that men are perverts. Not all men, mind you, just the ones near children. Such as their fathers, teachers, day care workers, and the ones who stop to help injured children on the side of the road, to name a few. [wsj via dt reader rolf]
The only way Janet Maslin's review of Amy Chua's buttonjabbing Tiger Moms book could get any better is if the first letter of each paragraph spelled out N-A-R-C-I-S-S-I-S-T. You know, I'm going to go check. Maybe it already does! [NYT via dt reader greg]
As a BYU survivor myself, I literally laugh out loud every time I think of the 1960s Dutch neo-dada anarchist movement known as Provo. Seriously, if the two Provos ever collided, it would annihilate the universe. And while the I knew the one Provo's plan for kids--have a bunch before you graduate at 25--I did not know the Amsterdammers White Plan for Children. Apparently it involved raising your kids collectively in groups of five families, so that one set of parents could watch the entire brood each day. Also, this, which needs no translation: "Laat hem op Straat Spelen" [wikipedia; iisg.nl]
A 23-year old woman who had her doubts about the family raising her decided to start investigating, and sure enough, she was the 19-day old baby who was kidnapped from Harlem Hospital without a trace in 1987. She met her biological parents, who'd been looking for her the whole time, on Tuesday. [nyt]
BONUS FOX NEWS UPDATE:
@dadwagon: FoxNews comment thread on #babyyoga is comprised entirely of Tea Party signage: 'She's almost as wreckless as Obama' http://fxn.ws/hWJQln
If Maslin's review of Chua's book could have been published 2 weeks earlier, the book would be headed for the discount rack rather than the best seller list. And the blogosphere and op-ed columnists would have had to find something else to write about.
On the "everyone a pervert" front, it's pervasive. I have to make a conscious effort to chill out of the kid is hanging around with an unknown adult male. If it's at the playground, sometimes I'll move to where I can't see them as a little demonstration of faith in humanity to myself.
Am I not correct in thinking your kid is in far more danger from one of those goddamned dogs running around without a leash than some hypothetical stranger?
"About 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year....: Among children, the rate of dog bite–related injuries is highest for those ages 5 to 9 years, and children are more likely than adults to receive medical attention for dog bites than adults."
http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/dog-bites/biteprevention.html
Fucking dog owners and their fucking sense of entitlement. Fucking dog off a leash heads toward by kid and it's a dead fucking dog.