A reader at Talking Points Memo sent along pictures from his grandmother's attic of Republican coloring book that mocked President Kennedy. Basically nothing has changed in fifty years, which at least provides a sort of comfort, a continuity with...
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Category archive: news
May 21, 2012
GOP Anti-JFK Coloring Book
May 18, 2012
DT Friday Freakout White Babies Edition
You know, it's been a busy, even crazy week, and my eye is kind of hurting because I swim with only one eye open, when I should really just get a pair of goggles? Anyway, this week's freakout is...
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May 17, 2012
The Last Wiggle Standing
The Wiggles have been trying to morph from actual people into mindless, mass producible, perpetually monetizable branded characters for years, even before "Greg Wiggle" got sick in 2006 and was replaced by Sam Moran as "The Yellow Wiggle." And now...
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May 4, 2012
DT Friday Freakout
Some headlines and such from the worlds of science, politics, and parenting, all rolled up into one, weekend-ruining Freakout, a public service of Daddy Types: Yeah, but the problem as always, is the last mile: "1 sperm has 37.5MB of...
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May 2, 2012
Gilty! Maclaren Is Definitely Not Dumping Netto Furniture On Gilt.com
Yes, it's Netto Furniture By Maclaren for sale at around 50% off at Gilt, but the question is, which of Farzad Rastegar's Maclaren shell companies is behind it? And will these Louis cribs and changers and Cub cribs and...
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April 29, 2012
The First Rule Of Maclaren Bankruptcy Club
So on Wednesday I was all excited because it looked like at least somebody still cared about the reports of financial shenanigans in Maclaren's stealth bankruptcy liquidation. And I figured I'd get around to posting about it, because that somebody...
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April 27, 2012
DT Friday Freakout: Class Edition
The Friday Freakout, a compendium of parenting headlines delivered all at once instead of dribbled out daily, to ruin just your weekend, a Daddy Types exclusive: During the Obama administration, the food and beverage industry has doubled the amount of...
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April 20, 2012
Some Headlines Can't Be Beat
Sarah Palin's New Grandchild Here Six Months Early [wonkette]...
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April 9, 2012
Surely Crunchy Vacctivists Will Infect Us All
If the inadequate vaccination schedules don't, that is. And really, it's mostly the tiniest kids who can't get vaccinated yet who need the herd immunity in the first place. Discover Magazine's Bad Astronomy blog points to a local Fox News...
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April 6, 2012
DT Friday Freakout: Free Range Organic McNuggets Edition
A roundup of headlines from the worlds of science, politics, education, and parenting to ruin your weekend all at once, it's the Daddy Types Friday Freakout: Fast food causes depression. [psychcentral via the awl] And not just by finding out...
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April 2, 2012
Shady Baby: Maclaren's Secret Outlet Stores
Alright, here's the short version of this post: Farzad Rastegar's basically got two front operations in random condos in Norwalk, Connecticut to unload recalled Maclaren USA strollers online. Some of those strollers come from Maclaren USA, the subsidiary Rastegar put...
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March 20, 2012
'The State Department Says The Donor Determines Citizenship'
I'm kind of amazed by this story. Maybe it's the way it's written. The State Department's regulations do not consider kids conceived in vitro and born outside the US to US citizens to be eligible for US citizenship themselves. The...
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March 18, 2012
Maclaren's Holding Pattern
Still trying to figure out what's going on with Maclaren's main website, Maclarenbaby.com, but DT commenter DD pointed out that the company's retailer website, B2BMaclaren.com, is still up and running and doing fine. Which I thought was unusual, because even...
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March 17, 2012
Maclarenbaby.com: Nothing To See Here, Move Along
Just when you think that nothing's happening this week on the Maclaren bankruptcy and PR smokescreen front, the company's global website, Maclarenbaby.com, goes down for two days and counting. As [so far] only Daddy Types has reported, Maclarenbaby.com, is...
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March 14, 2012
Kissing Babies
Our 5-week old daughter and Mitt Romney have one thing in common; they've both been up all night, crying.— Michael David Murphy (@whileseated) March 14, 2012...
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March 13, 2012
Survey: Dads Are Parents, Too
AdAge's Matt Carmichael took an interesting look at a Parents Magazine/Edelman survey tracking dads' shifting roles in family life. As ambivalent as I am about encouraging targeting by dad-happy marketers, I found myself basically agreeing with his take:With any research...
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March 12, 2012
First, Get Some Clippers And A Styrofoam Plate
Chris Paul's kid said he needed a protective mask now, too, so Paul made him one. This does not mean, however, that you can throw the ball into the kid's face. I mean, you're not Kobe Bryant or anything....
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March 9, 2012
Maclaren 'Regrets The Recent Confusion In The US Media'
No, Maclaren, I'm sorry. It's not you, it's me. Though they won't actually talk to anyone live, or answer any questions, Kids Today, the longtime trade journal for the juvenile products industry, reports that Bevin Gove, Maclaren's director of public...
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March 7, 2012
A Brief History Of Maclaren, The Folding Stroller Company
As I was saying the other day in the New York Times [ahem], "The corporate behavior here seems out of step with my perceptions of the Maclaren brand as a parent." Which really got me thinking about what I actually...
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March 6, 2012
Huffington Post Reports On Maclaren Bankruptcy Bafflement
I would have gone with, "Maclaren Bankruptcy Leaves Finger Amputation Lawsuits Hanging," but otherwise, Alice Hines' report in the Huffington Post today is pretty solid--and very well-illustrated. Hines interviewed one of the moms of a kid whose finger got...
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March 2, 2012
Traction: Maclaren Bankruptcy Story Hits NYT, WSJ
Well, that's a relief, to know that the Maclaren USA bankruptcy filing story is as unexpected, confusing, and confounding as I'd thought. The Wall Street Journal's Bankruptcy Beat blog has a post about Maclaren tonight, which is nice. And in...
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DT Friday Freakout: Babyccino Edition
I may add to this later, but it's a start: Dude, male birth control pills, transurethral ultrasound AND babyccino? The only way Colbert could be begging any harder for a Daddy Types link is if he had Uma on to...
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The Year Of The Dadblog At SXSWi
Planning your trip to #SXSWi? @ajjacobs @PetCobra @foodmomiac @cheimbuch and @rufgrisc will be talking about dadblogs. ow.ly/9pXU7— DadCentric (@DadCentric) March 2, 2012 Be there or be square, people!...
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March 1, 2012
Brandchannel Nabs Netto For Macopalypse 2012 Story
Nice get, Abe. In his extensive report on Maclaren USA's Ch. 7 liquidation mystery, Brandchannel's Abe Sauer scored some quotes from "ex-Creative Director of Maclaren Nursery," David Netto. And it sounds like the $1.1 million owed to Netto in the...
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Happy Happy Tweet Tweet
If we haven't heard about corporate turmoil and management shenanigans at Maclaren before, it could be because it didn't exist until the stress of the 2009 recall during a recession put people on edge. Or maybe it's just venting by...
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Whoa, On The Other End Of The Stroller Spectrum, Bugaboo USA President Kari Boiler Is Leaving
Maybe it's me? Is every stroller company I've ever bought from going to go through a major management shift? I got word from the company's publicists that Kari Boiler, the president of Bugaboo USA, is leaving. Boiler's been president for...
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February 29, 2012
Wheels Falling Off The Maclaren?
Dude, this is not sounding good. While trying to find out what's been going on with Maclaren USA and its bankruptcy liquidation, I've been hearing from customers and retailers who deal with them, and current and former Mac employees, some...
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February 27, 2012
Whoa. David Netto Tweet-Resigns From Maclaren
I have resigned as creative director of maclaren nursery today and am disassociating myself from the company.— David Netto (@DavidNettoSays) February 27, 2012 Guess that answers the question of which side of the bankruptcy table David Netto is sitting...
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February 26, 2012
Maclaren Group: It's Not Us! We're Fine! Just Some Paperwork!
Alright, so there is some movement in the Maclaren bankruptcy story. A couple of other sites picked up the story of Maclaren USA's Ch 7. liquidation filing, including BabyGizmo who, on Friday night, was as shocked as DT was:We just...
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February 24, 2012
DT Friday Freakout
Here are some headlines from the worlds of science, safety, politics and parenting, all balled up into one big freakout to ruin your weekend: A shorter Babble: "Helicopter Parenting: Am I the reason why my son's so difficult?" Yes. [babble...
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February 23, 2012
Maclaren Creditors Meeting Today At Noon
As I am clearly reporting about Maclaren USA's business restructuring and stealth bankruptcy liquidation solely for my own amusement/outrage, I will point out to myself that the bankruptcy court in Connecticut has set a creditor's meeting for today, at noon....
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February 21, 2012
Wow, Why Has Maclaren Quietly Filed For Bankruptcy Liquidation?
Well. On December 29, 2011, Maclaren USA, the premium umbrella stroller company, quietly filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Connecticut. The company's US headquarters is in Norwalk, where its owner, private equity investor Farzad Rastegar, lives. Chapter 7 is...
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February 17, 2012
DT Friday Freakout: Sleep Edition
Because you've got enough to freak out about already, Daddy Types collects headlines from the worlds of science, health, and parenting designed to freak you during the week, and compiles them into one big, weekend-ruining list, the DT Friday Freakout:...
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February 15, 2012
New York Public Library To Children: Drop Dead
Oh, wait, no, they're not going to reopen the Donnell Children's Library across the street from MoMA after all. New York Public Library Revives its Overhaul Plan [nyt]...
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February 13, 2012
DT Monday Meds Mayhem
I try, but sometimes, some things really can't wait until the DT Friday Freakout. Like this study showing that acetaminophen causes asthma. And that kids with asthma or at risk for it are recommended not to take it. It's apparently...
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February 10, 2012
DT Friday Freakout: Diet Coke Edition
I don't know about you, but for me, this week's roundup of headlines from the worlds of science, health, and parenting is a Super Double Big Gulp of freakout. I'd drown my freakout in Diet Coke, but, well: Diet sodas...
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February 7, 2012
Huh, The Disney Baby-Free World DOES End In 2012.
We interrupt this completely esoteric posting stream to bring you this important announcement: HOLY CRAP, THE DISNEY BABY JUGGERNAUT! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE:I wanted to share some exciting news from Disney Baby as the brand announced its expansion into Mealtime, Bathtime,...
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January 30, 2012
HIT Job
image: via seo blog thomasthetankenginefriends Speaking of selling out babies, the announcement that, as anticipated, senior executives of HIT Entertainment will be leaving the company when its acquisition by Mattel is completed, led me to this awesomely written article...
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January 19, 2012
Beauty, Mate! Now Get Lost! Greg Wiggle Is Back, Other Yellow Wiggle Is Toast
Oh, man, I seriously haven't given two synapses worth of attention to The Wiggles in years until just a few minutes ago, when I was reminded of them by the four blockhead toy dudes in that Antonio Vitali car....
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January 18, 2012
It's A Girl! A Documentary About Killing Infant Girls In India & China & Such
"Today, India and China eliminate more girls than the number of girls born in the United States every year." That's the opening line in the trailer for It's A Girl!, Christian filmmaker Evan Grae Davis's upcoming documentary on the widespread...
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January 17, 2012
The Wonderful World Of SOPA & PIPA
On Wednesday the 18th, many people, organizations, websites and companies will stage one-day Internet strike, shutting their sites down in protest of two pieces of legislation currently before the US Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act [SOPA] and the Protect...
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January 13, 2012
DT Friday Freakout: Disaster Edition
Well, I just had my calendar cleared, and ended up spending ten hours out with the kids. At one point, we just sat in the car. For like an hour. Just chilling when napping wouldn't do. And then there were...
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January 9, 2012
Pennsylvania 6-Brony Thousand!
Here is a thoughtful report from the latest BroNYCon, which was held at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City on Saturday. At least one con attendee was married, which I think means that the possibilities that a brony might...
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January 6, 2012
DT Friday Freakout: Boing Boing Edition
It's the weekend! Which will now be ruined by freaking out over these news stories from the worlds of parenting, health, science, and whatever: Fetal cells basically stay floating in the mother's bloodstream forever. It's called microchimerism. [boingboing, which, hmm,...
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December 29, 2011
BREAKING: Other Half The Population Also Buys Groceries
Maybe it's the MBA geek in me, but man, I love it when industry consultants talk shop, like in this Chicago Tribune article about supermarkets and consumer product conglomerates finally noticing that men do half the grocery shopping:"The mindset has...
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December 23, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Bears & Bees Edition
It's the DT Friday Freakout! A roundup of headlines from the worlds of health, science, and parenting to ruin your holiday weekend: The CPSC announced a recall of 7,260 Bugaboo Bees, all manufactured in 2011, to replace front swivel...
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December 22, 2011
And They Shall Call His Name Emanuel. And His Jesus.
Let's put this story from the northern Brazilian state of Para into chronological order:Claudioner Assis de Vasconcelos, director of the hospital in Anajas where she gave birth, told Brazil's O Povo newspaper that the mother came in because she was...
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December 21, 2011
Lego Occupy Wall Street Riot Brigade Set
"Gear up! Roll out! And put an end to dissent!" Try sayin' Lego's evil now, hippie! Occupy Wall Street Riot Brigade Lego Set [slate v via laughingsquid]...
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December 20, 2011
There's A Breastfeeding Flashmob in Brighton Tonight
After a mum was "victimised" by being told that her breastfeeding made some other people in the vegetarian restaurant feel "unpleasant," a "flashmob" of 40 or so lactivists swooped into wherever Brighton and just breastfed the hell out of the...
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December 19, 2011
There Are Underground Preschools On The East Coast, Too
I knew I should wait to post about this. There are now over 350 comments on Soni Sangha's NYT story of the stresses of operating an underground co-op nursery school in Brooklyn, so I'm pretty sure that everything that can...
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December 15, 2011
Wait, Have We Really Reached Peak Ava?
No, Avas did not cause the housing bubble. As this graph clearly shows, people with large home equity lines of credit were just three times as likely to nae their kid Ava. Way to look through the wrong end...
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December 13, 2011
WTF Angry Birds Playground?
I'm sorry, but unless I'm at a theme park where I pay cash money for my kid to be brainwashed by branded entertainment properties and character-licensed merchandise, I don't want it. Seriously, what school board or city council would...
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December 11, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Nutcracker Edition
Whew, we've had family and Nutcracker up to ^^^ here this weekend, so here, just in time to ruin your Sunday night, are some freakout stories from the worlds of science, health, parenting, politics: But first, an open letter to...
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December 8, 2011
This Is Your Brain On Girls. Any Questions?
Oh, you dare, Fast Company, you dare. That's why you're the out-of-the-box thinkpiece trend story content generator!Most would-be parents prefer boys, not girls. Is part of the trouble, dare we say, a branding problem--one that advertising could solve?Unfortunately, the ad...
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December 5, 2011
Cup O' Noodles? Cup O' Scalding Toddler Torture!
We interrupt this unobtainable German minivan caroling special to bring you a special DT Monday Freakout: NPR has blown the lid on a nationwide epidemic of toddler terror: apparently, cups of instant soup are designed so that they can tip...
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December 1, 2011
Happy Meals, Now With LOLZ
Does SF Weekly cover anything besides the Happy Meal Toy Ban? I guess I don't know, but columnist Joe Eskenazi sure does get worked up over it. What a smug crank. Anyway, today's the first day of the San Francisco...
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November 28, 2011
'Block Consultants' Teach The Test
Oh, brother, what to make of the NY Times' "Back To Blocks" trend story that leads off with a "self-described 'block consultant'" leading a class for parents in block play?As in fashion, old things often come back in style...
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November 21, 2011
HolySmokes, Who Acquires Who? I Mean Whom? I Mean Orbit Baby??
Good thing I'm sitting down. Because Rachel from DaintyBaby.com just hit me upside the head with a frying pan of news, that ERGObaby, the baby wearing company, has acquired Orbit Baby, the off-the-hook, advanced stroller/car seat transport system company. I...
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November 14, 2011
Jiminy Cricket, Disney Bought Babble!
It's really pretty hard to top the AllThingsD headline announcing the expiration of the press release embargo: "Exclusive: Disney Acquires Hipster Mommy Blog Platform Babble Media." As someone who once did M&A for Disney and helped buy their first...
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November 4, 2011
RECALL NOTICE: Stupid-Dangerousest Disney Trikes Ever Made
Sometimes a toy is so obviously, stupidly dangerous, you hope it inspires extra attention and caution on the part of the adults around it. Take, for example, one of my favorite old Creative Playthings toys, the Inquarium In-Crib Aquarium. It...
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November 1, 2011
Holy Crap, It's Contagion-Meets-12-Monkeys In Waldorf Schools
I'm no wingnut, and I don't like to be put in a position of agreeing with one, but day-um, Bay Area Waldorf people! Look me straight in the eye and expl--well, never mind. Just why the hell are 77%...
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October 31, 2011
No More Babies, Please, We Have A Winner
Thanks to all the folks who entered last spring's the United Nation's 7 Billionth Baby! Contest. Because she was born close to midnight and within arm's length of this large UN-prepared photo-op backdrop,Danica May Camacho of Manilla, Philippines turns...
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October 29, 2011
Bro Earns $100 The Hard Way, Gets Ass Stuck In A Swing
Dude lubed himself up with dish soap and slid into a bucket-style kid swing on a bet last Friday night. Then he got stuck and his friends abandoned him. Had to get cut down by the fire department the next...
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October 27, 2011
More Of The 99 Percent Are Kids
The New York Times has a nice article on the increasing numbers of kids visiting and participating in the Occupy Wall Street protests. Its presence in the Fashion & Style section, however, means this is just a trend story, and...
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October 25, 2011
Parentlode Hits The Fan
How unlike the Huffington Post to knock off another media outlet's content! In her inaugural post on her new HuffPo gig, Lisa Belkin made it sound like her new blog, Parentlode, was going to be a more gender-enlightened continuation of...
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October 21, 2011
DT Friday Freakout
Instead of following the publicists' plan to schedule science, health, and research-related news releases one a day, thereby freaking you out all week, Daddy Types saves them all until Friday, so you can freakout over them all at once. All...
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October 20, 2011
B.O.B. Bought By Britax
Now that all their previous merchandise has been recalled for minor embroidery issues, B.O.B. was free to sell itself to over-upholstered car seat juggernaut Britax. And that's just what they did. "The parties have agreed to not disclose the purchase...
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October 14, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Occupy Sesame Street Edition
Personally, my weekend's already ruined, full of regret for not doing more with the Occupy Sesame Street concept. Or maybe I'll just work in my Photoshop skills. [tauntr] As for the rest of you, here are a few headlines from...
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October 10, 2011
So Take A Kid And A Kids Book To Occupy Wall Street
Alright, here's what we do. I just got an email from Betsy, who's helping to organize the People's Library at Occupy Wall Street. [The Library's getting great coverage, btw, and GalleyCat reports they just posted their OWSLibrary catalog online.]...
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October 7, 2011
And Now For My Next Performance Art Piece...
I'm sorry, did I say the previous post about Marni Kotak was the culmination of everything Daddy Types has been working towards since 2004? I meant THIS post. Surfing through Bushwick performance artist Marni Kotak's website, I learned that immediately...
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DT Friday Freakout: I Like To Be Told Edition
Some of these things have been quietly freaking me out for weeks now. Let me get them off my chest/browser tabs, so they can ruin your weekend, too: "PBS Mister Rodgers [sic] Spin-Off", says the Entertainment Week URL. I guess...
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Kings Of The Hill: Putin & Medvedev Coloring Book
Supporters of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev have published one of those crappy-looking propaganda coloring books which are intended to get media attention from press release-suckered wire service photographers, not actually be any good at all for a kid...
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October 2, 2011
WTF Cosmo Noah Tsunami Shelter/Playhouse
Oh, man, Shoji Tanaka, the CEO of Cosmo Power, says his company's latest invention, the floatable, fiberglass Noah tsunami shelter [JPY200-300,000], can "also be used as a toy house for children." It says it seats four adults, but I'm...
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September 17, 2011
There's Something About Ginger
European sperm banks: it's the little differences! So many things in this Telegraph story about Cryos, "the world's largest sperm bank," just seem odd. The ostensible news here: "Sperm bank turns down redheads." Which, whatever, it's Denmark, so fine....
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September 15, 2011
Crib Bumpers Banned In The City Where They Were Born
The Chicago City Council last week voted to ban the sale of crib bumpers because they are pose a suffocation risk to infants who get their faces lodged against them. The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association released a statement urging the...
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September 2, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Big Gulp Edition
Some news from the worlds of science, education, health, politics and parenting, designed to freak you out and ruin your long weekend. I confess, I watched Wall-E with K2 this week, so I've already got a head start on the...
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August 31, 2011
Kid Fills It, ABC News Shills It
How does this even become a news story? How does this exist? It is a giant landfill's worth of PR nonsense. According to ABC News--NEWS, PEOPLE!--"Designer Diapers Big Hit With Moms". What's the hook? What's the story? Patterned diapers exist?...
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August 26, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: I Got Nothin' Edition
Seriously? What freakouts could the worlds of science, education, or parenting propose to ruin your weekend that earthquakes and hurricanes haven't already got beat? As luck would have it, we checked our "go bag," which we call our 72-hour bag,...
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August 23, 2011
Help, Mom! There Are Communist Environmentalists Under My Bed!
Leftist subversives are using their "stranglehold" on the Liberal Children's Media to unleash their ungodly "political indoctrination" of sharing, cooperation, and environmentalism on your vulnerable children! If only the Liberals didn't control the rest of the media, too, maybe someone...
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August 22, 2011
Depressing Caption, Meet Awesome Chairs
The photo blog on The Atlantic has been running extended looks back at images from World War II. Today's theme: Japanese-Americans forcibly removed from their homes and businesses and shipped to internment camps in the middle of the freakin'...
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August 12, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Hot Dog Edition
Has it been far too long since inflammatory stories from the worlds of science, health, education, and parenting filled your weekend with Freakout? Well, clear the picnic table: Your bologna has a middle name, it's D-I-A-B-E-T-E-S. A daily serving of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 10, 2011
Now That's A Fire!
Hot enough to fry an egg or a dog's brain? Sure. But hot enough to rain shards of melted plastic playground canopy down on your innocent child's head? Hmm. Even though this photo turns out to not be the...
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[read the full post...]
August 1, 2011
Huggies Slip-Ons: Pull-Up Technology And Pricing, Now In Diaper Format
I am not really sure that slip-on diapers are really as "game-changing" as Huggies VP Eric Seidel wants them to be. I mean, they are just up-crystalled, downsized Pull-Ups capable of "handling multiple insults." But I am always glad...
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July 15, 2011
Harvard Study Shows You Can Be Too Smart For Your Own, Country's Good
Oh, where to start? How about right where we're supposed to, with the headline: Harvard Says July 4th Parades Make Kids Republicans Which, LOLOL, is this the most ridiculous example ever of the media sensationalistically misrepresenting the findings of an...
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DT Friday Freakout: Best Buy Edition
Holy crap, who needs science to freakout over, when there are crazies on the loose? First the 8yo kid murdered by some random stranger in Brooklyn, and now some dude who says he was high on PCP started freaking out...
[read the full post...]
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July 13, 2011
Computer Could Start By Removing All The Extraneous Bedding
Computer system designed to prevent SIDS deaths [gizmag via dt reader dt, who also wrote the unimprovable headline]...
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[read the full post...]
July 11, 2011
The Sun Never Sets On Rupert Murdoch's Vast Criminal Empire
The phone hacking scandal and subsequent investigation coverup involving Rupert Murdoch's News International and British police targeted not just celebrities, and the families of murder and terrorism victims, but the royal family, and now, it turns out, former prime minister...
[read the full post...]
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What To Expect When You've Got Gestational Diabetes In Texas
Large birth weight is a typical complication of gestational diabetes [GDM], a condition which affects around 200,000 pregnancies annually in the US. According to the NIH, physicians generally screen for GDM at around 24-28 weeks, earlier if there are more...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 4, 2011
Phil & Teds & The Recall Down Under
It looks like the Phil & Teds recall of two models that began its home country of New Zealand a couple of weeks ago has spread to neighboring Australia. Kind of. Actually, no, not at all. Not even close. The...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 1, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Neuroscience Edition
A couple of stories from the world of neuroscience to freak you out over the weekend: [image: newscientist.com/Michael Crabtree] They know when they've been sleeping; they know when they're awake. A study at Kings College London using MRI scans of...
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June 26, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: CDC WTF Measles! Edition
Congratulations, vacctivists, for ruining your kids' weekends by causing them to get the measles! The Centers for Disease Control has issued an official health warning as the number of measles outbreaks in the US has reached its highest level since...
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June 20, 2011
ClubPenguin Dot WTF
I used to work for Disney, and I wish they'd bought my random kid-related, recurring billing startup for $700 million. With those points out of the way, let me say it's hilariously awesome and ridiculous that Club Penguin went down...
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June 14, 2011
Waterproof Sunblock Is A Lie, Says FDA
What does it take for the New York Times to actually call something "false"? The FDA has approved new sunscreen marketing regulations for the first time in 33 years:The rules, which go into effect in a year, will also ban...
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June 6, 2011
Circumcision Ban Campaign Not Quite Ready For Its Closeup
So the campaign to enact laws banning circumcision in California without religious exemptions is "gaining momentum," reports the New York Times. At least it was until the Times also asked the folks at the Anti-Defamation League what they thought about...
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May 27, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Measles Edition
Some headlines from the worlds of science, safety, and parenting to freakout over this weekend: Can't install them right so you can't get Zipcar, or take them on a trip. Holy smokes, Alexandra Lange asks, why are car seats so...
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May 20, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Apocalyptical Distance Edition
A passel of parenting and pediatric press to freakout your Friday, fellows. It's no Danny Stiles, but it'll have to do: So THIS is why the Tylenol PRs have been emailing me all this time. Big Acetaminophen is getting on...
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May 15, 2011
Putting The Dwarf- And Stripper-Filled Yachts Behind You
Never let it be said that the SEC is anti-family. With the yacht, the fleet of jets to the Delano, the strippers and the dwarf at his weekend-long 2003 bachelor party all paid for by his sell-side clients, Fidelity trader...
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May 14, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Just One Word...Plastics
Woo-hoo, first they came for the BPA, but I was not BPA, so I did nothing. Then they came for the crapload of other Estrogenic Activity-triggering chemicals in basically every plastic everything in the world, but my manboobs were too...
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May 12, 2011
Maclarens Keep Chopping Fingers, CPSC Keeps Recalling Maclarens
18 months ago, in an extraordinary recall event we've come to call Macopalypse 2009, Maclaren and the CPSC recalled basically all the Maclaren umbrella-style strollers sold in the US through 2009, after the company received multiple reports of the exposed...
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May 10, 2011
They Go Together Like Childhood Cancer And Parental PTSD
So this Boston Herald story is not one of those, "Oh no, nothing worse than finding out the baby has cancer" stories after all. Its' about the inevitably worse stuff that happens because the kid has cancer, and the parents...
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Global Automakers Lobbying For Pool Noodles
The industry association. What a racket. Earn millions of dollars a year saying things about politics your corporate members are too embarrassed to have come out of their own PR flacks' mouths. And so we come to "Global Automakers"...
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May 7, 2011
Phil&Teds: Metoo High Chair? I Don't Recall. CPSC: And That's Gonna Be A Problem
From the Department of Whoa That's Never Happened Before, So I got a personal email request from the CPSC yesterday. Not some mailing list alert, or even a "Dear Momblogger," pitch. A straight up, "Hi Greg, I know that you...
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May 4, 2011
So Did You Know About This Toddlers & Toothpaste Thing?
Because any time I hear someone warning me about the evils of fluoride, I check my wallet. I mean, my wallet-sized map of southern Utah, because I wonder if I'm in one of those towns where people keep watch nights,...
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May 2, 2011
Vas A Deferens A Day Makes
First Jason from Dadcentric, now Matt Haughey, I guess this is fair warning that if you are a web hero of mine, you will eventually livetweet your vasectomy. @mathowie [twitter]...
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April 24, 2011
DT Friday Freakout
I love it when a Freakout comes together. Parent/gadfly/media savant Tom Scocca flags Newsweek's "sneaky selection" of an excerpt from Priscilla Gilman's new memoir which turns the story of one mother's grappling with her son's complex and rare developmental disorder...
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You've Come A Little Way, Baby Daddy
Some interesting work-life links from the professional world this week. First up, an invigorating discussion from the VC/startup world, which used to be a total boys' club. Founder Jessica Jackley took to Business Insider to reply to one of her...
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April 19, 2011
Life Imitates The Onion Replaced By Life Imitates Wonkette
Basically, I don't have anything to add to Wonkette's coverage except the word Texas:The great thing about writing over-the-top joke exaggerations about America is that often they come true! For example, just this morning we were sarcastically criticizing Jan Brewer...
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April 18, 2011
Boy In The Plastic Bubble Not A Toy
As winter turns to spring, and Americans start venturing out of doors and out of their SUVs again, the CPSC has found it necessary to warn parents not to seal their children in plastic and throw them in the water...
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April 15, 2011
If You Give A Baker An Ultrasound
"Little girl socks or blue building blocks?" The pink ruffle hegemony, 600,000 aborted girls/year in India, cake-based gender reveal parties... Oh, ultrasound, is there any prenatal cultural disaster you're not responsible for? Seriously, people. Gender cake parties. Where you...
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April 13, 2011
Today In Kids And Food News
Maybe this should be a Wednesday WTF? I don't know, but I seem to have accumulated a lot of WTF-grade stories about food in my browser tabs: I am still trying to figure out what actually happened in the Detroit...
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April 12, 2011
Easter A Season Of Terror For Photo Prop Bunnies
As the cherry blossoms and green shoots of the tulips remind us of the miracle of renewal that is Spring, let's take a moment to realize that for some of the less free among us, Easter is really a...
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April 8, 2011
Ganja Man From Another Planet
Good grief. How many times has Marijuana Man been invented, in all the years of weekends, in millions of dorm rooms and on millions of kind of ratty sofas, in millions of bedrooms after the kids are finally asleep,...
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April 4, 2011
Ruler-Wielding Scientists: Taint Too Far From Phthalate Exposure To Low Sperm Count
In news that brings a sigh of relief from the Iritable Bowel Syndrome folks, who are all too happy to relinquish their Unhelpfully Euphemistic Acronym Award, a group of researchers at the University of Rochester have announced the results of...
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Don't Bring A Tennis Racket To A Baby Crying Fight
March 24, 2011
Sounds Like Fun Times In The Playgroup
Sometimes, blog posts are like a half-drunk sippy cup of milk. Sure, you could finish them right away, but if you tuck them away in the folds of your stroller canopy and just let them sit for a couple of...
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March 16, 2011
The Family Of An Unidentifiable Man
Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj has a knack for photographing photographs. Lucaites writes very thoughtfully on the universal power of this photo, for example, of family photo albums buried amidst the rubble of the Japanese tsunami. But I have to...
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March 15, 2011
Hahaha, They Put 'The Ivy League' In Quotes
Holy Moses, I've been writing this blog post a thousand times in my head since yesterday. From the NY Daily News comes news that an Over-Upper East Side mother is suing the ["$19,000-a-year"] York Avenue Preschool for "damaging [her] 4-year-old...
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March 8, 2011
Vaccines Come In On Little Ninja Feet
See, it's the little differences. Whereas for us in the West it's the fabricated threats of autism, in Japan, it's the sudden spate of infant deaths that sets the vaccine panics off. Prevenar, or Prevnar, manufactured by Pfizer and Sanofi-Aventis,...
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February 21, 2011
Mazeltov, Facebook!
To honor the website which recently liberated his country an Egyptian dad has named his baby daughter Facebook. I suspect setting up Facebook's Facebook page will be only slightly easier than toppling the Mubarak regime. To Celebrate The #Jan25 Revolution,...
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February 14, 2011
A Liberal Bugaboo?
Wait, when Rep. Michele Bachmann [R-Crazytown, Minn.] says a government shutdown is a liberal "Bugaboo," does she mean it's awesome and a moneysaver, or expensive and crazy? Or is the other way around in reverse? Is it still liberal...
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February 13, 2011
Your365? Has Disney Baby's Bedside Partner Our365 Visited You In The Hospital?
Alright, after a weekend off, I am ready to take a more level-headed look at this Disney Baby thing. The world's obviously not going to end when Disney characters start appearing on newborn gear and clothing or nursery walls or...
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February 11, 2011
DT Friday Freakout
it's been a while since we've had a good, old-fashioned round-up of freakouts from the worlds of safety, science, and parenting to ruin your weekend, so here goes: You might as well let the kid drink Coke, because diet soda...
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Disney Is Finally Making Baby Gear
And it won't stop until it sucks up $5 billion of parents' money each year, or until it falls on its face. Do I start with the disclosures? No, I'll start with a blogger's whine. I haven't wanted to...
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February 2, 2011
'Wee Felix' Got His Finger Whacked By A Dash
A 2-yo in New Zealand got his fingertip near chopped off by a Phil & Teds Dash, which is not one of the models that have been recalled [again] recently for fingerchopping.:"The tip of his finger was 90 per cent...
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February 1, 2011
Dear FDA, I Think I Just Opened An Email Meant For You
I don't want my FDA rolling over for Monsanto any more than I want my kid inadvertently eating Frankenfalfa, but I'm not sure that calling your entire email list a jerk is the best way to rally the troops here:...
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January 22, 2011
Trendy Canada Has Own Breastfeeding Laws, Haters
This just in from Canada's City of The Future: an op-ed writer for the Vancouver Sun has had it up to HERE with self-absorbed lactivists who go around jiggling their "human rights" in innocent furniture store owners' faces by breastfeeding...
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January 19, 2011
Wednesday WTF
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...
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January 18, 2011
Dadwagon Babyswings For The Fences
Duck, there's another babyswinging video coming out of the Inscrutable East! And this time Dadwagon's there to catch it. A couple of years ago, a vaguely Russian-seeming babyswinging video made a splash onto YouTube--and got the guy who uploaded it...
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January 17, 2011
'Sperm banking was--and in many ways, is--the Wild West'
Wow, from Maud Newton's interview with Misha Angrist, a geneticist whose new book, This Is A Human Being, addresses the personal, social and political issues of the current & coming genomic inforevolution:MN: Speaking of using DNA to determine ancestry, I...
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Bobos In Utero
David Brooks has a fascinating article book pitch in the New Yorker where he distills all the amazing research in neuroscience to help explain our ice cream choices. Sorry, I meant gelato:To give a sense of how this inner story...
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January 14, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Medical Clown Edition
Whew, it has been a long week at DTHQ, and frankly, I was looking forward to a freakout-free weekend. But then, well, wow:researchers who studied 219 women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) discovered that women were more likely to become...
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January 5, 2011
DT Wednesday WTF
You know what, sometimes there are just too many WTF's in a day to post them all separately: So minivan marketers say sales are up and minivans are supposedly cool now, because what, the Swagger Wagon ads? The redesigned Odyssey?...
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December 20, 2010
DT Friday [sic] Freakout: Golden Helicopter Awards
Ready for a little Monday Freakout? Good. Then go read Leonore Skenazy's Golden Helicopter Awards, which conveniently rounds up a year's worth of stupid and/or inspired overparenting stories in one big, eyerolling article. If this were on Huffington Post, it'd...
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December 13, 2010
Hidden Hazard? Hidden From Whom? CPSC Finally Launching A Crib Bumper Investigation
Crib bumpers were invented by ace salesman Leo Koltun because after selling every returning GI's knocked up wife a playpen pad made from WWII surplus padding, he still had a shitload of padding left over. The company he founded, Kolcraft,...
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December 11, 2010
Another Day, Another Kid In A Claw Machine
Gawker calls it a trend. Frankly, it's been a couple of years since I've heard of a kid climbing into one of those ripoff toy claw game machines, so technically, it's a revival. What I can't quite figure out...
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November 28, 2010
Breast Milk Of Mass Distraction
Look, I'm as outraged as the next guy who has to have his nuts groped during the TSA's Master Security Theater, but 11 minutes? Couldn't someone boil down the hour of ridiculous harrassment of this "known mom" who opts...
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November 22, 2010
We're All Black Men Now, Honey
I recently happened to have dinner with a senior federal law enforcement official who happens to be acquainted with the head of the TSA. It was right before the TSA's aggressive, invasive new genital-grabbing or naked photography search protocols were...
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November 18, 2010
On The Bright Side, Maybe Trig Didn't Notice They Were Gone
It seems that immediately after their 2.5yo son Trig had an operation, Todd and Sarah Palin left Alaska for five days of campaigning and speechmaking on the East Coast. As a parent, I cannot imagine ever doing that. But if...
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November 15, 2010
Monday Male Mutilation Mailbag
It's remarkable how quickly circumcision rates have been plummeting in the US in the last couple of years. I figure it's people stepping stepping back and actually thinking through the logic and implications of "I want him to look like...
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October 29, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: 4yo Can Be Sued From The Grave Edition
Holy crap, I don't know what's more freakout-able: that two 4-year-olds riding their training wheel bikes on an East Side sidewalk, knocked over an 87-year-old neighbor, who died three weeks months later from complications related to hip fracture surgery. Or...
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DT Friday Freakout: Whooping Cough Edition
You ever have one of those weeks where the news from science, health, parenting, and everything else is just too diverse to freak out over in one post? Well, this is one of those weeks. So for the first in...
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October 19, 2010
Wingnutsac
God Bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her, while ignorant authoritarian religious zealots and their Alaska Birther husbands treat her as a high school cafeteria, and make taunts about the president's balls, which prompts the...
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October 18, 2010
Pennsylvania Maternity Wards On The Frontlines In The War Against 'Poppy Seed Use'
Thanks to Pennsylvania's mandatory drug testing of mothers about to give birth, state officials took custody of a newborn after her mother tested positive for poppy seed bagels. In lieu of any information about what other states might require drug...
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October 14, 2010
Canada Declares BPA Toxic/Toxique In Two Languages
The Gouvernement Canadian Government had proposé adding BPA to the list liste of toxic substances toxique in 2008 deux mille huit. And yesterday they made it official officielle. BPA will now be subject sujet to regulations and restrictions under CEPA...
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October 12, 2010
It Appears That Chicken McNuggets Are Not Exactly Hot Dogs. But Neither Are Hot Dogs.
So in attempting to "report the controversy" over whether the pink chicken Silly Putty photo that's all over the net actually represents the contents of Chicken McNuggets, Daddy Types has been accused of "spreading false information" by no less an...
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October 7, 2010
Those Pregnant Women'll Getcha Every Time
Here in America, we don't think twice when our highest elected officials conceal their pregnancies, and then jet all over the continent without telling anyone that their water's broken because they want to have their high-risk, special needs baby born...
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October 1, 2010
FAO Schwarz Coming Soon To A Toys R Us Near Your Downmarket Neighborhood
So 18 months after buying the crumbling premium brand, and 18 months before the lease expires on its only remaining retail location, Toys R Us is readying a Christmas plan to roll out F.A.O. Schwarz products into its 595 big...
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DT Friday Freakout: Duct Tape Edition
Just in case the rain isn't enough to ruin your weekend, here's a special Foto edition of the Freakout: Apparently, there is an uproar sweeping across the British Isles after an editor in some baby magazine said she didn't breastfeed...
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September 30, 2010
I'm Loving It!
So here's what's going through my head as I'm watching this mystery-PSA [via]: 1) This is your brain on Uggs. 2) Richard Pryor on Sesame Street: 3) 3, maybe 4, and the kid can't even freebase on his own...
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Genital Bleeding! Does The CPSC Have Your Attention For The Fisher-Price Mega-Recall Now?
In its great, revitalized mission to rid the world below our knees of potentially injurious protrusions, the CPSC has recalled more than 10 million Fisher-Price trikes, playsets, and high chairs. The biggest news is the 7 million kids' trikes--sold...
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September 28, 2010
Original Sunshine Clubhouse, Bagram
How much better is the new Parwan detention center than the nearby Bagram torture and abuse center it replaces? Well, for one thing, it's got a visitor center with an awesome Rainbow Play Systems Original Sunshine Clubhouse almost as...
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September 27, 2010
But What Does The Constitution Say About Car Seats?
Let's just look at the FACTS, shall we? FACT: Big Governmentocrats claim that the use of car seats and booster seats caused the 3% drop in 2009 of traffic accident fatalities for kids under 14. BUT overall traffic fatalities dropped...
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September 24, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Got Milk? Edition
What, you worry? Here are some stories from the worlds of parenting and pregnancy and what not to freakout over this weekend: In case you're having a hard time telling breastmilk and formula apart, just remember: they don't recall 5...
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September 21, 2010
Finally, Something A Canadian Can Get Upset About
So polite, so self-deprecating, so peacekeepy, so neighborly, our Neighbors To The North. Until they find out an American mom was improperly arrested for indecency because she was breastfeeding in public. Two years ago. Hmm, looks like the outrage is...
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September 17, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Pedo Edition
I missed last weekend, so maybe you've already freaked out over some of these headlines from the worlds of science, education, health, and parenting? Let's rip that scab off and freak out all over again! You walk out that door,...
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September 3, 2010
DT Friday Freakout
With a long weekend, a hurricane, a roadtrip, and kids waking up at 6:30 when they're supposed to wake up at 8, you'd think nothing could ruin one's weekend any more. Well, the reporters of science, health, parenting, and education...
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August 30, 2010
Vacctivatic Immunity!
Haha, wow, whatever you've ever said about vaccines and thimerosal and mercury and autism and herd immunity and government cover-ups and Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey and the Lancet and fabricating data to serve your litigious overlords, you're absolutely...
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August 29, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Depressing Edition
I know the weekend's almost over, but I think freaking out over these stories from the worlds of parenting, science, health, and education can still ruin it retroactively: You thought "anchor babies" were gonna getchya? A politician in Rhode Island...
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August 24, 2010
Yesterday In Baby Carrier History
So yesterday archaeo-anthropologist Timothy Taylor explained to Gizmodo that the discovery of 2.5 million-year-old chipped stone tools that are at least 300,000 years older than the oldest known homo fossils suggests that not only did humans not invent tools, tools...
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August 20, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Summer Vacation Edition
Some parenting, kid, pregnancy, science, and education headlines from all over to freak you out and ruin your weekend: Despite August not being a good month for launching a new product recall, the CPSC recalled 3,700 Zooper Tango double...
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August 17, 2010
NY Times Writes The Hell Out Of Park Slope Ghost Stroller
Whatever the white-painted stroller chained to the Park Slope street corner mystery turns out to be, it gave Susan Dominus a chance to pause. And to reflect:Many other mothers, possibly used to the sight by now, pushed their own full...
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August 12, 2010
Anchor Babies, Terror Babies, All These Brown American Babies Look Alike
First the good news! American OB/GYN's are winning the War On Terror! Turns out there aren't waves of jihadi women sneaking across the border to have their Terror Babies in the US, so they can take them home to Jihadistan,...
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July 19, 2010
Blame Canada Mary Tyler Moore
A three-year study of 234 families of kindergarteners published in Child Development found that behavior problems in school are linked to two types of families: Emeshed, like "the emotionally messy Barone family in the family sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond," and...
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July 16, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Jobs Edition
I'll apologize in advance for this week's Friday Freakout. I've been trying hard to muster a freakout over anything, anything at all related to kids, parenting, safety, whatever, that can match the freaking out I've been doing since reading that...
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July 15, 2010
Alright, We Get It. The CPSC's Gonna Ban Dropside Cribs.
Big news from the CPSC today: they are making a couple of procedural changes to the safety testing protocols for both full-size and compact cribs! Actually, I think this huge announcement--accompanied as it is by statements from each of the...
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July 12, 2010
DT Mommy Mailbag: Mommy Breath Edition
Good morning, Ladies! Do you ever wake up with that, you know, "not so fresh feeling"--in your mouth? As a Mom you have plenty of things to worry about; bad breath should not be one of those things. Moms should...
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July 11, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Chemicals Edition
I've been freaking out over it all weekend, and there's just no way around it: it's hard to top Z-Recommends for Freakout News: "This made the purchase of synthetic urine feel a bit spendy, but can you blame me?...
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July 4, 2010
Introducing Benetton Diapers, The World's First 'Designed' Diaper
In 2000, the Italian personal hygiene products manufacturer Ledysan obtained a license from Benetton to introduce the world's first designed diaper. "More than just a diaper....It's an Italian designer garment," said a Ledysan promo. Benetton diapers were distributed to...
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June 30, 2010
Now With 100% Less Mongolian BBQing!
Brooklyn has lost its most famous, Mongolian BBQ dome playground. Once a neighborhood hot spot, the NY Times reports the giant steel climbing domes have been replaced by run-of-the-mill playground equipment:Beneath the house and climbing gym, the circles of newly...
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United We Etsy! Handmade Toy Alliance
The Handmade Toy Alliance is getting a boost from Etsy, which makes sense, because Etsy gets such a boost from the army of craftspeople and small business owners whose livelihoods are still set to be snuffed out by the industrial-scale...
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June 27, 2010
'Elsewhere In Manhattan On Saturday'
I'm a little freaked out to read that while I was typing up the Freakout post, a 6-mo baby was killed and her mother was critically injured by a falling tree branch at the Central Park Zoo. It happened as...
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June 26, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Wows! Edition
If the heat doesn't getcha, maybe some sensationalistic news reports from the worlds of science, medicine, safety, and parenting will freak out your weekend: Kellogg's has recalled 28 million boxes of cereal in white foil bags, because of "an off...
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June 24, 2010
Cribocalypse Now Redux: CPSC Recalls TWO MILLION Cheap Cribs
Wow, does this mean the CPSC has finally cleared their Bush-era Cribs Of Death cold case file? The CPSC issued recalls for over two million cribs, mostly dropside but also fixed-side models, from seven manufacturers. The recalls are based on...
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June 23, 2010
Procter & Gamble Totally Crumble In The Face Of Rebel Dad's Pampers Boycott
It's been several weeks since Rebel Dad announced his boycott of Pampers for their four-years-and-counting insistence on calling him a mom in all their mailings and marketing campaigns. And guess what, P&G has utterly caved in the face of this...
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June 11, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: iPhone Edition
Here are some headlines of late, all primed to ruin your weekend with freakoutery: The quantity of new parents' sleep is more important to their relationship satisfaction than how well they thought they slept. Of course, the study was conducted...
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June 4, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Helicopter Parent Edition
Personally, my own weekends have been full of comment spam-related freakouts. But just in case you haven't hand Ukrainian spambots take down your server lately, here are some recent, overwrought headlines from the worlds of science, safety, and parenting to...
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June 3, 2010
Your Moment Of WTF: Tauntin' Ain't Just A Town In Massachusetts
Whatever the results of the trial, Luke Kishpaugh, 33, has been banned from public parks in Salem, Oregon:The children started to cry and [Luke] Kishpaugh called the dog off, then once again told the dog "get it." This time, the...
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June 2, 2010
NY Nannies May Get Basic Benefits
Never underestimate the New York State government's ability to completely screw up even the most obvious things, but it looks like the hapless Senate, Assembly, and governor are going to get it together and pass a law giving nannies the...
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May 31, 2010
Mountain Buggy, Kid, Survive Australia's Second Favorite Contact Sport
When they're not watching footie [i.e., rugby with less gentility and tinier pants], Australians pass the time either rolling strollers down sloped platforms into the path of oncoming trains, or watching CCTV footage of same. Last week, it was...
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May 24, 2010
Andrew Wakefield Saga Now In Comic Book Form
Didn't think it'd be Dr. Andrew Wakefield Day around here, but, you gotta blog about Darryl Cunningham's 15-page vacctivist saga comic book when you find it: Also, the publisher of an autism treatment-related book with a foreword by Jenny McCarthy...
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Andrew Wakefield Has Given 4,000 Brits The Measles
Dr. Andrew Wakefield has been deregistered in the UK, the medical equivalent of being disbarred, in part for the spurious and manipulated research paper he published in 1998 claiming that the MMR vaccine was linked to autism. The decade-plus long...
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May 23, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Lost Edition
I don't know if this means anything to anybody, but my 2-yo just woke up from a nap asking if she could keep playing with her giant Playmobil island with the hairplane crashed on it. And in other freakout news...
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May 20, 2010
Raising Arizona
Huh. Who'da thought that the Kids Love Spanish pre-school summer camp in Scottsdale AZ wouldn't have filled up immediately this year?...
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May 3, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Tylenocalypse Edition
We left town early, and so we at least saved our own weekend from the gigantic )#($%ing freakout that is the massive recall of liquid infant's and children's Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, and Benadryl products issued Saturday. Wait, Saturday? What the...
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April 20, 2010
Celebrate Earth Day By Buying Your Kid's Way Into A Gap Ad
Not really sure what is going on here, but near as I can tell, you can pay cash money to get your kid into a Gap ad. Is this a valid value proposition in our parenting society? If you...
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Got Breastmilk? Billboards
It really is too bad that the Ohio Department of Health didn't go with the most obvious slogan for their breastfeeding public awareness campaign. If those cowhugging shysters at Big Milk so much as hinted at suing, the case...
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April 15, 2010
Last One Out
So weird to think that because they can't build a bunch of condos, the hospital's bankrupt and closing. Anyway, the NYT has the story on the last baby born at St. Vincent's in the West Village. If only the reporter...
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April 12, 2010
Get In The Habit Of Checking Whether Your Kid Is In The Back Seat
It's spring, not too hot yet. And the Gene Weingarten's March 2009 story for the Washington Post just won the Pulitzer Prize. Which makes it an excellent time for every parent to get in the habit of checking, every single...
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April 9, 2010
Wait, How Many Free Diapers Do British Kids Get Every Day?
The NY Times has caught onto the supposed Mumsnet Election Fever that's sweeping British politics at the moment. Both the Labour PM Gordon Brown and his conservative Tory challenger David Cameron and their wives are working the family-friendly angle. Cameron,...
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April 7, 2010
But It's Too Darn Hot
Look, I am truly sorry for all the kids who are getting seared on the giant Mongolian BBQ-themed playground equipment installed in the new Brooklyn Bridge Park. But seriously, is there anything more laughable than the warning sign, saying...
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April 1, 2010
White House Notices Dads, Announces Actual Policy At Work-Family Forum
Haha, April Fools! The wife and I had some serious conversations in advance of the White House's forum on Workplace Flexibility. For one thing, she has worked at the White House and organized a deeply substantive yet highly photogenic presidential...
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March 30, 2010
Flimsy Slats Not Just For Cribs Anymore! Evenflo Recalls 180,000 Stair Gates
We have no stairs, so unlike, say, the global pandemic of umbrella stroller finger amputations, the recall Friday of 180,000 Evenflo wooden Top-of-Stair gates feels a little far from my own parenting experience. But 142 reports of broken or...
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What To Expect: Being Mistaken For The Messiah
Not quite sure which is freakier: a food activist/author/dad-to-be getting mistaken for the Messiah after going on The Colbert Report, or being in a religion that has you looking for your Messiah on Comedy Central:Because he matched the profile, hundreds...
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March 26, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: The Nanny Edition
It's been a busy week here in DTHQ, but fortunately, there's still time to ruin your weekend with breaking news from the worlds of science and parenting: The folks at Princeton have published a study showing that high fructose corn...
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March 24, 2010
Brown Stoner Gets Results On Bed Stuy 'Jail' Playground
The timeline on the story of this ill-advised "Jail" playground structure in the middle of a Bed-Stuy housing project is complicated, so please try to hold your weary cynicism and/or jawdropping outrage until everything's settled, m'kay? On Sunday, Monifa...
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After Reports Of 3 Deaths, Infantino Recalls 1 Million Fugly Slings
Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the slings and--uh, no. It is not. The CPSC, Health Canada and Infantino just announced the recall of one million slings in the US and 15,000 in Canada [so few!] after reports of three...
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March 23, 2010
The Dad Presides: Once-Uninsurable Dadcentric Clan Goes National
Wait, so you're telling me that Jason of Dadcentric's 6-year-old kid can't get insurance because of a common pre-existing condition when he was two? That's an outrage! Someone oughta do something about that! And not someday, but this year! Get...
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March 22, 2010
The Mothering Magazine Babywearing Agenda Is The CPSC's Babywearing Agenda
I haven't mentioned the CPSC's recent baby sling advisory notice, partly because I figure the hippieparentblogs have it well in hand. But then DT reader Sara forwarded the official response from Mothering Magazine, a longtime supporter of the babywearing and...
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March 19, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Glow-In-The-Dark Edition
Wow, Spring is springing on the East Coast, about damn time, too. What alarming/depressing/overdetermined/freakout-y parenting news could possibly ruin this weekend? The study that showed that good, involved dads hurt working moms' self-confidence, for one. It's because of some outdated,...
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March 17, 2010
Quirky Canada Has Own Laws, Stroller Theft Ring-Bustin' Dads
Toronto really IS New York, only cleaned up. If you lived in New York in the 90s, and you had a bike, it would get stolen regularly, and so you'd have to go down to Alphabet City and "buy" it...
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March 12, 2010
I'm A Flu Zombie Today
Barely made it in the door yesterday, now I'm a quivering, aching blob of pain. And just when I think I couldn't possibly feel worse, here is a headline from the Daily Telegraph Korean couple let baby starve to death...
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March 11, 2010
Majority Of 2010 Births To Be Minorities
Unless you've been wearing your white, pointy hood backwards, there's no new news to see here. I just wanted to write that headline. Minority births on track to outnumber white births [washingtonpost.com]...
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Game Changer: CPSC Chairwoman Gives JPMA 'One Chance'
"Let's be frank - your seal of approval was on many of the recalled cribs in recent years." Wow, have you read the speech CPSC Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum made Wednesday at the Juvenile Product Manufacturers Association "Washington Summit"? It's nothing...
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March 5, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: It's What's For Dinner Edition
Lots of scary food news to freak out over this week, enough to make the idea of eliminating every scrap of food in coach sound downright safe. If only there weren't 5-year-olds flying all the planes: Our American Toddlers are...
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There's A Party In Las Vegas! Yo Gabba Gabba Movie In The Works
So Entertainment Weekly gets the leak that Juno director Jason Reitman is involved in a Yo Gabba Gabba! movie. Considering that truly awful kids' TV shows like Dora The Explorer and Rugrats are shoveling out long-format TV specials and even...
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March 3, 2010
Tykes On A Plane!
Someone get these mother#$%in tykes off the air traffic control mic directing these mother(*#$%ing planes! Eh, er, actually, it sounds more like a classic work/school scheduling mess meant an ATC controller at JFK had to bring his 5-year-old kid to...
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March 2, 2010
Drinkin' & Drivin' The Dadwagon
So awesome, and yet so reasonable! CNN has a great story about Dadwagon's own Matt Gross, whose adorable 1-yo daughter is apparently harshing buzzes in bars all over Brooklyn. I'd clicked the article open and was going to read it...
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February 24, 2010
Knocked Up Spokesmodel Can't Fix Canned Food Industry's BPA Marriage
BPA, I sure wish the canned food industry knew how to quit you. Alternatives to BPA containers not easy for U.S. foodmakers to find [washpost] Previously: WTD BPA Spokesmodel: Nice Cans, Pregnant A Plus, Some Travel Req....
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February 16, 2010
Massachusetts: Pummeling The Crap Out Of Restaurantgoers Since 2002
You know, it's funny--and by funny, I mean the exact opposite of funny--I thought today's Massachusetts criminal justice system story was going to be how this 2-year-old post about Stone Cold Derek Lindsay, the arresting-est dad in Taunton, MA, has...
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Lead Bear, Lead Bear What Do You See?
Alright, I'm back! Did I miss anything?The products, which were made in China for Target's in-house brand, were identified as the retailer's two "Message Bears" - one a pink stuffed bear with "XOXO" across the chest and the other...
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February 9, 2010
CPSC Goes Through The Archives, Recalls 500,000 More Dropside Cribs
Just when you thought you'd heard every possible CPSC recall of 500,000 cheap dropside cribs, they spring a new one on us. Today the agency recalled all dropside cribs made by Generation 2 Kids and branded either Generation 2...
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January 31, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Weekend WTF Edition
What's the hype from the worlds of science, medicine, safety, and parenting this week? British newspapers totally make up scientific stories and then try to pass them off as the research findings of whatever hapless scientist is unlucky enough to...
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January 29, 2010
Cybex Strollers Recalled For Maclaren-Style Fingermunching
While it took Maclaren ten years and a million finger-munching strollers to earn a CPSC recall, Feisty upstart Cybex got theirs in less than six months. Cybex was introduced to the US market last fall by Regal Lager, the...
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January 27, 2010
Brown Bear Vs Board Of Education
Yesterday I learned from Dadwagon that members of the Texas State Board of Education recommended banning the work of Bill Martin Jr, who authored Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, from being used in the state's public education...
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January 26, 2010
Obamababies! Teen Pregnancy Rates Rise For The First Time In 20 Years
Look at that, Obama's the president for one year, and already there's a spike in teen pregnancy:The pregnancy rate among teenage girls in the United States has jumped for the first time in more than a decade, raising alarm that...
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So Why Weren't Dorel Asia's Recalled Cribs JPMA-Certified?
[Note: see the update at the bottom of the post.] Last week's crib recall was 635,000 fixed and dropside cribs made by Dorel Asia SRL, and were sold at "K-Mart, Sears and Wal-Mart stores nationwide from January 2005 through...
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January 25, 2010
Highlights From The US House Hearing On Crib Safety
You know what the US House Committee On Energy And Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations needs? Publicists. The Committee held a hearing last Thursday titled, "Crib Safety: Assessing the Need for Better Oversight," and so far, I've only found...
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January 24, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Sunday Science Edition
A selection of headlines from the worlds of science, medicine, education and parenting designed to freak you out: Sperm in promiscuous mice are able to identify and cooperate with their "brethren" to outmaneuver other males' sperm and reach the egg....
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January 21, 2010
The Granddaughter Of A Millworker
Congratulations to former North Carolina senator, VP nominee, and 2008 presidential candidate John Edwards for acknowledging the birth of his now-2yo daughter. Only a year after the National Enquirer totally busted him on it. And right before the political aide...
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January 20, 2010
Hello Diego-San
So. Diego-san. A 130cm tall research android built by UCSD's Machine Perception Lab in conjunction with Kokoro LTD. in order to study infant cognitive and interaction development. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how creepocalyptically bad...
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Uh-Oh, Better Recall Graco! For Their 1.5 Million, Non-Umbrella, Finger-Chopping Strollers
Shows what I know. Ever since the Million Maclaren Recall, I've been waiting for the CPSC to point out [sic] the fingertip amputation risk posed by the folding hinges on any/every other umbrella stroller, too. And yet, the next 1.5...
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January 19, 2010
Another Day, Another 635,000 Dorel Cribs Recalled
The CPSC and Dorel Asia--they're based in Barbados!--announced the recall of over 600,000 cribs sold at Wal-mart, K-mart, and Sears between January 2005 and December 2009, last month. The cribs pose a strangulation and suffocation hazard because of faulty dropside...
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January 17, 2010
NYT Reporter Shocked, SHOCKED To Find Toddling Going On In Park Slope Bar
This just in from NY Times investigative reporter Risa Chubinsky: some parents in Park Slope are reportedly bringing their kids to bars, where alcohol is consumed by the kidded and kid-free alike. The story is illustrated by a shocking picture...
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DT Friday Freakout: Sunday S*(%storm Edition
If your house is anything like ours, it's hard to carve out even a couple of hours on Sunday in which to completely freak out over the week's health, science, safety, and parenting news: First up, Virginia is for Ass-Scratchers:...
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January 15, 2010
The Hub Discovery Brand Network Kids Hasbro Dynamic DNA Concept Fail
My first The Hub was the expensive, preppie men's clothing store in Raleigh when I was growing up. I got no beef with them. In fact, I still have my first three-figure handknit sweater, which I purchased there in 1984....
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January 13, 2010
Wednesday WTF: Texas Preschooler Suspended For "Beatles Hair"
From The NY Times story on why 4-year-old Taylor Pugh's long hair means must continue to "be separated from other children" in his public preschool class:The boy, Taylor Pugh, says he likes his hair long and curly. But on Monday...
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January 11, 2010
Barefoot & Pregnant: Time's 1960 Women Of The Year
This was the cover of Time Magazine fifty years ago today, January 11, 1960. That's when Our American Way Of Life was under siege from "That Population Explosion," which was apparently the fault of "Those Constantly Pregnant Women And...
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January 10, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Weekend Washout Edition
It's 10 o'clock. Is it too late to ruin your weekend with alarming news from the worlds of science, medicine, safety, and parenting advice? The BBC reports that a parental survey of some kind finds that "'One in six' children...
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January 8, 2010
Belgian Waffling: Breastfeeding Cafes Will Open Twice A Month
So I think I'm reading this right.Yesterday was the first day for the Mamma Cafe in Brussels, a 20-location, breastfeeding-friendly cafe designed to support breastfeeding moms and families, and to help overcome womens' reservations about breastfeeding in public Feedings...
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January 1, 2010
DT Friday Freakout: Out With The Old Freakouts Edition
Part of me thought I should do a Top 10,000 Freakouts of 2009 List, but I realized there are really only three Freakouts, and they don't ever change: Your kid's gear is dangerous and/or deadly. Your kid's world is full...
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December 21, 2009
Surprisingly, This Didn't Happen In Taunton, Mass.
Please WTVC-TV, how should I feel about this story?A 4-year-old boy, beer in hand, is accused of stealing Christmas presents from his neighbors. It's a strange story, but also a sad one. Ah, thanks. On the other hand, if Lufthansa...
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December 16, 2009
2nd Grade Kid On A Cross, People! What's Going On In Christmas City?
Though we know here as America's Capital Of WTF Dad Stories, the official unofficial nickname for Taunton, Massachusetts is "The Christmas City." Which makes it all the more ironic [read OUTRAGEOUS ATTACK ON FREEDOM] that an 8-year-old boy was suspended...
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December 15, 2009
50 Million Roman Shades Recalled In A Day
Wow, and I thought the crib recall was epic. The CPSC has issued the biggest recall ever. Basically every Roman and roll-up blind and shade on the market, 50 million units at least, are being recalled because they pose a...
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Thomas The Tory
Just heard this on the CBC, but the incredulous tone of the UK's Daily Telegraph is a bit more entertaining: Prof. Shauna Wilton, a Canadian political scientist, recently presented an analysis of Thomas The Tank Engine, at a conference. Did...
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December 11, 2009
Time Out Of It
I'm a little slow to this, but my grandmother only saw the article at her doctor's office this week. Time Magazine has one of those big trend-calling pieces, "Helicopter Parents: The Backlash Against Overparenting," about how This Generation of Parents...
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Baby Is Mentioned In The Caption
"Gunshots shattered the windows of a store called Broadway Baby." photo by John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times Look, I'll be straight with you: the fact is, this is an awesome photo, which accompanies an awesome piece...
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December 10, 2009
Kermithacktivism
This is awesome, so of course, it's not official, just what happens when you sell millions of puppets of your puppets. It's Not Easy Being (a) Green (Revolutionary), by Jeff Horwich, for MPR's "In The Loop" podcast show [youtube...
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December 9, 2009
FLASH! Dadslapping At Brooklyn Starbucks!
War? Depression? Global warming conferences? Serial, cross-country exploitation of a special needs child to sell a fact-challenged book? If ever there were a time this country needed fewer objects of righteous outrage, this is it. And yet here we are:...
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December 8, 2009
9.000 Rucksäcke By Ai Weiwei
For his exhibit at the Haus der Kunst in Munich, the China's most famous contemporary artist Ai Weiwei ordered 9,000 custom-colored children's backpacks. When installed on the facade of the museum, they spell out the phrase, "She lived happily...
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December 7, 2009
IDGI
This makes less sense than all the Family Circus comics combined. Does anyone know what it means? Baby Blues [arcamax via jeremy of daddy dialectic]...
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December 4, 2009
ASTM? I Barely Knew'em!
As the massive baby furniture and gear recalls keep coming, and the voluntary ASTM safety standards regime the Baby Industrial Complex has fought long and hard to maintain is proving to be useless and even dangerous, the Juvenile Products Manufacturing...
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DT Friday Freakout: Mall Santa Edition
Even though a trip to any mall is enough to ruin your weekend, we'll expand the reach of the Freakout a bit, just to make sure: While the terrorist elf who threatened to blow up Mall Santa in Georgia has...
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November 30, 2009
First, The Good Autism Treatment News
Even though it's small, a new autism study from the University of Washington published in Pediatrics is being hailed as a "landmark." It finds that early diagnosis--as young as 18 mos--and intensive socialization therapy can "vastly improve" key ASD-related symptoms...
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Locking Kids In Trunk Is The Least Confounding Part Of This Story
From Boston's local station, WTF-TV:Fall River police said Michael Monahan, 35, put his kids, ages 3 and 6, in the trunk of his Pontiac Trans Am for several minutes Tuesday morning while he went inside a sailing shop.Seriously, what...
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November 28, 2009
'We Can Give Him To Grandma Now If You Want To'
From the back cover of the fur-covered Tiny Bear's BibleTiny Bear's Bible is a warm, fuzzy reminder of how God loves his children--in a format that kids can cuddle. Together with their friend Tiny Bear, children discover eleven Bible...
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Sleepin' With The Grizzlies
Not only do bears drive our cars and come into our kitchens to make themselves a sandwich, now they are officially certified by the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association as an infant sleeping device! Z Recs has the scoop:The Juvenile...
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November 24, 2009
It's Just A Childhood Autism Treatment
A family in Sacramento is seeing great results treating their son's autism with a teeny, tiny kid-sized daily dose of medical marijuana. This seems like an autism story even Jenny McCarthy could love. [via andrewsullivan] Could do without the Ooh,...
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You Put Melamine In Chinese Formula, And'll Kill Ya
Wow, it was a bad week for convicted Chinese baby formula tainters. China executes two over tainted milk powder scandal [bbc via dt reader dt]...
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November 23, 2009
Stork-Craft Recalls 2.1 Million Drop-Side Cribs Of Doom In US & Canada
DT's favorite crib guru Scott said it would be big, and now we know just how big the biggest crib recall in history really is: it's as big as the whole freakin' North America, that's how big. The CPSC and...
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DT Friday Freakout, Meet DT Monday Meltdown
Yeah, the weekend slipped by with nary a Freakout to be had. Fortunately, these crazy stories from the worlds of science, safety, and parenting can still ruin your Thanksgiving holiday: By now it's [week-]old news that in addition to all...
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November 19, 2009
ĐŻIP: Gunther Kilsheimer, Creator Of Toys R Us Logo
No way, did you know Toys R Us started in Washington DC? It began as a baby furniture retailer in Adams Morgan [in fact, the original store is now a blues bar called Madam's Organ. All the Baby Boomers raised...
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November 18, 2009
Working Mother Fans Sexist Hysteria Over Child Custody
Wow. I am just blown away by the incredibly sexist premise and alarming tone of Sally Abrahms' article in Working Mother magazine about supposed changes in divorce and family law. The magazine considers dads' increased involvement in parenting to be...
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[read the full post...]
November 14, 2009
Heh, Baby Weinstein
I was just building bookcases, listening to WNYC's weekly radio show, On The Media, minding my own business. Then this bit on Disney's Baby Einstein refund story came on, and I laughed so much, I could no longer operate...
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November 13, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Home Alone Edition
While the whole family's scattered to various grandparents for the week/night, I'm freaking out about how well the lacquer on the new radiator cover will take the heat. For you, how about some hyperbolic science and parenting headlines to freak...
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Uh, No. Playdate By John Waters
Look, it's not that I don't think John Waters is a great artist. It's just that I think his best work is in the medium of film, not art world art. But as a filmmaker who also hangs out...
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November 12, 2009
Oy, Macopalypse 2009 Now Park Slopalypse 2009
Wow, I miss one day of blogging, and suddenly Park Slope has turned into the hyperventilating headquarters for Maclaren's Rahm Emanuel Appreciation Society:"There's swine flu and Maclaren strollers," said Dara Kass, a mother of two, as she prepared to order...
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Macopalypse 2009 2004! Or, How Not To Sell A Stroller
So we're starting to fill in some of the dates on the timeline for Maclaren's Global War On Future Concert Pianists. When I spoke to Maclaren USA chairman Bahman Kia, he said the amputating hinge issue came to the company's...
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November 10, 2009
Health Care Reform Prop Baby
Well change my mind and open my health care savings account! Now that 7-month-old Maddie has successfully channeled her opposition to health care reform through her zombie symbiant Rep. John Shadegg, I am thoroughly opposed to upsetting the insurance...
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November 9, 2009
Macopalypse 2009: Recalled Maclaren Hinges An 'Industry-Wide Issue'
So clearly, the biggest stroller recall in history, of one of the most popular brands, for amputating children's fingers is a big deal. But then you realize that the actual threat posed to your kid's future as a concert...
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Macopalypse 2009: The CPSC Version
So here's the official CPSC recall announcement for the Maclaren Everythings, for your headline-comparing entertainment:Maclaren USA Recalls to Repair Strollers Following Fingertip Amputations WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today...
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Macopalypse 2009: The Maclaren Recall Press Release
Just got a press release from Maclaren's publicists reaffirming the company's "unwavering commitment to child safety," their "Zero Tolerance policy of safety issues," and that their "umbrella strollers meet all U.S. ASTM & JPMA compliance standards." Oh, also, they're recalling...
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November 6, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Shocked, Shocked Edition
Calm, relaxing autumn weekend with the kid? Not if the publicizers of these stories from the worlds of science, medicine, education, safety, and parenting have anything to do with it: What better way to start the Friday Freakout than...
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[read the full post...]
November 5, 2009
Must Credit Dadcentric!! Ford Announces Inflatable Seat Belts
Jason Avant of Dadcentric is representin' for the dadblogging community at a lavish Ford Safety press event in the US Virgin Islands this weekend. Now that he's livetweeted the big news--inflatable rear seat belts!!--he has the entire weekend free...
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November 3, 2009
Ill. Dad Files Class-Action Lawsuit Over Crossed Baby Monitor Signal
So while an Illinois mom breastfeeds in the nursery at all hours of the night and day, the dad chats with the new dad neighbor about how they must have the same brand of baby monitor, because they can...
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[read the full post...]
October 31, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Halloween Edition
Because you can only worry about razor blades in apples for a few more hours, here are some headlines from the worlds of science and parenting to freakout over the rest of the weekend: 610,000 cheap-ass Halloween flashlights sold at...
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[read the full post...]
BRIO? Indies? Toy Casualties Mount In CPSIA Trainwreck
It's been a while since the CPSIA has been in the news, or at least since anyone's sent me anything about it. The CPSC's new lead and phthalates restrictions and testing requirements for childrens' products kicked in earlier this year,...
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UK Combats Paedophile Plague By Banning Parents From Playgrounds
As everyone knows, the United Kingdom was founded as a prison island for criminals exiled from Camelot. Given the population's well-established propensity for child abuse, a national paedophile database is being set up, and everyone who gets within 100 rods...
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[read the full post...]
October 23, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Nuclear Edition
Here are some stories from the science, safety, and parenting worlds designed to help give your confidence a little extra push--over the cliff. Have a great weekend! Actually, these first two are just funny-sad: Do you remember going outside to...
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[read the full post...]
October 22, 2009
Parental Yelling Experts Declare Parental Yelling Crisis
I know this should be in the Friday Freakout, but hey. The New York Times reports that this generation of parents is yelling at their kids in unprecedented numbers. This, according to authors of books on parental yelling, actresses starring...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Splash Flash Not Included: Bernie Madoff's E320 Wagon Gets Auctioned Tomorrow!
Sick kids, White House stargazing, work, family, I know that I've been letting a lot get past me the last couple of weeks, and for the most part, I don't mind. But finding out that I have less than...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 19, 2009
LIFE Magazine Not Just For Photos Anymore
Sweet digitized Xanadu, Google has released the entire archive of LIFE Magazine--through 1972, anyway--online. It begins in 1936, and the fifth issue, Dec. 21, has this awesome pram photo with the surprisingly creepy caption, "Lord Beaverbrook's granddaughter and friend."...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
FTC Investigating Babies R Us For Widespread Baby Gear Pricefixing
From a report in the Baby Industrial Complex section of the Wall Street Journal--yes, it has its own section now, thanks, Rupert!--we learn that the Federal Trade Commission has opened an anti-trust investigation into price-fixing at Babies R Us. The...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 16, 2009
Was That Kid Riding In A Love'N'Care Pram When He Got Run Over By That Train?
So you've probably already seen this video from a CCTV camera in Melbourne, Australia of a stroller with a 6-month-old kid in it, heading right over the edge of the platform just as the train comes. So you know...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 15, 2009
Dads Across America Tonight Are Hugging Their Kids, Checking The Moorings On Their Experimental Helium Balloon Projects
I don't know about your cockamamie, gigantic, mylar balloon project, but mine is not in our backyard; it'll be in the Pantheon or the Grand Palais. Or outer space. Still, I made the kid promise me she wouldn't climb...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 13, 2009
Don't Throw Rama From The Train
A 30-year old woman suddenly gave birth in the toilet on a train in northeast India, and the baby fell down the chute, out the trapdoor, and onto the tracks. So the mother raced out of the bathroom and jumped...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 9, 2009
DT Friday Freakout
The moon is still here, and you didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize this year, but surely, there are still reports from the worlds of science and parenting to freak out about this weekend? Yes, and don't call me Shirley:...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
That'd Be The Wong-Baker FACES Pain Scale, Colbert
"His show is like the dramatization of a pain chart on a pediatrician's wall."- Stephen Colbert not giving Dr Donna Wong or Dr Carol Beck the credit they deserve while talking about Glenn Beck [who once advertised his special...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 8, 2009
Inflatable Solar System Just Like The White House
So for the last few months, the wife has been working on a big astronomy event at the White House, which just went down tonight. [High five, baby, you pulled it off!] She had 150 middle school kids, a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 5, 2009
DT Monday Mommy Mailbag
Hey Ladies, I know you're all broken up over the loss of Cookie, but don't worry, there are still plenty of fabulous must-have blah blah blahs for you to buy!Hi Greg, Being pregnant doesn't have to mean putting your fitness...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
WHOA, That's The Way The Gourmet, Cookie Crumble
When you pay McKinsey to tell you to jump, you also pay to tell you how high. And by jump, I actually mean, push someone off the cliff. In the face of an advertising depression Conde Nast just announced they...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 2, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Unfit Mothers Edition
Sometimes it can be really hard to sit on some of these newly released studies all week and not freak out about them. But this way, it only ruins the weekend: The BBC's headline which took a new Institute of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 1, 2009
Huge Private Dicks Offer 'Covert Pregnancy Testing'
TPM Muckraker has some wacked out story about a freaky private army run by an ex-con in the OC which got a 10-year contract to run an empty prison in some podunk Montana town. Among the company, American Police...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 30, 2009
Fire Trucks And Marauding Pirate Ships: New Cambridge Playground The Awesomest EVER
Thank you, Cambridge! Finally, the days of boring, namby-pamby playgrounds designed by product liability lawyers is are [oy. should never have laid off my Harvard-trained copy editor. -ed.] OVER! They build them like they used to in Cambridge, Mass.,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 25, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Snakes Edition
Some reports from the worlds of science and parenting to freak out over this weekend: Some survey found that, because of money worries during the recession, "many women" are delaying pregnancy and skimping on birth control. "Many men" who are...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
It's Just A Plan Colombia: Awesome Activist Art By Beehive Design Collective
I was just surfing through some images of the protests at the G20 in Pittsburgh when I was stopped and stunned by the absolutely incredible banners of art-activists of the Beehive Design Collective. the Beehive Collective translates in-depth socio-political...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 22, 2009
UK Autism Study: Same As It Ever Was, Same As It Ever Was
I know I should probably save it for the Freakout, but I couldn't resist. A new NHS study of autism in adults finds that they're just as autistic as all the kids these days. In other words, the supposed spike...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Mima + Alma Win K+J 2009 Innovation Awards
Well, the huge Kind + Jugend kid gear expo is finished in Cologne [stay tuned for a quick photo roundup]. A couple of the Innovation Award winners stood out--actually, Maxi Cosi's Innovation Award for its line of car seats...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 18, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Back To School Edition
Just some news and science to freak out over this weekend: School officials summoned police to confront a family who rode their bikes to school together. They were told they were "out of compliance." [streetsblog via dt sr wtf correspondent...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 16, 2009
D'oh!
Classic. They teach Phillies fans early not to get too caught up in the thrill of victory. Young Phillies fan reject's dad's foul ball gift [yahoo sports via ponch] A nice interview with the dad, Steve Monforto [nbcphiladelphia.com]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 10, 2009
Strolle(RED): Bugaboo Joins Onto Project (RED)
Bugaboo announced yesterday that the company is joining Project (RED), the big save-a-life-through-shopping program whereby companies create campaigns and products to raise money and awareness for the fight against HIV/AIDS and other global health crises. To their credit, Bugaboo is...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Target Saturation Licensing: Skelanimals Are The New Domo-kun
It's that time of year again, when a Target publicist's heart turns to thoughts of announcing which cutesy Japanese character property set will fulfill its 2.5 year business plan destiny and graduate from faux-niche Comic-con nerd fandom to having mountains...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 7, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Labor Day Edition
Rather than ruin your whole weekend, here are a few stories to freakout over on your last day of summer vacation: This Wal-Mart ain't big enough for the three of us: At one of the five Wal-Marts in Stone Mountain,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 4, 2009
Swedish-Male Nipple Engorgers: This Sort Of Thing Is My Bag, Baby
Ragnar Bengtsson is the Mjölkmannen, the Milkman. He's a 26-year-old dad and grad student who just began trying to produce breast milk for some Swedish TV show. He'll be pumping every three hours all Fall. You can follow his...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
It's Just A Brownie
At first I thought this findings published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report would go into the Friday Freakout, but I think it deserves its own post. Emphasis added for humorous/dramatic effect:On the morning of April 7, 2009,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 2, 2009
Wednesday WTF: Don't Bring A Knife To A Homework Fight
After punching his 7-yo daughter a couple of times because she just started guessing the answers on her homework, a Delaware dad pressed one of his knives against her cheek to show that he was serious about the guessing. How...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 31, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Monday Makeup Edition
Did your weekend feel kind of empty, devoid of excessive freakouts over the latest hyperbolic news reports from the worlds of science, health, safety, and parenting? Sorry, my bad. Here we go: Is ICE really trying to take the US-born...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 28, 2009
Marketers Turning To Dadblogs, Says Dadblogging Marketer
I love it when a marketing plan falls together. A couple of days ago, DT reader George heard a public radio news report about how dadblogs are the new marketing hotness: Sony markets to fathers with 'DigiDads' Sony has launched...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 26, 2009
CPSC Does Windows: 5.4 Million Blinds & Shades Recalled For Strangulation Danger
Whoa, now that's a recall. Six of them, actually. The CPSC has issued a sweeping set of recalls of window blinds, Roman shades, and roller shades sold at a whole bunch of major retailers and manufacturers, including Target, Ikea, Pottery...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 25, 2009
First Time As Farce, Second As Tragedy, Or Vice Versa
I swear I was kidding when I wrote just yesterday that circumcision was All-American enough to get the wingnuts to squeal the Pledge of Allegiance. Now some liberal knucklehead's gone and proved me wrong/right by dredging up some birther theories...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 24, 2009
DT Monday Mommy Mailbag
It's been a while since I've dumped a mess of mommy marketing material on here. At first, I thought I was in trouble because I wasn't getting as many tone-deaf, gender-ridiculous press releases; what would I mock on the blog?...
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Government Foreskin Panels Want To Africanize All American Baby Boys
How's my headline? Does it sound teabag militia wingnutty enough to get some cranky, gun-toting mobs to wave their "Don't Tread On My American Forskin!" signs outside the CDC? Because the NY Times reports that HIV/AIDS epidemiology officials at the...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 22, 2009
'Don't Tase My Mom!'
Here's that awesome dashboard video of a policeman in Syracuse, NY tasing and arresting a mom in front of her minivanful of kids. She'd just turned onto the family's street when the police officer pulled her over for talking...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 21, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Fish Edition
I've got a vacationful of stucco wall-inflicted bruises and unsupervised children to freak out over this weekend. But in case that's not enough, here are a few headlines from the worlds of scary science and safety: Blow out the candles...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Phil & Teds Moves Mountain Buggy To China Right On Schedule
It's as simple as 3+6=9. March + 6 months = September. March was when Phil & Teds announced it was buying Mountain Buggy, its New Zealand competitor, out of bankruptcy. Six months was the timeline floated then for making a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 19, 2009
The Ice Cream Menace
The NY Times article on the annoyances of the ice cream man cracks me up like five different ways: First there's the whole premise of the predatory ice cream man, whether he's an unlicensed immigrant sneaking into the playground, a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Advice For When The White House Asks You To Read A Book To Children
Alright, Melody and Rahm, you are the fifth and sixth White House-related celebrities to read books to large groups of children [the other four being former Utah governor and HHS secretary Mike Leavitt and his wife, and two guys...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 14, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Neo-Liberal Risk Culture Edition
What does the world of overhyped science and overly alarming and/or underpublicized safety news want you to freak out over this weekend? Researchers in Boston have found the cure to obesity: brown fat, which burns calories instead of storing them....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 7, 2009
DT Friday Freakout
Man, my browser tabs are ready to *POP* with all kinds of research and recalls ready to freak. you out: The next time you have to pay for your own C-section, go ahead and treat yourself. A news study shows...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 6, 2009
Funny As A Heart Attack: Mister Mom Writer John Hughes Is Dead
Wow. Considering how many of my neurons are devoted to remembering and reciting nearly every line from the rest of his movies--Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, National Lampoon Vacation, Uncle Buck, Home Alone 1-3,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
DTQ: How Much Did Your Kid Cost?
Ever since reading Sarah Wildman's article about getting blindsided by a $22,000 hospital bill for the birth of their child, after they'd been paying $126/month for a carefully researched maternity care rider on their high-deductible, high-copay insurance policy, I've wondered...
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[read the full post...]
August 3, 2009
Welcoming Your Little Bundle Of Joy And Hospital Bills, Holy CRAP!
Wow, last time we heard from Sarah Wildman, she was writing an incredibly insightful article for the New York Times stuffed with the wisdom of hard-found parenting experts on how parents in these New Depressionary times really might not need...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Words You Definitely Don't Want To Hear, Ch. MCXXI
When you're hittin' on a hot Swedish broad at your wife's funeral: "Daddy, it's me --Tatum!" Beautiful People, Ugly Choices [vanityfair.com]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 31, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: No Toms, Dustins Or Leos Edition
Have we got a pile of overhyped science and alarming news stories to ruin your parenting weekend! "Does Breastfeeding Cause Autism?" This insane headline is the reason the Freakout was created. It is also practically a quote from the UCSF...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 27, 2009
DT Monday Mommy Mailbag: Post-Partum Boutique Edition
Evening, ladies! It's only been a few weeks since it was born, but it looks like the Mommy Mailbag is already back into its skinny jeans, no pressure! "HadleyStilwell, a Designer of Clothes for Breastfeeding Mothers Returning to Work, Now...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Judge, Joovy: Baby Trend Angles For Bankruptcy After Court Smackdowns
One post about The Guiding Light and suddenly it's wall-to-wall soap opera around here. In today's episode of As The Stroller World Turns: A court in Orange County The O.C. has awarded $8.4 million to Rob Gardner, formerly the head...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 24, 2009
Red Hookalypse Is Nigh! IKEA Banishes Breastfeeding Mom To Bathroom
Pull up a POĂ„NG chair, folks, and have a seat. It's gonna be nothing but breast milk and meatballs for the rest of the summer. Of all the furniture joints in all the towns in all the world, a security...
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[read the full post...]
DT Friday Freakout: Early Start Edition
Usually, I don't get these science, news, and political stories designed to ruin your parenting weekend together until much later in the day. But given today's freakout roundup, I figured it's never too early to start: "A 16-year-old mother who...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 23, 2009
Daddy Talks--With The New CEO Of The New The Right Start
I admit, I was caught off guard by Liberty Media's purchase of the assets of The Right Start and babystyle at a court-supervised bankruptcy auction a couple of months ago. What interest could John Malone, aka the Infobahn Warrior, have...
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[read the full post...]
July 22, 2009
Dads: There're Just Too Damn Many Of Them
If you leave something open in your browser tab long enough, it becomes irrelevant or a bona fide trend. Right now, the trend is, there are just dads everywhere. Dads dads dads. Dads in Manhattan, dads in Brooklyn. They're like...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 20, 2009
DT Monday Mommy Mailbag: Rack After Rack Edition
Wondering what Smart, Haute Moms are being sold this week? Just check out these marketing messages meant for the Mammary Set from the Daddy Types Monday Mommy Mailbag: First up, Sea Goddess contouring swimsuits:Hi There - Every summer, women agonize...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Circumcision Is The New African HIV-Fighting Hotness
The NY Times reports on the latest trend in southern African penises: circumcision. After several international studies found that adult male circumcision reduced female-to-male HIV transmission by up to 60%, hundreds of thousands of men are lining up to chop...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Bend Over Obama Bib [???]
I didn't have kids in the 90's, so I never needed to answer awkward questions about why Ken Starr, Newt Gingrich and Lindsey Graham were talking about oral sex, blue dresses, and cigars on every TV channel, every day...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 18, 2009
Dude, Where's My Oscar Mayer Wienermobile?
Yesterday, a wayward Oscar Mayer Wienermobile slammed into the lakefront house Nick Krupp, 23, rents from his mother in Racine, Wisconsin. The Wienermobile [codename: WEENR] got lost on the way to a public appearance Friday, ended up on a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 17, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Neighborly Edition
The lead time on overexcited science study press releases must be around two weeks, and so the 4th of July gives us time to freak out over some other news this weekend: Lord knows I've seen a few, but Barack...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 16, 2009
Mama Bear
O forgive me, for I am a weak and imperfect man who is unable to resist temptation--especially when it is placed right before me on AKGovSarahPalin's Quitter Twitter:Great day w/bear management wildlife biologists; much to see in wild territory incl...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Special Delivery! DT Mommy Mailbag
It's not Monday, I know, but this seemed like such an important message to get out there right away. Dads, won't you help? Take a few minutes on the golf course this weekend and see if you can think of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 15, 2009
One Backwards R To Rule Them All
Wow, so last we heard from Toys R Us & Babies R Us, they were buying up F.A.O. Schwarz, or whatever's left of it--a soon-to-be-evicted, toy store-themed amusement park on Fifth Avenue, and parents' vague, vestigial fondness for Tom Hanks...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 13, 2009
Spring Break Wasilla 2009!!
Nothing like waking up to a giant photo on the front of the NY Times of Sarah Palin signing some snowbilly kid's rack. She's never going to have bathtime again. Palin's Route to Resignation: Missteps and Ignored Advice, photo:...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 12, 2009
Oilily Be Right Back
At this rate, I'll need to start a "back in business" tag to go with the "out of business." The bankrupt Dutch psychedelic hippie/moppet clothing company Oilily was recently liquidated; the intellectual property and trademarks for the firm were reportedly...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 10, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Beach Edition
How about some alarming studies and news reports to fill your sunny parenting weekend with freakout and doom? Fat and lazy, true, but not dumb: child obesity researchers in East London found out some of their lazier test subjects were...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 8, 2009
Right Start Restart: Liberty Media Gets Into The Baby Business
This weekend in Pennsylvania, we passed a mall that had a big Right Start sign on the street, and I thought, huh. Are they actually still open? [They were not.] And then tonight I get an email from DT...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Ahh, You Never Forget The First Time--Your Dad Asks You To Help Ditch The Hooker's Body
Wow. In a cage match for Father of The Freakin' Year against Alan John Jett of BF Florida, Stone Cold Derek Lindsay just won with a knockout in the first round. Jett took his 5th grade son out with him...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Brits Say They Created Sperm From Stem Cells
Soon the only thing left for you to do will be taking the pictures. AP: British scientists claim to create human sperm [ap/google] OTOH, this same stem cell researcher's been crying "Sperm!" since 2006 [telegraph.co.uk]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 7, 2009
DT Monday Mommy Mailbag Meets Tuesday Turf War: Our365
The publicists were off for the holiday, because I didn't get any seriously biased mommy marketing pitches until today. And the one I got bears looking into:Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFLY), the leading Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service, today...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 6, 2009
4 Million Aqua Leisure Baby Floats Recalled For Drowning Risk [!]
If you thought reaching a live customer service rep at Aqua Leisure was hard before... The CPSC just issued a recall for over 4 million baby floats made by Aqua Leisure between 2002 and 2008 and sold until June...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Tintori Time! Trendy Toddler-Terrorizing Auteur Talks Turkey
We Love You So has a nice little interview with Ray Tintori, who directed the sadistic 80's horror-themed music video for MGMT's hit "Kids" [and whose name, I just realized, I'd mistyped as Ryan.] Tintori's young, and clearly a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 4, 2009
Build-A-Heroin-Filled-Bear
On Independence Day, let's take a moment to celebrate what makes America great: like a network of drug dealers in the Bronx moving their heroin around the tri-state area inside Build-A-Bears. And the free press who keep referring to...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 3, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: The British Are Coming! Edition
A short list of hyperbolic parenting, safety, and science news to freak you out over the weekend: If pollution caused premature births, it would be enough. If preeclampsia occurred more frequently in Long Beach, it would be enough. But holy...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 2, 2009
Uh, Yes I HAVE Heard About The Boyfriend's Python Strangling The 2-Year-Old
What I hadn't heard was that the lid on Jason Darnell's pen for his 8.5-ft Burmese python was "a quilt and some rope." Un. freaking. believable. Also, Shaiunna? Or is it too soon to ask? OXFORD, FLORIDA -- Charges Possible...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 1, 2009
Snopp! You Must Not Hop On Pop!
A young Swedish couple has decided to raise their kid gender-neutral, and is not revealing whether the two-year-old is a boy or a girl. The paper Svenska Dagbladet interviewed them in March [google translation]. They used the aliases Jonas, Nora...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 28, 2009
Taunton's Fightinest Gets Out Of Jail Long Enough To Get Arrested For 143rd Time
So I start seeing a burst of comments about Stone Cold Derek Lindsay, the fightinest dad in Taunton, Massachusetts, and I'm like, "No way could he get arrested, he's in jail!" Way! Even though Lindsay's 142nd arrest--for attempted murder [!]--was...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 26, 2009
DT Friday Freakout
Here are some overwrought headlines from the worlds of science and health and such to ruin your parenting weekend: Smacking your kid will give him cancer. In Canada. "Childhood physical abuse is associated with elevated rates of cancer in adulthood,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
DT Replays Michael Jackson's Greatest Hits
What more could be said about Michael Jackson that hasn't already been said here on Daddy Types? Really, I got nothing. So without further ado, here is the complete anthology of MJ-related DT posts. Summer 2007 was clearly a peak:...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 25, 2009
DadCentric On NuPoppa
Damn you sports camp carpool lane gridlock! I missed Jason from DadCentric's interview on NuPoppa, the, uh, dad-centric podcast for, uh, new poppas, hosted each week by Doug and Ted. The wife's out of town this week, so I'm soloing...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Last Call For Token Father's Day Stories
Have you come across a token Father's Day story from a TV station, magazine, or newspaper? Have you put a link to it in the DT Token Father's Day Contest so you can have a chance to win a Nintendo...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Gerber, Hanna Andersson Spun Off To Pay The Bills
Whoops, looks like I missed this story from the New Depression. Which I guess was the entire point of the company releasing the news on November 25, two days before Thanksgiving. Kellwood, a women's apparel manufacturer which bought Gerber Childrenswear...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 20, 2009
The DT Token Father's Day Story Contest!
Alright, this one will be quick. DT's minivan correspondent JJ Daddy-O has challenged us to a contest, and I think we can't back down. So get out there and find the most ridiculously patronizing Father's Day story you can find,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Educational & Entertaining: Why, They're As Different As Colored And White
Did you know that when the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was created in 1967, a Republican congressman from Texas proposed an amendment forbidding the "educational stations" from offering "entertainment"? These were the two opposing ends of the media spectrum back...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 19, 2009
DT Friday Freakout Jersey Girl Edition
Father's Day notwithstanding, here are some news reports from the worlds of science, government, and parenting to ruin your weekend: In two separate incidents this week, Continental Airlines sent two unaccompanied minors to the wrong cities, and USA Today says...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 18, 2009
And The Winner Of The 2009 Token Father's Day Involved Dad Feature Story Is...
Ah yes, Father's Day. That time of year when a thick-headed morning news producer's heart turns to Mr. Mom stories that weren't relevant 20 years ago, either, and newspaper editors momentarily acknowledge the existence of entire generations of involved...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 17, 2009
Endless Summer Of Luvs
Looks like the NY Times' advertising columnist Stuart Elliott recently caught the Broadway revival of Hair:The moon may not be in the seventh house. And only an astrologer knows for sure if Jupiter has aligned with Mars. But it...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
And In Other Annoying, Talentless, Manipulative Hack News...
Jill Greenberg made babies cry, and then took their picture. Glenn Beck makes himself--and anyone with two neurons to rub together--cry on his flame-fanning, wingnut TV show. Greenberg's 2004 exhibit of her crybaby photos was called "End Times." Glenn...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 14, 2009
Secret Asian Man
Studies of data from the 2000 US census and 2004 births show that Asians in the US are increasingly turning to "family balancing," either through sex selection or abortion, to ensure they have a boy. The chances of a second...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 13, 2009
MacNetto! Maclaren Bought Netto Collection
I think that's called a scoop. I'm hearing from multiple parties that the deal for Maclaren to acquire Netto Collection was finalized Friday, and it will be announced publicly on Monday. After dabbling a bit with portable cribs, and high...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 12, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Playgrounds, Pregnant BPA & Asian Co-Sleeping Edition
Some over-reaching conclusions and alarming news stories from the worlds of science, safety, and parenting to ruin your weekend, especially if you were planning to go to a playground, or drink from a plastic bottle when you're pregnant: "Safety Questions...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 8, 2009
This Week In Bankrupt Dutch Moppetwear Company News
So what's up with Oilily since the Dutch bankruptcy trustee shuttered the high-end kid clothing company's local stores and then sold off/handed back the trademarks to the Olsthoorn family, who founded the company, and who retained a significant minority stake...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 6, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Russian Mice Breast Pump Edition
The Freakout's roundup of overwrought science, safety, and parenting news ruineth your weekend--and it unruineth [?] it with a little dose of Uma: The California Senate passed a ban on BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups this week, one...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 2, 2009
American Dude Delivered By Midwife Suddenly Can't Get A Passport
I was just filling out the application for K2's passport--and renewing the kid's--when I caught this crazy passport thread and started pulling. Apparently, the State Department has flagged people who were delivered by at least 200 midwives around the country...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 1, 2009
MacNetto?
How many people on how many sides of a rumor do you have to know personally before it becomes awkward to post about it? If what I'm hearing about Maclaren buying Netto Collection is true, then I guess I'm about...
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WTD BPA Spokesmodel: Nice Cans, Pregnant A Plus, Some Travel Req.
Someone leaked the minutes of last Thursday's North American Metal Packaging Alliance BPA Joint Trade Association Meeting on Communications Strategy, or NAMPA BPA PR/BS HQ OMG WTF for short. It's like Treadstone for baby formula cans! Who is Jason Bourne??...
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May 30, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Exercise Edition
Did someone say hidden health hazards? Yes, yes they did. After the terrible death of Mike Tyson's 4-year-old daughter this week, how could we freak out about anything other than the hidden health hazards around your house? This single CNN...
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May 28, 2009
F.A.O. R Us
Toys R Us is owned by Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts. TRU has announced it is acquiring F.A.O. Schwarz, a company whose primary assets consist of two retail leases [NYC, which expires in 2012 and is being...
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There's A Fete In My Tummy! Yo Gabba Gabba Producer Is Obama's New Ambassador To France
Ho. Ly. Smokes. Avec une cerise on top. Charlie Rivkin, the CEO of Wildbrain, which executive produces Yo Gabba Gabba!, was just named as President Obama's ambassador to France. In other world-shaking news, YGG! got picked up for another season....
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May 27, 2009
Yanmama: Japan's Having It's Own Jamie Lynn & Bristol Moment
According to neojaponisme, my favorite source for gaijin analysis, Japan is having a yanmama boom. Whether the yan in yanmama is from "young" or from yankii, the Japanese equivalent of white trash, a few young celebrities are having kids really...
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May 26, 2009
Tanzanian Maternity Ward
Wow, I couldn't bring myself to read this weekend's New York Times article yet about the crazy-high mortality rate for mothers and babies alike in Tanzania. But I just scrolled through Beatrice de Gea's photo essay of the Tanzanian...
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May 15, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Viagra Edition
Just a little list of headlines, recalls, and over-interpreted science and medical news to ruin your parenting weekend: The Northbridge, Mass. bus driver who left a 3-yo on the bus all day had dropped a 5-yo at the wrong day...
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On The Return Of ______ Drives A _______!
You know what I was thinking we haven't had enough of lately? Those fun, inspiring "______ drives a ______!" where we get to identify with a celebrity dad and [possibly!] validate our own stroller purchase a little. Yeah, maybe...
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May 11, 2009
DT Freakout Friday: Vaccine Autism Celebrities Edition
Close readers of the Daddy Types will notice that there was no Friday Freakout over the weekend. Sorry. Things got a little busy, I didn't want to ruin Mother's Day, or when it comes to dishonest and dangerous pseudo-scientific quackery...
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May 8, 2009
Insane Argington Bamboofest At BKLYN DESIGNS This Weekend
Alright, this is like five kinds of freakin' bamboo awesome all in one. Argington is one of the half dozen kid-related design outfits participating in the BKLYN DESIGNS festival this weekend in DUMBO. [The others are Boo-Coup, Casa Kids, Hugh...
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May 7, 2009
Simplicity/SFCA Out Of Business, Into Trouble
First things first: IF YOU HAVE ANY SIMPLICITY CRIBS, CO-SLEEPERS, OR PLAYARDS, CHECK THE CPSC RECALL NOTICES. THEN STOP USING THEM NO MATTER WHAT. THEN DESTROY THEM. DON'T PUT THEM ON CRAIGSLIST OR WHATEVER. AND REPORT ANY SAFETY INCIDENTS...
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May 3, 2009
Leave The Stores, Take The Oilily: Founding Family Buys Back The Brand
Well that's interesting and a little complicated. The government-appointed trustee overseeing the sale of the bankrupt Dutch luxo-moppet fashion chain Oilily has announced a deal, of sorts. Turns out it's the family of Willem Olsthoorn, the hippiepreneur who founded the...
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May 2, 2009
DT Friday Freakout Followup
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...
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May 1, 2009
Where's The Outrage??
So a Wisconsin grandma and volunteer crisis counselor makes a coloring book in 2003 to help kids in her town deal with a tornado strike, and five years and 100 days [...] later Fox News throws a FEMA hissy fit...
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Justice Dept. Turns Illegal Hardwood Crib Smuggler Every Which Way But Loose
So I had a call into the press office at the Department of Justice today--more on that later, definitely stay tuned--and their crib guy called me back. Only it wasn't the crib guy I was looking for; it was...
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Cheap Crib Recalls R Us: Dorel x BRU Cribocalypse Tally Climbs To 472,450
The CPSC added another 96,000 Jardine cribs to its existing recall yesterday, bringing the total to at least 472,450. Jardine is a brand name used exclusively at Babies R Us and Toys R Us to sell low-end cribs [mostly...
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Huggies Pure & Natural Hypoallergenic Latex-Free Organic Cotton Huggies Brand Initial Steps Toward Environmental Improvements!
I was one of two finalists to give the student address for my business school commencement. My speech was a hilarious [obviously] reminder that we'd be more effective business leaders if we learn to avoid knuckleheaded jargon and "speak...
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April 25, 2009
DT Freakout Friday: Was, Uh, Yesterday Edition
Sorry I'm late. I hope these alarmist, hyperbolic, or way-too-early-to-say stories from the news will still be able to ruin at least half your parenting weekend: Can't really top the headline: "Pregnant woman hit by car while running from bear"...
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April 24, 2009
Change Volvo Can Believe In? DOT Calls For Side Impact Standards, Mfr Car Seat Recommendations
Whoa, the Secretary of Transportation just posted the findings of NHTSA's wide-ranging review of US car seat safety standards policy [!] to his blog [!!], Welcome To The Fast Lane. The bullet points: "[N]ew side-impact standards as well as increased...
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April 23, 2009
Did You Know It Is Or Will Be Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week Or Month?
So maybe the Baby Shaker iPhone app was released Monday to drum up publicity for Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week--in which case, our society is doomed, because apparently the media only freaks out over a problem with the App Store,...
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Apple Strangles Baby Shaker App In Crib
Apple just wanted the screaming to stop, is that so wrong? The iPhone review site Krapps.com set off a media tweetstorm yesterday when it publicized Baby Shaker, an iPhone app where a baby cries until you shake it real...
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April 18, 2009
Score One For The Little Bunny: Bankruptcy Court Orders Oilily To Remove & Destroy Rosa Pomar Knockoff Bunnies
Wow. If I'm reading my Google Translator right, Rosa Pomar has won. Fearing that publicity and criticism of Oilily's knocking off of Pomar's stuffed bunnies could derail the sale of the bankrupt company, the Dutch court trustee appointed to oversee...
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April 17, 2009
Things I'd Rather Not Be Recorded Saying, Vol XII
Especially if there's a chance they release the 911 call to the media:"I didn't know my wife was pregnant," Ryan said of his 27-year-old wife, already a mother of three.Couple unaware of pregnancy gives birth at home with help of...
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DT Friday Freakout: Spawning Season Edition
Sun's out, it's getting warmer, it looks like a great weekend--for random and preliminary medical research news to undermine your confidence in the way you're parenting! Since April is Autism Awareness Month, we'll start there: Were you aware autism is...
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April 15, 2009
DT WTF Wednesday: Strollers & Syrup
Some quick, headscratching news stories from around the strollerverse: The Albany Times-Union reports that Miguel Angel Rodriguez, 20, was arrested on attempted [!] grand larceny after an employee at Hollywood Video saw him pack "more than $1,000 worth of...
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April 14, 2009
Wasilla Area Man Is At-Home Dad
Luke Dittrich did a Hangout With Todd Palin article for Esquire. It stars piles of laundry, car seat bases, kid handoffs, trips to Target, snowmobiles, splitting childcare with your pregnant eldest daughter, Google Alerts set up for media mentions of...
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April 13, 2009
Diaper Changing Stations We Can Believe In
Sorry for the radio silence today; our timeslot for the White House Easter Egg Roll was smack in the middle of the day, and it threw everything else off. Still, it was pretty awesome. The Obama kids' playground which...
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April 9, 2009
Let's See, What Rhymes With Citi?
Now that they have their fancypants corporate stadium, The Mets are giving their little league fans the shaft. I'll be sure to work this into the conversation the next time the kid asks me why we're Yankees fans. Why do...
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April 8, 2009
UCLA Study: Parents Cutting Costs, Not Foreskins
Actually, the study says that hospital circumcision rates are 24% lower in the 16 states where the procedure isn't covered by Medicaid. But not in Missouri, right? "'We whack 'em all,' says Dr. Renee Stein, whose clinic at St. John's...
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For Sale: One Slightly Used, Knockoff-Prone, Dutch Moppetwear Company,
Oilily's having a sale! Of itself. The Dutch children's clothing chain has apparently not sold enough Rosa Pomar knockoff bunnies to cover its nut, because bankruptcy administrators in Amsterdam Monday ordered the company to be sold. Which is funny [and,...
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April 7, 2009
"Nathan Needs Some Huggies" Still Not Working
Kudos to Southtown Star reporter Kim Janssen for making the connection, but I doubt the 21-year-old Jeremy Humphrey got the idea for stealing diaper money from the 22-year-old Coen Brothers classic, Raising Arizona: As you can clearly see from the...
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April 3, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Smoking Edition
Some quick 'n dirty scientific studies from which to draw way-too-hasty parenting lessons: Remember that Freakout where the breastfeeding, organic treehugger mom was all worried that perchlorates might be in her kid's drinking water? Well, that's the newly discovered benefit...
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March 31, 2009
The Dozen Or So Unhappily Circumcised Man March
If your head's not too desensitized to appreciate it, the Washington Post's story on the 50 or so intactivists who marched from the White House to Capitol Hill yesterday is entertaining. Also a little sad. Two foreskin-mourning college kids were...
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Stokke, Chicco, Chicco, Stokke?
One of the many things I learned from Pamela Paul's book, Parenting, Inc.: Chicco's pronounced KEE-koh. Because it's Italian, obviously. Also, they're huge. The parent company Artsana has like EUR 1.6 billion in sales for three business lines, only one...
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Will Oilily's New Private Owners Address Their Rosa Pomar Problem?
It turns out that while they were launching their new Spring line of knockoff Rosa Pomar bunnies, the Dutch moppet clothing company Oilily was itself being sold. The announcement appeared in the Dutch press two wekes ago that Lea Ward,...
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March 27, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Short Tips Edition
We just rolled into NYC after just seven hours on the road. Thanks for nothing, Delaware. So though it should still ruin your weekend with alarmist interpretations of scientific research results, the Freakout will be cut short today: A new...
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March 25, 2009
Doubling Down: Phil & Teds Buys Mountain Buggy Out Of Bankruptcy
Rachel at Dainty Baby just emailed with the scoop: The National Business Review reports that Phil & Teds is acquiring the other offroad double stroller company in New Zealand, Mountain Buggy. Mountain Buggy's parent company Tritec went into receivership in...
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March 19, 2009
DT Xingqi-wu Xitstorm
I know today's only xingqi-su, but it's xingqi-wu in Asia, isn't it? Here are a couple of stories that make you say Wu Tang Fung, if you know what I mean: After that consumer activist group announced they had "found"...
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March 18, 2009
Remember, Son, Don't Take A Knife To A Tattoo Parlor Gun Fight
Judging from the number of people who emailed this tip to me, a lot of dads are wondering what is up with Taunton, Massachusetts' most misunderstood parenting philosopher/mixed martial arts aficionado, Stone Cold Derek Lindsay. Last we heard, Lindsay...
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March 13, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: Lots More Tears Edition
Yes, in case you're keeping score at home, you've already noticed there was no Friday Freakout last week; because we freakin' went out of town for the weekend. So refreshing. But enough of that, let's get on with the overly...
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March 12, 2009
Grover, Can You Spare A Dime? Sesame Workshop Lays Off 20% Of Employees
Sesame Workshop announced layoffs of 67 employees today, roughly 20 percent of the non-profit company's workforce. In a statement to the Financial Times, the Workshop said it was "not immune to the unprecedented challenges of today's economic environment," and that...
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March 11, 2009
Plush Your Mother: Grass Mud Horse Dolls In China
Long Duck Dong, freedom fighter! The NY Times has a report about a fascinating protest movement that's sweeping the Chinese internet. In response to a massive political crackdown by government censors, ostensibly targeting vulgarity and porn, millions of net...
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Hey Kids, Can You Say Pendejo?
For one brief, shining, hilarious moment at the end of this Jon Stewart clip about his feud with Jim Cramer and the CNBC/NBC/MSNBC conglomernaut, I felt a swelling of synergistic gratitude in my heart for Viacom. Unfortunately, that was...
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March 10, 2009
Thank You, Greatest Generation!
I don't read Thomas Friedman's column regularly, but if he promises to quote The Onion and make me think of Wonder Showzen from now on, I'll give him a chance. The Onion quote you can read for yourself. But...
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March 5, 2009
All The Names In The Times' Last-Bohemians-In-The-Apthorp Story
For everyone who thought the only possible baby names to come out of the Apthorp were Wendy [Wasserstein], Cyndi [Lauper] and Apthorp, the NY Times has a story that will warm your heart. Or jab it like a knife, since...
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March 2, 2009
Some Phony Survey: Dads Flake Out On Books, Should Watch More TV
"A mere 3% of fathers read to their children, compared with 89% of mothers." Somehow, even aunts and uncles read to kids twice as frequently [6%] as their own dads. At least that's the lead finding of a pointless online...
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February 27, 2009
Jenny From The Docket: J.Lo Sues Silver Cross For Unauthorized Promo
God bless Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony. The couple and their company, Nuyorican Productions, Inc. have filed a $30 million copyright infringement suit against fusty prammaker Silver Cross for using a photograph of them pushing some prams to, well, push...
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February 20, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: K2 Edition
You know, because K2 chose this week to basically challenge Death at every turn, I've had a hard time freaking out over anything the hyperbolic science reporting industry can come up with, but I'll try: The NY Times reports that...
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February 17, 2009
Brio Bork Bork Bork Bork! What's Swedish For "Bankruptcy"?
Actually, the word that matters most to the venerable Swedish wooden train maker right now is likviditeten. Liquidity. As in, cash. As in, after disappointing sales, extended operating losses, and extraordinary expenses, Brio is facing what its board of...
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In Your Face, England! We Have A Mom Of 14!
Haha, England's all excited now because they have a guy who's a dad of only 13. Wait, what?? [thesun.co.uk] six other baby daddies update: wait, what what?? [dailymail.co.uk]...
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February 10, 2009
Hello, It's February 10th. Is The Phthalate Baby Product Industry Still With Us?
Any shuttered stores? Stopped assembly lines? Quarantined shipping containers? Empty shelves in the teething ring aisle? Tumbleweeds on etsy.com? Wire service photos of despairing phthalate futures traders clapping their foreheads? Though they're not being enforced officially, today is the...
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February 7, 2009
Running Out: DT Runs The Numbers On The End Of Right Start
OK, this is almost literally kicking a dead horse, but I did a little digging into the bankruptcy filing for Right Start and babystyle. At first, I was trying to figure out if I needed to correct the suggestions made...
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February 6, 2009
DT Friday Freakout: "I Was Devastated." Edition
OK, Science may actually have some preliminary research findings for you to freak out over this weekend: Actually, we've been quietly freaking out over this one for nearly five years, since we first got our place in DC, where the...
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February 5, 2009
Wait, Is Right Start Not Honoring Gift Cards And Store Credit?
With the news that Right Start and babystyle have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy [yet again], I made the slightly offhand, slightly serious suggestion that anyone with a gift card should hustle over to a store and use it up...
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Everything Must Not Go! Court Spanks CPSC, Upholds CPSIA Phthalate Ban
Short story: If you make or sell plastic or vinyl children's products, you can forget whatever plans you made for the weekend. Slightly longer story: The Natural Resources Defense Council and Public Citizen sued the CPSC over exceptions the Commission...
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February 4, 2009
8 Is Enough For The Pilot, Anyway
You know, I prefer not to discuss octuplets unless they're named Nahasapeemapetilon. So I've kept the whole, single, baby-obsessed mom living at home with her 14 IVF kids story off Daddy Types. Because seriously, what Then someone forwarded me an...
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February 3, 2009
Use Up Your Gift Cards Right Quick: Right Start Files For Chapter 11
Well, it seems to be official: the blog Strollerinfo is reporting that Right Start, the baby retailer who bought babystyle out of its own bankruptcy last Spring, has filed for chapter 11 protection itself. Sure enough, I just saw the...
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January 24, 2009
Wondertime's Up
AdAge reports that Disney has smothered its adorable 3-year-old parenting magazine Wondertime in its crib. Ad revenues grew 20% in 2008, and circulation was around 400,000--very advanced for its age. But apparently, the company doesn't believe in happy endings anymore--or...
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January 23, 2009
Full Stop? Right Start To Close, Taking BabyStyle & Tiny Ride With It
I have to give babystyle credit, they were a trendsetter, even when it came to going out of business. The blog StrollerInfo.com has posted a suspiciously detailed "anonymous tip" reporting that this morning the baby gear retailer Right Start--which bought...
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DT Freakout Friday: Belgium Edition
Sorry, there's nothing to freak out about here this weekend. Unless you're the one having to deal with my blog server. Or unless you drop the kid off at Belgian daycare. YYYYOOOOWWWW....
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January 22, 2009
So What Are Congress And The JPMA Saying About CPSIA?
We're just three weeks away from the CPSIA-induced small business apocalypse. Will Obama save us? Will Congress? Will the JPMA? The short answer to each of those questions is easy: nobody knows! The longer answers: On Tuesday, within hours of...
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January 15, 2009
Family Services Assures Us There Are Worse Things Than Naming Your Kid Adolf Hitler
And I'm pretty sure they don't mean giving your kid an unpersonalized birthday cake. Still, New Jersey's Youth and Family Services agency is not giving the reasons for removing recently discriminated-against birthday boy Adolf Hitler Campbell and his two slightly...
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January 9, 2009
DTGIFriday Freakout
What alarming, preliminary research are we supposed to use to revamp our failed parenting this week, you ask? Your kid doesn't have a peanut allergy. No one does. They just have over-sensitive yuppie parents. That's the result of a study...
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January 8, 2009
CPSC Tells Junksellers: CPSIA Is Not The Big One, We're Not Coming For You
The CPSC says the "clarification" issued today about the new CPSIA lead-testing regulations which go into effect Feb. 10. is "Intended for Resellers of Children's Products, Thrift and Consignment Stores." But it's also great news for thrifters, eBay sellers, craigslisters,...
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BBC Reports That Pink Princess Thing Does Not Change Girls' DNA
So apparently, girls only like pink, and so that's all the "marketeers" give them. How did this come about? No one knows, but the BBC says it has something to do with Hitler and the gays. There's nothing to be...
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January 6, 2009
She's A Children's Product! Burn Her!
I want to fix the CPSIA, the CPSC's new lead testing law, and save all the various children's product industries from regulation-induced bankruptcy and collapse on February 10th as much as the next guy. But I would like to do...
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January 5, 2009
Allied Troops Did Not Pull Out Of Rouen In Time
Nearly two months after D-Day, Allied troops entered Rouen, France on August 30th, 1944 to little German resistance and, apparently, to the jubilant embraces of the grateful crowds. At least it was apparent to Ralph Morse who, in the...
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January 2, 2009
Turns Out Babies Are Born Inflight All The Time
It's only on slow news days that they get worldwide media attention. Here is a roundup of news, background, and data about babies born on airplanes: In 2007, a British woman gave birth at 25 weeks on a flight from...
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Waitaminnit, That Baby Born On The Northwest Flight Is NOT Canadian
OK, so on New Years Eve, an 8.5 mos pregnant Ugandan woman--and US resident--was on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Boston. By the time flight attendants called for any doctors traveling onboard to help with a medical emergency,...
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Oddly, Plummeting Milk Prices Doesn't Result In Plummeting Formula Prices
There's apparently a milk glut on, thanks to the depression, and growing stockpiles of powdered milk:The price of powdered skim milk, used in infant formula, dairy products and processed foods, has fallen to roughly 80 cents a pound today from...
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December 28, 2008
A. "Just Give'em Benadryl."
So you're a pharmaceutical industry executive. And not only has the FDA muscled you into a "voluntary" withdrawal from the lucrative children's over-the-counter cold & flu medicine market. But your leading antihistamine brand is also the default, one-word punchline for...
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December 26, 2008
DT Freakout Friday: Robots Edition
It's an abbreviated Freakout Friday, which focuses only on the most pressing ways we're ruining our kids, as extrapolated from preliminary research: Should we let robots take care of our children? Because, uh, hello, they already are. That's the ethical...
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[read the full post...]
December 23, 2008
Day Care Joins List Of Things No One Can Afford Anymore
We interrupt this stream of over-elaborate, handmade doll house posts to bring you this important breaking news: half the parents in the Washington DC area are pulling their kids out of daycare and dropping them at grandma's or the neighbor's...
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[read the full post...]
December 19, 2008
DT Freakout Friday: Wasilla Edition
No, I didn't backdate this list of alarming parenting conclusions drawn from preliminary or narrow scientific research; it was just freaking you out so bad last night, you blocked it from your mind: Unmarried fathers who were involved in prenatal...
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[read the full post...]
Science: Dinosaurs Were Claws-On Baby Daddies
A team of paleontologists have used an innovative statistical analysis comparing fossil leg bone characteristics to living, primitive birds like emus and rheas to show that male dinosaurs helped incubate eggs and care for their young. The study is published...
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[read the full post...]
December 18, 2008
CPSIAm So Screwed! Update: What Can Be Done NOW To Fix The New CPSC Lead Testing Law?
Good news for the small children's manufacturers, handmade toy and clothing makers, etsy crafters, and everyone else about to be driven out of business by the exorbitant cost of the CPSC's expansive lead testing regulations that go into effect next...
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[read the full post...]
December 15, 2008
And Now It's Springform For Hitler In Germantown
Let the record show that no one puts a kid's full name on a grocery store birthday cake. And you also know that when little Adolf Hitler Campbell's parents' cake order at the ShopRite was refused, there was no...
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[read the full post...]
December 12, 2008
DT Freakout Friday: Watch Your Head! Edition
Let's see what too quickly drawn parenting conclusions the scientists and sociologists and such have to ruin this weekend with, shall we? First up, etsy.com sellers have finally gotten the news of the CPSC's new lead testing bomb that's set...
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[read the full post...]
December 10, 2008
Is CPSC's New Lead Regulation Going To Wipe Out The Baby Non-Industrial Complex Next February?
It figures, doesn't it? You wait decades for the Consumer Products Safety Commission to finally get some legislative spine, and what happens? Their brand new lead testing regulations drive every maker of children's products--except for Mattel and Dorel--out of business...
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[read the full post...]
December 9, 2008
Chuck E. Cheese: "Something Out Of A Quentin Tarantino Film..."
At the kid's preschool's winter fair over the weekend, I was talking to another parent who had been disturbed by all the shooting games at Chuck E. Cheese. "Well, maybe if they aim at Chuck E. Cheese," I said, just...
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[read the full post...]
December 7, 2008
WTF? WTFstralia Arrests Guy For Uploading WTFistani Babyswinging Video
Yeah, so that insane video of that random foreigner guy swinging that baby like a rag doll that was posted to YouTube for a couple of hours? The guy who originally posted it, a liveleak.com user with the name biggles9,...
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[read the full post...]
December 5, 2008
DT WTF Friday: Texas Edition
From East Texas, the four top ways not to quiet a 13-month old baby who cries like she's possessed, presented in the wrong, wrong wrong order: 1. Exorcism, amateur 2. Biting the kid back 20 times 3. Smashing the kid's...
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[read the full post...]
DT Freakout Friday: No Strollers, No Peace Edition
What's the baby and parenting world coming to? Well for one thing, if you joke about the Obama inauguration's stroller ban to a Washington Post reporter, a hundred irate strangers will email you, calling you a shallow, self-centered parent so...
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[read the full post...]
December 4, 2008
It's Hard Out There For A Bratz
You know, people bitch and moan about the out-of-control litigiousness of the American corporate landscape, and particularly intellectual property laws and the stranglehold rabid trial lawyers pursuing frivolous copyright infringement cases have on good old-fashioned creativity. But then you read...
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[read the full post...]
November 28, 2008
DT Freakout Friday: Thanks A Lot Edition
Some alarming news and way-too-preliminary research to be thankful for this week: Thanks a lot, FDA, for the giant hit to your credibility about this whole melanine-in-baby-formula thing. I was all prepared to be all, "Bah, melamine-tainted formula is a...
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[read the full post...]
November 26, 2008
Bear Claws Cat Fight
Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher is being taken to court by his baby mama because the 3-year-old boy comes home with Cinderella pull-ups and Bears Blue toenail polish on. Frankly, I think the woman's crazy; the kid wore nighttime pullups...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 20, 2008
Morigeauing, Geauing, Gone. Canadian Baby Industrial Complex Just Got Smaller
Morigeau Lepine is--whoops, make that was. Morigeau Lepine was an old-line baby furniture manufacturer in Quebec, which had been in business for over sixty years. The family-owned company suddenly closed its factory doors last Friday and laid off its...
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[read the full post...]
November 19, 2008
JFK: President Elect, New Dad
I never realized that JFK Jr. was born a few weeks after JFK won the election. Life photographer Al Fenn had a series of crowded candids with the president-elect and new dad in the hallways of Georgetown Hospital in...
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[read the full post...]
November 18, 2008
Fake Circumciser's Ad In Turkey
Now I'm sure that WPP/Grey didn't get to be largest ad agency in the world by turning away work. But you cannot convince me that the Grey Healthcare office in Istanbul actually got paid cash money to produce a...
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[read the full post...]
November 17, 2008
Twitstorm Erupts After Motrin Ad Mocks Babywearing
So you leave the office Friday from your job as the account exec of the Motrin online account, and you think things are going fine. Then you get in Monday to find out that a mob of Twittering mombloggers has...
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[read the full post...]
At-Home MacGyver Helps Fire-Stricken Strangers In OC
A minivan, some scrap wood, some zip ties, a Sharpie, a desire to help, and an at-home parent's keep-it-together-through-the-day expertise is all [sic] Paul Prunty needed to help out a whole neighborhood of people chased from their homes by fire...
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November 15, 2008
Fort Bragg Has A Surge Of Its Own
I know what you did starting last fall, 82nd Airborne. The entire division of the US Army was deployed to Iraq for The Surge last summer, and now it seems that births are up 50 percent at the on-base medical...
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[read the full post...]
November 12, 2008
Hey, Neighbor! We Heard You Had A Baby!
The NY Times' Julie Scelfo reports that thanks to Ricki Lake's documentary about having her baby in her bathtub in the West Village, home births are all cool now in the city. And not just among "hippie freaks or religious...
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[read the full post...]
November 9, 2008
Obamadorable Photos From The Night Before In Manassas, Virginia
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } P1040550, originally uploaded by nvidutis. The time will probably come when I'll lose interest in...
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November 7, 2008
HAHAHAHAnnah Montana THAT, Baby! Club Libby Lu Is Closing!
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } 20080823-DSC_9401, originally uploaded by JimSneddon So awesome. Club Libby Lu is closing all its stores....
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[read the full post...]
November 4, 2008
With Kumar Nowhere In Sight, Harold Heads To The Delivery Room
Really? John Cho had a kid? There seems to have been a couple of mentions that they were expecting in April, but then nothing. Mazel tov to him, his wife, and their new son, who Cho cites as the reason...
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[read the full post...]
October 31, 2008
DT Friday Freakout: Spooked Edition
Happy Halloween! Just in case there wasn't enough to be scared about besides gay people getting married on the beach; Communist Muslim Terrorist Presidents winning in a landslide; lamp post-shimmying Phillies fans dropping from the sky; and the paralytic spasms...
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[read the full post...]
October 30, 2008
Quirky International Adoption Countries Have Own Complications, Laws
International adoption has been booming of late, and it turns out to be a complex, ever-changing landscape fraught with cultural differences, legal and ethical dilemmas, and emotional trials. So naturally, the best way to understand this phenomenon is through the...
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[read the full post...]
October 25, 2008
DT Friday Freakout: Uh, Better Late Than Never? Edition
You know, these days it just seems like there's no shortage of things to freakout over--but here are a few more kid- and parenting-related bits of news and research to ruin your weekend quicker'n a rainstorm at the World Series:...
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October 22, 2008
WHOA, Is Sarah Palin's Stylist Also Paris Hilton's Stylist?
UPDATE: Lisa Kline says not. Or at least Lisa Kline's publicist does. I spoke with Lisa Kline of Beverly Hills' publicist, who said that, while she wishes she could take the publicity, it's not her Lisa Kline. In fact,...
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Here's The Tiny, Adorable Scoop On Trig Palin's GOP Shopping Spree
"I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes." - Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854 So as part of their report on Sarah Palin's $150,000 Neiman Marcus makeover funded by the...
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October 21, 2008
Palin Comparison
A couple of news stories about Sarah Palin and her family get me thinking a bit about how differently our culture--or at least the media and the people who parrot it--treat men and women in the same job. Politico reports...
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Chest-Painted Dads For Palin
Sure, Sarah Palin's totally unqualified to be president, but to the meatheads at her rallies, she's still a TUTBPILF. The NYT reports on another surefire place to go to avoid hipster baby names [two words: Maverick Maverick]: "Katie Couric...
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[read the full post...]
October 17, 2008
DT Friday Freakout: WTFormula Edition
Here, let me ruin your parenting weekend with worry and annoyances torn from the headlines and the annals of way-too-preliminary research: "HEY MOMS!" Holy crap, Similac's new pack could be the greatest thing since Nabisco Double Stuff Oreo-flavored formula, but...
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[read the full post...]
October 10, 2008
DT Freakout Of Town Edition
We're traveling this weekend, landed in Las Vegas late last night, drive-thru In 'n Out, and on to St George, Utah for a little volcano hiking and grandparent time. Posting will be a little light, or at least a little...
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[read the full post...]
October 4, 2008
DT Friday Freakout [On Saturday]: One Of Those Days Edition
Yeah yeah, you don't need to tell me that the Friday Freakout is late; it was one of those Fridays. On the bright side, the kid is as giddy as a schoolgirl about going to preschool now. And on the...
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September 26, 2008
DT Friday Freakout: $700 Billion Dollars Worth Edition
Obviously, any freaking out you want to do over parenting and kid-related research pales in comparison to the seemingly thrown-together bailout of the global financial system. So let's cover that first, since our kids will still be paying for it...
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September 19, 2008
DT Friday Freakout: Coming Soon Edition
I'm sure this week's Freakout will involve the ever-expanding poisoned Chinese formula crisis; BPA--especially in liquid formula cans, not that you can realistically avoid it completely anyway--the asthma risk associated with kids taking paracetamol--fortunately, we use acetominophen in this country,...
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[read the full post...]
September 18, 2008
Too Much Pressure
We really like Dr. T. Berry Brazelton's Touchpoints books; they present research findings and what Brazelton looks for in child development in a very approachable, useful way. Now it turns out Brazelton ["and his colleague Dr. Josh Sparrow," gotta plan...
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[read the full post...]
September 16, 2008
You Say Football Net, I Say Soccer Net, CPSC Finally Says It's A Freakin' Deathtrap, Get Rid Of It
Almost 200,000 MacGregor and Mitre toy soccer goals of death have been sold in the US since 2002. But now the CPSC has issued a recall, following news that a 21-month-old boy died while trying to climb one. I should...
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September 5, 2008
DT Friday Freakout: The Vacctivists Aren't Gonna Like This Edition
Somehow in the din of CPSC recall and safety warnings last week, I missed a formal Friday Freakout. But don't worry, here's some news from the worlds of preliminary studies you can freak out over this weekend: The connection between...
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[read the full post...]
September 3, 2008
Celebrities Are Cheap Bastards, And Vice Versa
Damn, I have a whole bagful of shhht! with all these names on it, and it still ain't enough:A source [!] close to the Beverly Hills baby store Petit Tresor [!!] tells CelebTV.com [?] exclusively that a gift from Plain...
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[read the full post...]
September 2, 2008
Heckuva Job, SFCA! Simplicity Bassinets Of Death Still On Sale--From The "New" Simplicity
The scale of the danger posed by Simplicity's 3-in-1 and 4-in-1 bassinets is becoming clearer: over 900,000 bassinets have been sold with a dangerous design flaw that has led to at least two strangulation deaths in the last year. And...
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[read the full post...]
August 29, 2008
Those Don't Sound Like Working Class Names To Me
First off as an Obama man myself, and not knowing anything at all about her before today, I must say Sarah Palin seems like an excellent VP pick for John McCain. Were they to win the election, I would hope...
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Big Phil & Teds Recall: Better Get That Folding Joint Fixed Chop-Chop!
Hey, is the CPSC muscling in on my Friday Freakout action? Regal Lager, the US distributor of Phil & Teds strollers, has issued a voluntary recall in conjunction with the CPSC covering a whopping 44,000 strollers. They're not a threat...
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[read the full post...]
August 28, 2008
After Two Strangulations And Corporate Shrugging, CPSC Orders Retailers Pull Simplicity Co-Sleepers Off Market
Normally when a product is found to cause injury or death, the Consumer Product Safety Commission works with the manufacturer to issue a recall and provide either a fix or a replacement product. But when two kids in the...
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[read the full post...]
August 22, 2008
DT Friday Freakout's A Freakout, Except They Call It Le Freakout Edition
I had so much fun poring through the months-long buildup to the recent decision by the French government to ban television channels and programming that targets 0-3 year-olds--or as they're adorably called in French officialdom, "les tous petits." I mean,...
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[read the full post...]
August 21, 2008
Liberte! Egalite! Pas De Bebe Tele!
The High Audiovisual Council of France has banned television programs targeting kids under 3 years of age because of the developmental risks posed by exposure of babies to screen media. The ban was precipitated by the 24-hr baby TV networks,...
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[read the full post...]
August 20, 2008
Corporal Punishment Study Finds A Large, Reddish Welt On America's Freshly Whooped Ass
And all this time, I've been putting the accent on Bible, when I should've been putting it on Belt. Still, it answers a question that's had me stumped since elementary school in North Carolina. Whipping was every week, right...
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[read the full post...]
August 16, 2008
Visionary Obama, Protector Of American Children, Threatens To Ban All Chinese-Made Toys
Finally, a leader who refuses to pander to the giant corporations and foreign demons who threaten the greatness of this Nation! On December 19th, at a campaign appearance in Concord, NH, Senator Barack Obama boldly answered a citizen's question--a question...
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[read the full post...]
August 13, 2008
Dear Marketers, Please Keep Ignoring Dads. Please, Please, Please.
So Adweek has a rather lengthy, in-depth article on how consumer products and food companies are totally ignoring men, even though data shows significant increases in the number of men who do things like cook, clean, and shop. I happen...
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[read the full post...]
August 8, 2008
DT Friday Freakout: Or Do You Prefer McFreakout Edition?
Here's a host of alarming research and news stories to shake you out of your parenting habits. After all, I'd hate for you to go the whole weekend only worrying about how you can fit a Chinese-style, 500-foot long LED...
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[read the full post...]
August 5, 2008
Kung Fu Pander: McCain Threatens To Ban All Chinese-Made Toys
Don't know how I missed this, from an April 2008 Bloomberg report of a John McCain townhall meeting in Youngstown, Ohio:"I have to tell you, if I were president of the United States, the next toy that came into this...
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NY Mag Should Talk To Their Nanny Before Posting
Why's that newborn baby smiling in that $14 million picture? NY Mag say: "We Call Photoshop on the 'People' Pics of the Brangelina Twins" Here at Daddy Types, we call gas. Meanwhile, if Shiloh challenges your kid to a...
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[read the full post...]
July 25, 2008
DT Friday Freakout: Soy Formula In A Plastic Bottle On A Granite Countertop Edition
Where to start ruining your weekend? With a trip to Target to stock up on totally-safe-after-all plastic bottles, or with a trip to Home Depot to get a home radiation testing kit for your granite counter? The NY Times article...
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DT On Location: And In Local Crazy And/Or Parenting News...
When it comes to bullet points, I'm a traditionalist: the minimum is three. Unfortunately, this week the Utah media have only been able to come up with two wacked out parents stories. So I made the parenting angle optional....
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July 14, 2008
Hold That Self-Righteous Mob, Chicago, This Cage-Dad Coverage Sucks
"Nothing about the outside of Ricardo Gonzalez's deep blue Land Rover tells there's a homemade jail inside, where his two young daughters were completely immobilized in tight seats covered with straps, just like an electric chair." Can you ever imagine...
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[read the full post...]
July 13, 2008
Hippie Directive: Deliver Plant To Apple Superiors
So how's it going for the hippie farmers who want to teach the world to sing, and furnish it with iPhone 3G's, grow apple trees, and save the honey bees on the snowy White House lawn? [cue Mr. Burns...
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[read the full post...]
July 8, 2008
Hippie Farmers, Kid, Camp Out For iPhones, Publicity
I don't see what the mystery is, GearDiary: some hippies have figured out a simple, 4-step plan for saving the earth: 1) Solicit donations and email addresses for a non-existent non-profit with a TBD mission statement ["#1: Draft mission statement...
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[read the full post...]
July 4, 2008
DT Friday Freakout: Mom & Apple Pie Edition
Scientists and researchers are always coming up with something for parents to celebrate. Here are some freakouts as American as gatekeeper moms and McDonald's apple pies: Actually, this one doesn't have to be a freakout. A psychology study by researchers...
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[read the full post...]
June 25, 2008
That's Right, The Right Start Is Seeking To Buy Babystyle
An anonymous commenter just left an unconfirmed comment about the future of babystyle, so take it for what it's worth:I heard through the grapevine that The Right Start is supposed to buy Babystyle on July 8th. There is a court...
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[read the full post...]
June 17, 2008
Iowa City Bugaboo Daytrips, Anyone?
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Iowa City Flood 6/10/2008, originally uploaded by onanov. DT reader Carl emailed:I was just searching...
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June 13, 2008
DT Friday Freakout: Food, Or The Lack Thereof Edition
Whew, for a while there, I was wondering if there wasn't going to be anything to freak out about over the weekend. I shouldn't have worried. Because the NY Attorney General delivered by announcing going after two drugstore chains--Rite-Aid and...
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[read the full post...]
June 10, 2008
Don't Call Them Token: Dadbloggers Rap On NPR
Tuesday is normally Mocha Moms day on Tell Me More, NPR's daily talk show with Michel Martin; it's as if The View were just about parenting, and just happened to be black. It's also the kind of chitchat that gets...
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[read the full post...]
June 8, 2008
DT Friday Freaked Out: Extra Art Edition
Whoa, Azerbaijani dad-to-be working as a museum guard who should have been talking to someone instead of slashing a painting by one of my favorite artists with his keys:A former Carnegie Museum of Art guard charged with vandalizing a...
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[read the full post...]
June 6, 2008
Freakout Friday: All Week Long Edition
Sheesh, after sitting on some of these alarming findings all week, I am freaked out: Childhood cancer rates are highest in Northeast, study finds. higher by like 7%, too: 179/million vs 166/million average. Must be all that liberal health care...
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[read the full post...]
May 30, 2008
The DT Friday Freakout: BPA, Pb, BC, TKO, CA
Just some of the latest stuff you don't need to worry your pretty little head over this weekend--unless you want to be a good parent, that is: A woman in Arkansas is seeking class action status for her federal...
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[read the full post...]
May 29, 2008
NYC Pre-K SNAFU WTF?
Except for the part about thousands of parents getting thousands of letters telling them their kids didn't get into any of the programs of their choice, I can't figure out what the hell is going on with the NYC Schools'...
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[read the full post...]
May 28, 2008
Yow. Brooklyn Playground Graffiti Is Edgy
In Manhattan, the public playgrounds are full of Tibetan nannies. In Brooklyn, they're full of chalk-scrawled declarations to, "Free Tibet, Bitch!" and "You can smack people with the swing." Try working that into the pre-school application essay. Tot Lot Graffiti...
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[read the full post...]
May 27, 2008
Make Way For Ducklings To Not Get Sucked Down The Drain, Smithsonian
Ten little ducklings, swimming in the pool. Because the National Museum of the American Indian thought it'd be cool. Five little ducklings sucked into the drain. Fourth or fifth time? Well, it happened again. Little Aussie children were "standing there...
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[read the full post...]
May 14, 2008
Boston Likes Its Local Parent Sites The Way It Likes Its Baseball: Totally Nutless
You gotta give them credit for sticking to the concept; when the Boston Globe created its local parenting website/community, they named it "BoMoms: for moms in Boston & beyond." And damned if it isn't the girliest girl talky girl...
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[read the full post...]
May 8, 2008
Virginia Is For Lovers, Staten Island Is For Wives
Congratulations to Congressman Vito Fossella, Republican [surprised?] of Staten Island, on the birth of his daughter. Three years ago. To his mistress. Who bailed him out of a Virginia jail over the weekend after his arrest for drunk driving. Mrs...
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[read the full post...]
May 7, 2008
DT Headline Roundup: First, The Bad Ideas Edition
So a family from Northern Ireland goes to Portugal for a little vacation, by the evening, the parents are puking, the kids [ages 6, 2, and 1] are in protective custody, and there's a court appearance set for drunken...
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[read the full post...]
May 5, 2008
Hey Baby Gear Makers, JPMA Missing Something Here?
Why is your company still a JPMA member? Because I am a Wharton MBA who's been following the baby/parent industry closely for the last five years, and I really can't figure it out. The Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association is...
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[read the full post...]
May 1, 2008
JPMA: We Are 100% Behind BPA. Until We're Not.
I totally forgot to post this earlier this week. At first glance, this press release from the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association might seem like one more mindlessly self-serving, knee-jerk response to a damning front page article in the Washington Post...
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[read the full post...]
April 27, 2008
WP: BPA Caper Being Blown Wide Open
The Washington Post apparently wants some of that think-of-the-children Pulitzer Pie the Chicago Tribune's been having. They have another front page story on BPA and the health risk it poses to infants and pre-pubescent kids, even at extremely low levels...
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[read the full post...]
April 25, 2008
Apt. For Rent: No Pets, No Preggies, No Shorties
What is the world coming to when a yuppie couple expecting their first kid can't rent an apartment in Brooklyn? A stuck-in-Manhattan couple has filed a class-action discrimination lawsuit against Brown Harris Stevens claiming the brokerage refused to show them...
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[read the full post...]
April 24, 2008
Hey LA County, Is It Still Co-Sleeping When You Pass Out?
So LA County's Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect [ICAN] wanted some attention for their 2008 Child Death Review Report, and they got it. The front¢er recommendation--the only recommendation, in fact--is that "co-sleeping" is a "potentially lethal act." Of...
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[read the full post...]
April 23, 2008
Give Up Yet? 10X Lead Found In Playground Astroturf
If you thought Jimmy Hoffa's corpse was the only thing contaminating that New Jersey soccer field, think again. State environmental officials have found lead levels in artificial turf that are up to 10 times the toxic threshold for dirt&grass. But...
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[read the full post...]
April 17, 2008
JPMA Gives BPA Bottle-Making Self A Big Safety Hug
Ah, glad that's all cleared up. The Juvenile Products Manufacturing Association, whose members make the Bisphenol-A-laden baby bottles, and the BPA epoxy-lined formula cans, have created a valuable, informative website, babybottle.org, to reassure anyone who's listening that bottles containing BPA...
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[read the full post...]
April 12, 2008
DT Headline Update: The International Breast Milk Project Is Also The Milk Supplier For Prolacta Bioscience
The ABC News report yesterday on the International Breast Milk Project actually didn't lead off with their donations of breast milk to HIV/AIDS orphans in Africa. Instead, it began with a domestic tragedy, the tale of Kim Sciulli, who...
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[read the full post...]
DT Headline Roundup: Wait, What? Edition
Things in my inbox and browser tabs that make me go, wait, am I missing something here? From This Week In The British Surveillance State: A local school board in a London suburb used an anti-terrorist surveillance law to surveille...
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[read the full post...]
April 7, 2008
DT Headline Roundup: Nude, Wack, Wax Edition
From the accumulated browser tabs of Mr. Daddy T. Frankweiler: "Reading man falls from roof of his moving minivan, runs naked along bypass [has organs-exposing gash in torso, gets tased with no effect, gets wrestled to ground, not yet charged...
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April 5, 2008
DTQ&A: Scott Pankratz, The Dad Who Crowdsurfed His Daughter To Obama
Alright, you have to admit, AP photographer Alex Brandon's shot of 8-month-old Natalie Pankratz-Osborn surfing across the mob at the Barack Obama rally in Missoula, Montana today is pretty awesome. As an aficionado of presidential imagemaking and as a...
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[read the full post...]
April 4, 2008
Club Libby Lu Trains Little Girls For Promising Future In The T&A Restaurant Industry
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } bakersfield_club_libby_lu, originally uploaded by daddytypes. The big news in Bakersfield, California today was apparently national...
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[read the full post...]
March 28, 2008
UK Waits Until After Cold Season To Ban Cold Medicine For Babies
It's part of the "special relationship" the US has with the UK: we copy their ubiquitous surveillance state apparatus, and they get our cold medicine ban for kids under two. The BBC reports that The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory...
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[read the full post...]
March 26, 2008
The CPSC Is A Series Of Tubes! Even When He Loses, Ted Stevens Wins
A couple of weeks ago, Congress took major, nearly unprecedented steps to strengthen the Consumer Products Safety Commission by increasing its budget, but also by giving it greater punitive and regulatory powers. The CPSC Reform Act tightened safety regulations on...
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[read the full post...]
March 25, 2008
DT Link Roundup: PC, ABC, APC, RR, HR Edition
Some headlines and links from the DT browser tabs: One WSJ dad knows he's ruining his 5-yo son's future by not teaching him more about computers. but dammit, we didn't need Webkinz when we were that age; we blew our...
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[read the full post...]
March 21, 2008
CA Regs: Pregs Or No Legs, Everyone Parks For Free
A California state legislator from Orange County has introduced a bill that would grant all pregnant women "temporarily disabled" status for the last trimester, plus the first couple of months after giving birth. This would enable them to join the...
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[read the full post...]
March 20, 2008
Whoa, Babystyle Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
I'm looking into this, and haven't seen it reported anywhere else yet, but I hear eStyle, inc., the parent company of babystyle, cadeau, and kidstyle, filed for bankruptcy protection today. Stay tuned. [here, I guess because it's been 36...
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[read the full post...]
March 16, 2008
It's Just A Plant We Sell Out Of Our Day Care Center
Awesome. Last week, police in Manhattan arrested a pot dealer who also ran a private day care center. Now we don't use either herb or daycare, but this seems like a quantum leap of convenience. Instead of rearranging your entire...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
I Hope You Know This Will Go Down On Your Permanent Record: UK Police Want DNA From Kindergarteners
Right headline? I couldn't decide between that and "Gattaca! Gattaca! Gattaca!" From the UK Guardian/Observer's pre-crime desk:Primary school children should be eligible for the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals in later life, according to...
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[read the full post...]
February 28, 2008
I'd Like To Thank The Crib Bumper Industrial Complex: CPSC Warns Of Crib Threat From 'Soft Bedding'
Is there someone at the JPMA who gets a bonus every time crib bumpers aren't mentioned in a CPSC alert about the dangers of "soft bedding" in cribs? From the AP: Parents are putting their babies at risk when they...
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[read the full post...]
February 27, 2008
Never Mind The Maddox: Cleveland Kindergartner Suspended For Freshening Up His Mohawk
First, they protested the product, so he didn't spike it up. Then they told his mom that mohawks weren't allowed, even though they're not mentioned in the dress code. Now some charter school in Cleveland sent some six-year-old home after...
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[read the full post...]
February 22, 2008
Toyetic?? If Yo Gabba Gabba! Is Star Wars, Then I'm Steven Spielberg
Gosh, how much I love Kidscreen, the trade magazine of the children's television industry [tagline: "About reaching children through entertainment"]? I'd love it even if my boys from Yo Gabba Gabba! weren't on the cover [:)] of the big, fat...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 19, 2008
Chicago Tribune Wins Award For Doing CPSC's Job
Congratulations to the journalists of the Chicago Tribune, who just won the 2007 George Polk Award for Consumer Reporting: "The newspaper's accounts of children suffering injury and death from exposure to dangerously designed magnetic building sets, lead-tainted toys and defective...
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[read the full post...]
February 13, 2008
"One Pink And One Purple!"
The kid stayed home from preschool today with a fever [Sorry, playdate buddy! We didn't take her temperature until you were here!]. Now she woke up from a nap with a higher fever, and as I went to get her...
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[read the full post...]
February 11, 2008
Make Joints, Not Jihadis: The "I Don't Want To Blow You Up!" Coloring Book
Global war on terror harshing your buzz? Ever thought what it'd be like if, like, all the jihadi Muslims were actually just the figment of some galactic giant's imagination? Or maybe they're, like, atoms on the fingertip of some...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 7, 2008
From The DT Dept. Of Corrections: Stone Cold Derek Lindsay Is A Kick-Ass Dad
I want to clear up any misconceptions that might have arisen from that report last May about Massachusetts martial arts expert and dad Derek Lindsay getting arrested for disorderly conduct at McDonald's after telling his kid to push some...
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[read the full post...]
January 30, 2008
Actual Study: Double Dipping IS Like Swapping Spit
The Clemson University molecular biologists who disproved the 5-Second Rule have published the results of the first known scientific study of double dipping. On the question of how many bacteria are actually transferred by double dipping, the scientifically irrefutable answer...
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[read the full post...]
January 29, 2008
Some Study: Flattery Starts At 4yo
A Chinese-Canadian study published in Developmental Science shows that kids learn to "flatter" around the age of 4. The finding was based on kids in three age groups, 3, 4, and 5, being asked to judge artworks. The 3yo's weren't,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 24, 2008
Short Trip? Secret Files Show Stasi Attempt To Drive Mom W/ Two Toddlers Crazy
Unbelievable. Wired has a story about using mesh computing to piece together hundreds of tons of shredded files left behind by the East German secret police, the Stasi. After gaining access to her 60-volume [!] file, one former peace activist...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 23, 2008
Oh, Crap: NYT Tests Our Maguro, Finds Freakout Levels Of Mercury
The New York Times had tuna sushi from 20 Manhattan stores and restaurants tested for mercury, and they found levels so high, they freaked out the chefs and restaurant owners and everyone else. Samples came from places we go, too:...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
The Only DT Post On The Death Of Heath Ledger
His response to an interviewer's question about how having a kid changed his life:“You’re forced into, kind of, respecting yourself more,” he said. “You learn more about yourself through your child, I guess. I think you also look at death...
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[read the full post...]
January 22, 2008
Acting Didn't Work Out? LA SAHD Amuses Self, No One Else With Phony Classified Ads
You know you're pathetic when even the bloggers look down at you. A Los Angeles at-home dad [who would be a go-to-work dad if his chosen profession was something besides acting] apparently passes the time by placing totally random classified...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 17, 2008
FDA Makes It Official: Stop With The Cold Medicine For Kids Under 2yo
Well, don't say you didn't know it was coming. The FDA issued an official public health announcement today stating that over-the-counter cold medicines and decongestants should not be given to kids under 2 years old. The drugs can cause "serious...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 16, 2008
Clowns 100% Scary: UK Survey Reveals What Kids Already Know
God save the Queen and her National Health System. When the kids were surveyed about what they liked for hospital decorations, 100% said, "NOT CLOWNS." Clowns were "too scary" and freaked even the big kids out. the British magazine Nursing...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 15, 2008
2007 Safety Stories: I Have Some Good News & Some Bad News
First, the good news: Phthalates are still leaching from your kid's vinyl toys, and Bisphenol-A is still leaching from your polycarbonate bottles and the linings of your formula cans! At first, when it was named Worst Science Story of 2007...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 10, 2008
Searing Lactivist News! Nestle Brands Babies In China, Gets Smoked By Children's Book Author
Train your headlights on these tantalizingly ample developments in the lactivists' global battle against the ringleader of Big Formula, Nestlé. Lactivists got to Sean Taylor, the author of When A Monster Is Born, which won gold medal in the 2007...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 26, 2007
Wait, What's Wrong With The CPSC Reauthorization Act??
Somehow I missed this in my pre-Christmas inbox: "Dec. 21, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JPMA SUPPORTS PASSAGE OF CPSC REAUTHORIZATION ACT" If the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association is trumpeting their support for a piece of safety regulation-related legislation, something must...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 21, 2007
Saks Children's Book: Happiness Comes From Clothes, Nose Jobs
What have I ever done to Saks, hmm? I mean until their Club Libby Lu started shaking their Baby Paris moneymakers in my face, I never had a bad word in my life for them. And I've been a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
DT Window Shopping Roundup: Wooden Bikes, Euro Magazines, Baby Daddy Edition
Some things spotted around the web: Even though they're tacky and kind of insipid--well, the World Wildlife Federation was, the one for bigger kids, from National Geographic, is not that bad--the kid absolutely loves getting her magazines. It's mail! For...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 19, 2007
Dad Beats Son Black & Blue Over Pink Nail Polish
Does anything say "conflicted about one's sense of masculinity" quite like beating the crap out of your seven-year-old son when you find him wearing pink nail polish? Then again, does anything say "likely to get taunted as a kid for...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 13, 2007
Q: Can A Dog Have Helicopter Parents? NYT: Yes
"My dog's name is Diego del Mar de la Joya Montoya, he ruined my mother's white carpet, prepare to die laughing. [Also, my kid's name is Jack, but whatever.]" Who Invited The Dog? [nyt]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 12, 2007
Parents Treated Best Children's Book Store In Nation, Now Closed, Like Fair-To-Middlin' Library
Oops, I didn't know that "the most outstanding children's bookstore in the nation" was in Washington DC. Old Town Alexandria, actually, where a book-passionate couple with no business sense threw popular events, gave away books at storytime, had Harry Potter...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 7, 2007
DT Q&A: "A Million Little Diapers," By Actor/Playwright/Dad John Mooney
It's Daddy Types editorial policy that there's no quid pro quo for advertising on the site. So when I saw the ad appear on Daddy Types for John F. Mooney's play, "A Million Little Diapers," my interest was piqued. So...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 4, 2007
Wait, What? The Kid's 18. Why Should The Sperm Donor Have To Pay Anything?
I remember a Canadian telling me once that in his country, parents often didn't pay for college because when kids turn 18, they take responsibility for themselves and start paying their own way. The actual existence of such a magical...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 14, 2007
She's A Witch! Spurn Her!
Hundreds of children, especially boys for some reason, are abused, poisoned, abandoned, and even killed in Angola each year because their families think they're witches. But officials attribute the surge in persecutions of children to war — 27 years in...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 9, 2007
Start Pointing! International Adoption Study Shows Kids Learn Nouns First
A team of researchers including Harvard psychologists Jesse Snedeker and Joy Geren published the results of their study of international adoptees, whose English-acquisition technique, they figured, might yield some interesting insights on how kids learn a language. It seems they...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
What The Heck? Salt Lake Nights And The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby Jeon Hong
A Utah policeman pulled over a speeding car, found a guy driving his wife to the hospital, snapped on the rubber gloves, and delivered the kid himself. Fine. But this makes no sense at all: Young Jeon and his wife,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 7, 2007
B- C- D-List NYC Schools Cause Grief For Realtors, Parents
With stories of overcrowded preschool open houses that rival anything I've ever heard on the Upper East Side, I've always figured the schools issue in up-and-coming Brooklyn was a ticking time bomb. And with the release of the school report...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 6, 2007
I'm Telling You, Humans, The Robots Are Coming For Our Kids
And when they enslave us, it'll be through cutesy friendliness, not Decepticon-like terror. That'll come later."We expected that after a few hours, the magic was going to fade," Movellan says. "That's what has been found with earlier robots." But, in...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 3, 2007
Strollers In The News: Rancho Bernardo Edition
From Dan's thoughtful City of Sound post about the implications of suburban planning on the California fires, there's this wire service photo of a young couple and their BOB Ironman. The city as destructive system: wildfires, Dresden and the...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 31, 2007
The Car Seat Was Grandpa's Idea
An Edmonton, Alberta engineering consultant took his 3-year-old granddaughter flying with him in his Cessna 172. [That's the little one most people learn to fly in.] It crashed, he and his employee died, but the kid survived, after hanging upside...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 29, 2007
DT Headline Roundup: Cookie, CPSC, Gap For Kids By Kids Edition
Some news big and small from around the browser tabs: Safety Chief is Opposing More Money [nyt] CPSC Chairwoman takes break from strangling agency to remind Congress the agency needs not money, authority, or staff, but more strangling. Simplicity Crib...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
One Small Latch For Woman...
DT reader Kristin and a couple of other latch-aware folks caught this report by the Associated Press last week: It was an extra special moment for Discovery commander Pamela Melroy and station commander Peggy Whitson, the first women to simultaneously...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 25, 2007
CPSC: Apparently, 1mm Bumbo Baby Seats Aren't Meant For Use On Tables
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } bumbo, originally uploaded by dulcesmommy. You know how Bumbo baby seats totally look like untippable...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Dad Has Five Kids' Names, Gay Wizard, Tattooed On Back
You know, I thought the clincher of the story was the UK factory worker dad who spent a year getting his full back tattoo saying, "I’ve always liked Dumbledore – just not in that way." But then I see...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 19, 2007
DT Wonkout: FDA Panel Votes To Ban Cold Medicines For Kids 0-6 [Yes, SIX]
Well it was an awkward day for the infant cold medicine-hoarding MBA's in the house, let me tell you. The FDA's joint advisory commitees for non-prescription drugs and pediatric medicine met today to review and vote on a petition to...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
NYT: Presidential Candidates Don't Give Damn About Child Care, Whatever That Means
In her NY Times column yesterday, Gail Collins points out that except for a content-free photo-op by Hillary Clinton, exactly none of the presidential candidates of either party will talk about child care in the US. Instead, they talk around...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 12, 2007
DT Headline Roundup: Mustang Rally, Bud & Cracker Barrel Edition
"You wake up on Sunday morning -- you don't expect to see a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old hooting down the street in a car." Unfortunately, dad was not the one who was awake. On the bright side, they stopped...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 11, 2007
DT Currently Hoarding Infant Drops, Overdosing On Dosage Information
So the major drug makers--members of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association--are voluntarily pulling their over-the-counter infant cough & cold medicines from the market rather than be forced by the FDA to pull them [or to put decades-old, grandfathered-in drugs through...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 10, 2007
DT Headline Roundup: Einstein, Pumpkins, Chico Edition
News from around the browser tabs: The Washington Post has a nice takedown of the "educational" baby TV racket. Frankly, after soloing for most of last week, I have a newfound sympathy for any parent who decides to use a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 9, 2007
JPMA's Statement On The Biggest Crib Recall In History, Annotated
Our Baby Industrial Complex at work. Here's the text of a statement released by the JPMA, with a little extra context:Statement of JPMA Concerning the Simplicity Recall Representatives of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) have met with Simplicity, Inc....
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[read the full post...]
October 8, 2007
Diddy? You Bet He Did.
Out with the Brady Twins, in with the Diddy Triplets. So it turns out P. Diddy's newest latest kid was born four months before his last latest kids, but he only found out for sure this summer when the paternity...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Time's Manly Masculine Mating Men Of The Year
Time has a long article on the new generation of fathers. In addition to looking at the changes happening in workplaces and corporate family leave policies, the piece spends an unusual amount of time dwelling on the masculinity of men...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 4, 2007
DT Headline Roundup: Keeping Up Edition
A few quick items to clear out the browser tabs: There's a party in my tummy tuck! Can't quite figure out what the takeaway is on the "Mom Job" post-pregnancy plastic surgery package article in the NYT, but Karen's quote...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 3, 2007
Adorable Indian Children Dress As British Oppressors, Also That Wuss Gandhi
To celebrate Gandhi's birthday and the UN's International Day of Non-Violence yesterday [yeah, I missed it, too], Indian children were dressed up as the leader of India's independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi, and the pith-helmeted troops of The Raj, and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 2, 2007
Put'em Together And What Have You Got? Block Study Sponsor Is A Disney Licensee
This just in from the Circle of Life Department: From his research linking Baby Einstein videos [by name] to decreased vocabulary development in toddlers to his earlier findings of a link between toddler TV-watching and ADHD, to his book,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
TV-Hating Researcher's Block Company-Funded Study: Surprise! Blocks Make Your Kid Smarter
"Lead researcher Dr. Dimitri Christakis works with study blocks. Photo courtesy of Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute" In a recently published study commissioned by a Canadian block company [above foreground], Dr. Dimitri Christakis [above, left] and his colleagues at Seattle...
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[read the full post...]
Upstate NY Mom Juggles Blow, Job, And Breastfeeding
Today's episode of Saratoga Street is brought to you by the letters, W, T, and F:Schenectady Police have arrested a Saratoga woman in a prostitution bust and they say that woman, Linda Cook, performed sex acts on two men in...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Free Burma Marching Monks Stencil T-Shirt
I needed to practice making the YGG! contest prize--see those stencils on the left?--so I tested a stencil on one of the kid's American Apparel shirts. It's from the blog Saffron Revolution Worldwide, which was an early, active resource...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 1, 2007
DT Headline Roundup: Cold Medicine, Zimbabwe, Sperm Banking & Photostealin'
Part of me feels like I've gotta clear these browser tabs, but part of me feels everyone can read the NY Times on his own: Slow-mo Infant Cold Medicine Ban Rolls On--Slowly: Instigated by pediatrician activists in February and finally...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Papa Zao
Should've seen it coming, but I had my eyes closed: K-Fed just got custody of the kids. [via gawker]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 29, 2007
Slightly Puffy-Looking Dad Cops To Buying Age-Inappropriate Toys For 3-yo
Andrew Adam Newman reports on the front page of the NY Times Business section today that some parents are so distracted by the threat of lead-contaminated toys, they forget the old-fashioned dangers--like toys with many small pieces that can...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 28, 2007
Backpack! Backtrack! This Week In Poisonous Toy News
So many stories about toxic toys, so little time. Even the NY Times wraps up ten different recall and lead incidents into one story these days. To celebrate the World Vinyl Forum, which was in town this week, a consumer...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 27, 2007
Reggio Emilia Preschools Are New York's New Hotness
When I first heard of them a year or so ago, the sense I got that Reggio Emilia preschools were just the less flashy, less rigid, but equally long-established cousin of Montessori. But according to the NY Times' Graham Bowley,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 25, 2007
CPSC As Busted And Dangerous As A Simplicity Crib
Remember the 1 million Simplicity and Graco [made by Simplicity] cribs recalled last week because the droprail can come undone and create a deadly gap between the crib and the mattress? It turns out the first child to die from...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 20, 2007
BabyPlus Inventor Responds: 'I Am Not A Quack. Also, Buy My Book.'
Dr. Brent Logan, PhD., the self-esteemed neurogeneticist/psychologist, is the inventor of the BabyPlus Prenatal Education System, the only prenatal rhythm sequencer-on-a-beltpack endorsed by both 02138 Magazine: The World of Harvard AND famous pregnancy expert Nicole Richie. Logan invented the system...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 13, 2007
Are You Sitting Down? Because The Toy Industry Wants The CPSC To Bend Over
So last week's shock at a toy industry request for the federal government to set new safety testing standards has definitely worn off, even before Consumerist described the proposal as "an over-hyped batch of self-serving hogwash." DT reader Mark quickly...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 12, 2007
CPSC: Can We Fix It? Not Bloody Likely! "Bob Our Small Parts Guy" Debuts On CSPAN
Un. Be. Lievable. What a train wreck. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee which oversees the Consumer Products Safety Commission is holding a hearing on toy safety, toy recalls, and the utter shambles that is the CPSC and the Toy Industrial Complex's...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 4, 2007
Media Frenzy: More Recalls, More Hollow Industry Reassurance
So when I posted two days ago that there were more Mattel recalls coming down the pike, I didn't think I meant today. But there you have it, the AP is reporting Mattel is recalling 675,000 Barbie accessories for lead...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 1, 2007
CPSC 'Complete Disaster': Bush Administration Sides With Big Everything On Everything
I'm running out of pretend-surprise. The NY Times has a damning article about the Consumer Products Safety Commission, which has been systematically weakened, rendered ineffective, and nearly destroyed by the Bush Administration's appointees, who promised their former employers--manufacturers, corporate...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 31, 2007
Bush Administration Sides With Big Formula On Breastfeeding
I've gotta get the kid out the door for pre-preschool [it started yesterday!], so I haven't even had a chance to read this story on the front page of the Washington Post yet, much less think of an outraged, pretend-surprised...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 28, 2007
Freshman Dad Has 17-mo Roommate, Not A Lot Of Free Time
Mike Schieding's girlfriend got pregnant during junior year [of high school]. If he hadn't found out about Endicott College's campus residential program for single parents, he figures he never would've been able to manage a job, an education and full...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 26, 2007
AdAge: Time To Sell Dads Stuff, Destroy America
Ad Age columnist Lenore Skenazy [really?] says that since what Today's Dads want most is more time with their families, advertisers can sell them all kinds of stuff by promising convenience and time-savings. David Goldsmith, marketing consultant and father of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 24, 2007
Little Britain Indeed
Sorry, sometimes there are things you just can't not post:EDINBURGH (AFP) - A dwarf performer at the Edinburgh fringe festival had to be rushed to hospital after his penis got stuck to a vacuum cleaner during an act that went...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
If You See Something, Say Something: OK, How About STFU, Virginia?
I swear, if it weren't for the boiled peanuts and all the Chick-Fil-A's... The Wall Street Journal reports on a Virginia campaign promoting its sexual abuse hotline "designed to encourage people to trust their instincts about possible abuse," which...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 23, 2007
After BPA Blurb, Publicists Reach Out To "Headline Parenting" "Expert"
So while I didn't get on CBS yesterday, I did get a quote in the Washington Post's article about the latest developments in the whole Bisphenol A toxic plastic baby bottle controversy. [I guess that means I'm not TV-hot, only...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Forget It, Jake. It's Rajasthan.
90-year-old Rajasthani farmer Nanu Ram Jogi and his wife Saburi, 50, are celebrating the birth of their new daughter, Girija Rajkumari. Girija is Nanu's 21st child. Saburi is his fourth wife. She had originally been married to Nanu's Number One...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 17, 2007
Vanity Fair: Arthur Miller "Deleted" His Down Syndrome Son
I am totally floored. The playwright Arthur Miller had a son with Down Syndrome in 1966 who he never publicly acknowledged and all but wrote out of his life. [What an odd choice of words, under the circumstances.] The boy,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 13, 2007
Fisher-Price Factory Owner Kills His Lead-Painting Self
So a freelance reporter staged a story about Beijing pork buns being stuffed with soggy cardboard, not pork, and he gets sentenced to a year in prison for, as the Associated Press quotes it, "infringing on the reputation of a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 10, 2007
Someone Needs To Slap Some Sense Into This 'Gen X' Person
I still remember the first time I posted something on a Saturday night--and another dad commented on it like half an hour later--and being like, dude, this is it: I'm never going to a party without a Moon Bounce ever...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 1, 2007
When I Hear JPMA Supports Safety, I Reach For My EU-Certified Car Seat
Proper use of a car seat is a vital and effective way to protect kids while driving. The lobbying and trade group for the Baby Industrial Complex, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, says that car seat safety tests are "more...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 26, 2007
BBC: It's Short For Busting Bulgarian Childsmuggling
Yes, it's that time of year, when someone at the BBC decides they'd like to summer in Bulgaria, so they arrange for a story about babysmuggling. This time, the BBC conducted a month-long sting operation that resulted in three...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 24, 2007
Some Anthropologist: No One In The History Of Civilization's Played With His Kids Before, Why Start Now?
According to a paper by Utah State University anthropologist David Lancy, tribespeople on the South Pacific island of Ifaluk "believe there's no point in talking to babies because they're "essentially brainless" until they turn two, so there's no reason for...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 18, 2007
DT Good News/Bad News Roundup
Just some headlines that might be of interest to the daddy types out there. First, the good news: Good News: Sugar cereal companies are all scrambling to look responsible by not advertising too-sugary cereal to little kids. Bad News: They're...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Damn Earthquake Cuts Daddy Types Japanese TV Fame Short, Still At 15 Seconds
If only there hadn't been an earthquake and hundreds of injuries and several deaths and a fire in a nuclear power plant and a release of some sort of radiation cloud, my 15-second, on-the-phone interview about discovering the wooden...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 15, 2007
Yet Another Kid Climbs Inside Yet Another Arcade Game
This time it was a girl, 2-year-old Angelia Romero of Middletown, NJ. And this time, local firefighters figured they had to break the glass to get the kid out. This is like the third or fourth time this has happened,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 14, 2007
Sperm Donors Work, Egg Donors Nurture: Parenting Stereotypes In The Assisted Reproduction Marketplace
Peggy Orenstein, who covers the uterus beat for The New York Times Magazine, has a long, fascinating, and somewhat frustrating article charting the socioemotional landscape of egg donation. It's all worth reading, but Orenstein's account of surfing an egg donor...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 13, 2007
Greenham Anti-Nuclear Demonstration 25th Anniversary Colouring Book
It's a travel day; the kid and I are flying back from Gram's house to our house, and so I was packing the crayons in the plane bag, wondering what the kid'd color on. Fortunately, the UK Guardian's website...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 26, 2007
NYT Reporter Detained At Thomas The Tank Engine Factory
Not a lot of lead hazard-related updates in the acccount of NY Times business reporter David Barboza's recent visit to the Thomas & Friends factory in China. Just the usual stuff about how it's run by a gang of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 25, 2007
Bewildered Brits Stare At Park Slope Parents
All the editors at BritLit journal Spiked Online asked for was a Those Crazy Americans! article on these so-called Park Slope Parents they'd just read about three weeks ago in the Telegraph. Is that so hard? Instead, Nancy McDermott's critique...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
What're The Odds? Brit Parents Sign 2yo Daughter Up For MENSA
PROBABILITY QUESTION MENSA is for people who score above the 98th percentile on accredited IQ tests. 98% of people who are eligible don't join. 98% of MENSA members don't join until the're older and have exhausted every other means of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 14, 2007
Dad Headline Roundup: Don't Hold The Train! Edition
Brand recall: Holy smokes, 1.5 million Thomas The Tank Engine toys are being recalled for lead paint. Wooden railway stuff sold over the last two years. See the CPSC for details [cpsc.gov, via dt reader john] And the Salary.com...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 13, 2007
Madre De Dios! Is There Really Only ONE Photo Of The Dancing Sperm Children Of San Juan?
Puerto Rico - Gay rights commotion Set the sperm dance kids in motion. Always the leotards showing, Always the civil unions no-ing, And the sermons flowing. Daddy Yankee streaming, And the natives screaming, "This ain't no island Manhattan, Don't...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 9, 2007
I've Never Seen This Photo
It's by AP photographer Jean-Marc Bouju, who was embedded with the 101st Airborne Didvision. From the AP's press release: The photo was made during a rare moment of humanity in a war zone, Bouju said, when a father who...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 4, 2007
Kid In Tow, Crackhead Mom Plows Volvo Wagon Through DC Streetfair
YOW. A cracked up mom, with a 7-yo kid in the back, plowed a Volvo 740 station wagon through a giant Washington DC street fair Saturday night, injuring up to 40 people, including at least seven kids. The rampage...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 29, 2007
Stone Cold Derek Lindsay Stars In Disorderly Conduct 41: Big Mac Attack
The 4-plex at the beach this weekend was showing Spiderman 3, Pirates 3, Shrek 3, and something else I forget, and I'm thinking, how can a summer movie season filled with repetitive, mindless, hypercommercialized, in-your-face sequels ever be entertaining?...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Cold, Smelly Fusion: Diapers As Fuel In Japan
Treehugger links to what sounds like a non-story on DigInfo, a Japanese independent news video service. The headline: a Japanese company called Super Faiths has developed a technology for burning disposable diapers as fuel! Before you get your kid's...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 23, 2007
CPSC Henhouse In Need Of New Fox As Baroody Withdraws Nomination
Michael Baroody, VP for the National Association of Manufacturers, has withdrawn his nomination for Chairman of the Consumer Products Safety Commission after it was clear that he would not have enough votes to be confirmed. A similarly conflicted and unpopular...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 16, 2007
Who Does Number Two Work For? CPSC Nominee Gets Severance Bonus From Manufacturers
How synergytastic! Michael Baroody is leaving his job as the #2 lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers to head the government agency which regulates his clients, the Consumer Product Safety Commission. And just to show there's no hard feelings,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 7, 2007
Bra Open, Case Closed: DT Is A NIP Fan
So Maggie Gyllenhaal shows a little skin as breastfeeds her baby on the Christopher Street Piers over the weekend? Big freakin' whoop. She's still wearing 99% more clothing than 99% of the people who hung out on that pier over...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Billyburg Anti-Hipster Hipster Parents: My New 1st Birthday Party Technique Is Untoppable
Sorry, the polls are now closed. Whatever you or I will ever plan for your or my kid's birthday party can only ever be the third most mind-blowing idea in the history of civilization. Williamburg-hating artist parents Misha Leiner and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 3, 2007
JPMA Says Nothing Wrong With Wal-Mart's Vinyl Bibs Of Death
You know when I started to be unnerved about some kind of safety risk involving the lead in vinyl-coated bibs? When I got a press release from the JPMA titled, "JPMA Notes CPSC Declaration that Vinyl Bibs Are Safe: Inaccuracies...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 30, 2007
Finally, A Can-Do Lobbyist To Cut All That Red Tape At The CPSC
How can the CPSC get rid of all their onerous and needlessly costly safety regulations without a chairman with lengthy experience lobbying for the very companies stuck under the CPSC's thumb? The short answer is, it can't. Since the last...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 16, 2007
Cop Drops Dad, Dad Drops Baby: Taser-Happy Cop Or Fishy Half-Story?
There are a lot of questions I'd like answered before getting all up in the Houston Women's Hospital's grill about the tasering and arrest for attempted kidnapping of a new father as he was leaving the hospital the maternity ward...
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[read the full post...]
April 10, 2007
Club Libby Lu CEH [Chief Executive Hoochiemama] Posts Comment On Washington Post
DT reader Marya pointed to a recent entry on the Washington Post's On Parenting blog [who knew?] about the mall rat incubator Club Libby Lu. What with all the discussion of head lice, pedophilia, and general skankitude, CLL's CEO...
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[read the full post...]
April 7, 2007
Now That's A Take On The Iran-UK Soldier Hostage Story I Hadn't Heard
With her column in the Washington Post explaining the liberalism-led decline of Western Civilization as evidenced by the fact that one of the British navy crew captured by Iran is a mother, Kathleen Parker hit me so hard upside my...
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[read the full post...]
March 30, 2007
BuyBuy Baby Bought By Bed Bath & Beyond
What the headline says. Bed Bath & Beyond [NASD: BBBY] announced last week that they had agreed to an all-cash acquisition of buybuy Baby [NADA, baby, they're privately held] for $67 million + $19 million debt retirement. It should be...
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[read the full post...]
Fearless Slate Speaks Truth To Day Care Study
Over at Slate, Emily Bazelon unpacks the coverage of that long-term NIH day care study to figure out why all the media types are so down on day care, especially since the real results of the study show that childcare...
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[read the full post...]
March 28, 2007
JPMA's Mod Cat Bounce, Or Making $14 The Hard Way
So the JPMA show's coming up next month in Orlando, the last one, since the trade organization ceded the show business to the much bigger Las Vegas rival, the ABC Kids Expo. But even if they're crying on the inside,...
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[read the full post...]
March 27, 2007
I'm Gonna Guess His Name Is Oedipus
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune: Minneapolis police say that Detrick D. Jiles [24] told officers that the boy [2], whose name police did not release, had taken the gun from his mother's purse and fired it at Jiles... [Police...
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[read the full post...]
March 26, 2007
Now That's A Fire! NIH Study Throws PR Match On Lighter Fluid-Soaked Childcare BBQ
Seriously, Society for Research In Child Development, is there a panel discussion at your Biennial Meeting--which just happens to kick off this week--about the effects on childcare attitudes and policies of issuing press releases for an ongoing, 16-year study that...
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[read the full post...]
March 23, 2007
CPSC Issues Recall For 100,000 Dad-Colored Infantino SlingRiders
There's one less option available for combatting against babywearer manboobs. The CPSC has announced a recall for about 100,000 Infantino SlingRider baby carriers. Apparently, the plastic strap adjuster can break and drop your kid on his head. Seriously, it's...
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[read the full post...]
March 22, 2007
Unbelievable Headlines! Gay Uncles And Sperm Switcheroos
Which of these stories is more headscratching? I think we need a baffle-off: 1] Is Yoya at risk of losing its core target market?? A gay uncle in the fashion industry [punchline writes self] shops Yoya, the West Village temple...
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[read the full post...]
March 16, 2007
Opt-Out Myth-Information
That tiny sound you hear, finally, is a tree falling, chopped down and turned into paper that carries news of the longstanding shortcomings in how the media--and hence, policymakers and corporations--completely misframe the issues of moms and the workplace. The...
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[read the full post...]
March 8, 2007
Dad Spends 22 Extra Nanoseconds With Kids, Relativistically Speaking
Tom Van Baak decided to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein's theory of general relativity and the 50th anniversary of Essen's first cesium clock by taking his family on a trip up Mount Rainier, thereby demonstrating the time-dilating effects of...
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[read the full post...]
"I Wish They Could See Him With Children [Instead Of With That Tramp He Left Me For]"
Awesome. Here's a campaign commercial from 1993, when Rudy Giuliani was trying to soften his image. A little less Il Duce, a little more Il Papa, if you will. And yes, enough New Yorkers were fooled for Rudy to win...
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[read the full post...]
March 7, 2007
Preschool Application Media Kits, Or What NOT To Do With iMovie And All Those Videos You Shot Of The Kid
New York Magazine isn't too worried about the Wall Street Journal's recent attempt to muscle in on their "Kids Cost The Darndest Things" franchise, but they had definitely better keep their eye on the NY Sun. Not only is the...
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[read the full post...]
March 6, 2007
Folkpsychological Development In Infants, Also Descartes' Baby Is An Awesome Title For A Book Or A Band
My wife flagged several very interesting studies on how kids' minds work and form and evolve in that looong NY Times Magazine article, "Darwin's God." I haven't gotten through it myself, but she's right; they're pretty fascinating. This one is...
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[read the full post...]
March 5, 2007
Soon, Only 500,000 NJ Transit Passengers Will Stand Between You And Your Muji
OK, OK, I should be stoked that Muji just announced their first store will be in the new New York Times Tower, on 40th Street across from Port Authority, and that it will be open in time for Holiday 2007....
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[read the full post...]
March 4, 2007
Uh, "Male Activist" Launches Most Oblique Ad Protest Campaign Ever
Last fall, Arnold Worldwide made some dumb ads for Fidelity about dumb dads, and so "male activists" have launched a campaign to protest negative portrayals of dads. Except I only count one "male activist" behind this, syndicated columnist Glenn Sacks....
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[read the full post...]
WSJ Scoop: Rich People Spend More Money On Their Kids
Yes, that's the gist of this article in the Wall Street Journal. Over the course of 17 years, parents with more money spend more money raising their kids. Some people even spend up to--wait for it--one million dollars. The...
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[read the full post...]
March 2, 2007
More News From The "Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time" Department
You take an ad from an idiot, you suggest live on the air of your cable news program that your female guest come to your office to pose for nude photos. Everyone makes choices that, in retrospect, look a less...
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[read the full post...]
February 28, 2007
If Found, Name "Steve"
For some reason, an excited article about new technology for abandoning babies pops up in the major news media every 13-15 months. It's like clockwork. If only birth control or social services protections for the young illegal immigrants from Eastern...
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[read the full post...]
February 26, 2007
Club Libby Lodz
Apparently, little girls in Poland may all dress like skanky tramps, but except for an unusually violent hatred of musical instruments, the omnipresent, conservative, heavily Catholic official culture keeps them in line. These tots in PVC don't scare me...
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[read the full post...]
February 22, 2007
You've Come A Long Way, Brah!
Now that's what I call progress! Just a couple of weeks ago, MomsRising was just another post-feminist attempt to reinvigorate interest in demanding improvements to intractable issues of work-family balance that nevertheless focused exclusively on women and mothers, basically taking...
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[read the full post...]
Gooooooooal! World Cup Sex Produces German Baby Mini-Boom
OK, so the only actual data mentioned in the article is a 10-15% increase in births at the "largest birth clinic in Kassel." The German media is convinced there is a baby boom right now, and that it's related to...
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[read the full post...]
Personally, I Blame Monocle For The Sudden Rash Of Prince Pickles Coverage
So the week after Wallpaper*-founder Tyler Brule's new magazine, Monocle runs a 17-page cover story about the Japan Self-Defense Force, the International Herald Tribune has a story about the JSDF's deployment of Prince Pickle, their anime character mascot, to...
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[read the full post...]
February 16, 2007
Follow-up: Kids In Cages Somewhat Frowned Upon In Ohio
In the end, the Ohio courts did not accept Sharen and Michael Grevelle's interpretation of "strict rules" to improve their 11 adopted special needs kids' behavior. It wasn't the starving them and forcing them to steal food, so much as...
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[read the full post...]
February 15, 2007
Natural Cleaning Supplies Popular Among "Science Is Hard! Let's Go Shopping!" Crowd
Prompted by their school's switch to natural cleaning supplies, parents are switching, too...says Don Imus's wife, whose non-profit group tries to get schools to switch to natural cleaning supplies. And science schmience, if ammonia residue on the coffee table...
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[read the full post...]
February 10, 2007
Danielynn Has Three Daddies
Obviously, in these difficult times, with so much media frenzy flying to and fro, I felt it was best to wait for the authoritative Banterist Playmobil Re-enactment before broaching the subject of the paternity claims for the 5-month-old Danielynn...
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[read the full post...]
February 9, 2007
JPMA Dumps Trade Show, Cites Other Reasons For Continued Existence
Insider T-ball, anyone? After years in the Dallas Expomart or whatever that thing is alongside the highway into town, and a moribund stint in Orlando, the Juvenile Products Manufacturing Association is disbanding their trade show, conceding defeat to the organizers...
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[read the full post...]
February 8, 2007
Diapers In The News Or, Our Tax Dollars At Work
A lot of Ivy League brain power being expended on the crazy-astronaut-in-a-diaper story this week: the Yale Daily News waxes philosophical about the MAG [Maximum Absorbency Garment], wondering if all the publicity'll create a, uh, trickle-down effect in the...
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[read the full post...]
February 7, 2007
Dad Uses Stun Gun To Repel 3-Week-Long Assault By 18-mo Son
A 23-year-old dad in Albany, Oregon [it's not as far inland as I would've thought] was apparently being terrorized for weeks by his 18-month-old son. Weak and powerless and cowed with fear, left with no one to turn to, and...
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[read the full post...]
February 6, 2007
Gender Mainstreaming Campaign In Vienna: 1916 Going On 1917
As part of their 2007 Gender Mainstreaming Kampagne, the Vienna City Council has put up signs and icons all over the city to highlight the importance of gender equality. There are emergency exit signs with a female stick figure...
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[read the full post...]
February 1, 2007
Moms Rising, Presumably To Get Dads A Beer
Not quite sure what the hook is, but the advocacy organization Moms Rising got a nice profile on CNN Money a little while ago. Moms Rising was started by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner and MoveOn co-founder Joan Blades as part of the...
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[read the full post...]
January 30, 2007
Sure Enough, He Said "Women Are Birthing Machines"
The first wire report over the weekend of Japanese Health Minister, 71-year old Hakuo Yanagisawa, calling women "baby-birthing machines" was the Kyodo English service, and though I dug around, I couldn't find the actual Japanese quote anywhere. Was it one...
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[read the full post...]
January 26, 2007
Holy Moley, Muji^2 In NYC
I'd gotten several emails about this, seen it on a few blogs, and tried to find an actual announcement/report. Sure enough, it's in WWD. Muji will open two locations in New York City in the latter half of 2007. No...
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[read the full post...]
January 22, 2007
What Birthday Party Pressure? Just Outsource, Duh.
A/the handful of non-icefishing Minnesotans have formed Birthdays Without Pressure, an advocacy group designed to bait the media into writing about get parents talking about stressful birthday party oneupsmanship:ST. PAUL, Minn. — Having decided on a ballerina theme for her...
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[read the full post...]
Baby-Smugglin' Romas Busted
A trial just got underway in France for 56 people--including 41 buyer/families--charged in a baby smuggling ring. For around $10,000, French Roma/gypsy families who couldn't qualify for adoption because of their itinerant lifestyle, would buy a baby from Bulgarian Roma...
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[read the full post...]
January 20, 2007
Realtor: We'd Like To Show Your Apartment During The Kid's Nap
This NYT article is ostensibly about the disruptions and inconveniences associated with selling/showing your house--always having to keep it clean, disappearing on an hour's notice, Pottery Barning it up by stashing all your personal mementos and photos. But judging...
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[read the full post...]
January 17, 2007
At-Home Harvard Dads Wanted
My bad. This reminded me that 02138, the lifestyle magazine for Harvard alumni, had been looking for Stay-At-Home-Dads who went to Harvard--and ideally, whose spouses went there, too. Not sure if they're still interested, given the, uh-- Anyway, if you...
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[read the full post...]
January 12, 2007
Sen. Stevens: 'Parenthood Is A Series Of Fallopian Tubes'
The Washington Post reports that Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has "introduced a bill that would provide eight weeks of paid leave to federally employed women after childbirth and five days of paid leave for new fathers. The bill also would...
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[read the full post...]
January 10, 2007
Heyo, ModernTots The Website Now ModernTots The Store
I met Sarah and Bruce, the ModernTots.com folks, in Las Vegas last year at the ABC Kids expo. They were super-cool and surprisingly nice to me, considering the hassle Daddy Types' "Sure, it's custom-tinted, super-dense, has sweet bamboo veneer,...
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[read the full post...]
January 8, 2007
DT Car Seat Week: JPMA Responds To Blows Smoke At Consumer Reports Test
Who knew? If you decry a whole industry's safety testing standards--and there are cute little babies involved--people get worked up. Reactions and discussion raged all weekend over Consumer Reports' announcement of its car seat crash test findings. Now the Juvenile...
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[read the full post...]
January 4, 2007
Well, Glutes DO Usually Travel In Pairs
So how's the book going, you ask? [hey, thanks!]. Well, until new dad Matt Leinart totally threw off my chapter headings by making out with new mom Britney Spears, it was going great. Totally expected, though, since their kids are...
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[read the full post...]
January 1, 2007
A Soldier Dad's Journal To His Son
First Sgt. Charles King didn't take leave for the birth of his first son, Jordan, his fiancee, Dana Canedy writes, because he refused to come home ahead of any of the young soldiers under his command. [He did take two...
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[read the full post...]
December 31, 2006
Princess Industrial Complex Drives Feminist Crazy
Too bad for Peggy Orenstein that her looong lament about third-wave feminism's powerlessness and lack of viable response in the face of the Princess Hegemony came out the same day American girls were opening their $3 billion worth of pink...
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[read the full post...]
December 29, 2006
All The World's A Playmobil, And We Are Merely Playmobilers
The kid only had one request of Santa this Christmas, but it was highly specific. And challenging: "A digger, and rocks, and sand." The digger would be easy enough, I thought. Even though I got priced out of that...
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[read the full post...]
December 19, 2006
This Week In Dog-Baby-Bad Parenting Insanity
Am I the only one who's ready to call BS on recent coverage of bad parent-and-pet stories? I mean, if Gardenia Johansson had better publicists, maybe her story would be that she was just trying to protect her baby's toes...
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[read the full post...]
December 15, 2006
Pinhead Takes The Dog Shopping
Gardenia Zakrzewski Johansson was arrested after she took her dog into Nieman Marcus in Scottsdale, AZ, but left her 2-year-old son in the car. She had asked valet Quest Wolfe to keep an eye on her son, who was sleeping...
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[read the full post...]
December 12, 2006
Who Gets A Puppy Right After Having A Baby??
Also from Yahoo News, a 6-week-old pit bull puppy gnawed four toes off a 1-month-old baby girl in Louisiana. The kid was in an infant carrier on the floor next to the mattress where the parents were sleeping. The vet...
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[read the full post...]
UK IVF Law Changes: Fathers Less Necessary Than Sperm
A government white paper recommending changes to the UK's regulations governing sperm donors is expected to be released Friday. The Daily Mail got all worked up over a leak of the report, which is expected to do away with the...
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[read the full post...]
December 11, 2006
"I'm There For You, Son, 80 Perc--Hold On, Let Me Get This"
Parents ignore their kids to do email on their BlackBerries. The kids who are old enough to talk seem to take this personally, even the ones who play pretend Blackberry themselves:One of BlackBerry's biggest defenders, Jim Balsillie, the chairman of...
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[read the full post...]
December 6, 2006
RIP James Kim, Very Much A Hero Type
After the great news that his wife and two daughters were found alive and safe after several days, the discovery of James Kim's death is a very sad end to the story of a family who went missing on a...
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[read the full post...]
December 4, 2006
ABC News Discovers A Business 2X As Big As The Movies
Barely two days out of the country, and look what I miss. Somehow, the Baby Spa Industrial Complex has avoided detection by ABC News's crack team of reporters until now:Moms and dads across the country can now take their babies...
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[read the full post...]
November 29, 2006
South African Man Not Pregnant, Just Lazy, Stupid
Seems a Johannesburg man figured if he just had a certificate from a doctor, he could take a week off of work. So he grabbed one at the OB's office. 'Pregnant' man fined in SA court [bbc via tmn]...
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[read the full post...]
November 28, 2006
Update: Barney Caves & Pays, Does Not Admit To Being Evil
Remember how Barney's lawyers had been hounding a guy for years, trying to make him take his clearly legal parody offline? Well, they won't be bothering him anymore. The EFF sued them, and they agreed to back down and pay...
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[read the full post...]
November 22, 2006
We're Supernannies From The Government, And We're Here To Help, Mum
So apparently Tony Blair convened a "Parenting Stakeholders" seminar at 10 Downing Street yesterday, and all I can find is a 100 references to the government's need to provide more reality TV-like parenting advice. Which would make sense in a...
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[read the full post...]
November 20, 2006
Hey, Reverend! I Hear Tango Drives A Bugaboo!
What happens when your 18-month-old post is one of the top Google results for And Tango Makes Three, the children's book about the true story of two male penguins in the Central Park Zoo who hatch and raise an egg...
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[read the full post...]
NYT: Straight Men Losing Lock On "Slightly More Than A Sperm Donor" Market
Not sure if it's a trend or just an interesting reconfiguration of the family, combined with a largely undefined notion of gay fatherhood, but The New York Times Magazine has a looong article about how some lesbian couples are kids...
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[read the full post...]
November 17, 2006
Mothering Mag Gives Aid & Comfort To Breastfeeding Hippie Who Threatened Our Freedom [Airlines]
First, a correction: The plane had 9 rows, not 13. The flight number was DL6160, but it's a codeshare with Freedom Airlines [!]. But to those who've complained about my hippie terrorist characterization: the kid's name is River, so that...
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[read the full post...]
Delta: Let's Throw Nursing Momma From The Plane
A Santa Fe family has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission after they were kicked off a Delta Airlines flight from Burlington to NYC when the mom refused to use a blanket to nurse her 22-month-old...
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[read the full post...]
November 16, 2006
Opt-Out Revolution Writer Finally Pays Attention, Still Misses Point
It was like the Mommy War equivalent of shooting Archduke Ferdinand. A 2003 NY Times Magazine article about "The Opt-Out Revolution," where some MBA wives with MBA husbands decided not to go back to work after having kids, set off...
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[read the full post...]
Apartment Therapy Now Also Nursery Therapy
Congratulations to Maxwell the Apartment Therapy guy and his wife Sara Kate, for scoring a big NY Times article [!] on how they successfully completed the renovation [!!] on their 265 sf apartment [!!!] before the baby [!!!!] came. The...
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[read the full post...]
November 15, 2006
Ah, Jolly Good, Then. The Parenting Endgame Of UK Cradle-to-Grave Surveillance Comes Into View
Well, color me enlightened. And forgive my ignorance-fuelled disapproval from afar of the UK government's plan to create a massive database to track children, their behavio(u)r, and their caregivers from birth. If only you had explained at the outset, Lord...
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[read the full post...]
November 14, 2006
EXCLUSIVE: INTERNATIONAL BREASTFEEDING ICON SMACKDOWN
EXCLUSIVE!!! JUST HOURS AFTER DADDYTYPES REPORTED ON THE NEW MOTHERING MAGAZINE INTERNATIONAL BREASTFEEDING ICON [IBI], A CONTROVERSY IS ALREADY BREWING. ACCORDING TO THE DRUDGE REPORT, MATT DAIGLE'S WINNING IBI DESIGN WAS COPIED FOR A PHOTO IN MARIE-CLAIRE MAGAZINE OF ABC...
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[read the full post...]
November 13, 2006
Daddy Type Wins Breastfeeding Icon Design Contest
While it's my third favorite icon designwise, I have to admit, at-home dad Matt Daigle's design did have a couple of advantages over my top choices: For one thing, it was actually submitted to Mothering Magazine's international breastfeeding icon design...
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[read the full post...]
November 2, 2006
Celebrity Dad Is Funny, Makes Finals In New Yorker Contest
Whoa, check that out. Eric Sagalyn from MoreDiapers.com is a finalist in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest this week. Usually it just breaks my heart to reach that last page, but whaddya, know, Eric's actually funny. I think he...
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[read the full post...]
Canadian Adoption Mess: Dad Wants To Keep His Kid, Money
There was a story a few months back about the US's confusing and misleading patchwork of laws covering a biological father's rights when the mother puts a kid up for adoption. And since Canada like totally copies us every time,...
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[read the full post...]
October 26, 2006
More Black/White Twins Born To Bi-Racial Parents
Stories about multi-racial couples having one-white/one-black twins used to be a rarity in the news. But now they're as common as kids stuck in vending machines. Also ubiquitous: lame "Ebony & Ivory" references. No Kidding! They're Twins! [nypost via gawker]...
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[read the full post...]
Wring Out Your Dead: Bodies Bank Big Baby Biz Bucks
The alliterative headline thing only goes so far. Forbes published its list of the top-earning dead celebrities this week, and while everyone else goes on about the significance of Kurt Cobain displacing Elvis for the top spot [$50 million vs...
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[read the full post...]
October 25, 2006
Local Media Cheers As Another Small Boy Climbs Into Vending Machine
Seriously, people, this has to stop. And if not, can we just make it a flickr photogroup and be done with it? Toddler Gets Trapped Inside Vending Machine [aol news via dt reader jmo]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 24, 2006
Scientists: Something About Cell Phones And Sperm Counts
Yeah, I'm not really following this: Guys who are on their cell phones for four hours a day or more have dramatically reduced sperm counts. Which head are they holding that thing against? The findings are preliminary and unclear [duh],...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 23, 2006
Two Words, Pal: Carlos Leon
The father of Madonna's newly adopted son said yesterday he didn't realize that the arrangement meant the boy would no longer be part of his family. "If we were told that she wants to take the baby as her own...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 19, 2006
US Study: Moms & Dads Both Spending More Time With Kids
Research by a team of University of Maryland sociologists and demographers shows that compared to 40 years ago, parents across the board are spending more time with their kids. Even when they work outside the home, moms spend more time...
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[read the full post...]
October 18, 2006
Libertée, Egalitée, Maternitée
Vivent les poitrines de la RĂ©publique! Marianne, breastfeeder of the nation, by Daumier [via musee d'orsay] What with all the guaranteed maternity leave, subsidized childcare--including government-subsidized daycare or tax credits for nannies--government bonus payments for having multiple children, and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 10, 2006
Holy Crap. Mom Attacks Baby Daddy. With Baby.
Some crazy mom in Erie, Pennsylvania smacked her baby daddy upside the head with her 4-week-old baby, causing a skull fracture and some internal bleeding. On the baby, that is. The Erie Times-News is on the story:...[baby daddy Deangelo] Troop,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Vibe's Cookie To Not Be Called Oreo
Because Jay Z got upset when it was gonna be called Phat Baby, and Kimora got all up in their teething grill when they suggested Baby Diddy, Vibe's new parenting magazine will be called Prodigy. Prodigy will be delivered first...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Bold Predictions: US To Be "Major Player In Global Economy" in 2043. Also, Gerber 300MM Baby's Name: Juan
Never mind that it's actually just a sweepstakes, and that the name will be drawn from a pot--a melting pot, if you will. But whenever a reporter asks a purportedly serious demographer where Gerber's 300 Millionth American will be born...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Train A Brit Up The Way He Should Go, Then He'll Want CCTV For His Kid's Crib
The UK's Future Foundation published its latest study, "The Changing Face of Parenting," last week, and most of the attention was on vague, headline-friendly phrases like "super-parents" and "lifestyle choice" and the "professionalisation of parenting." The conclusion that jumped out...
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[read the full post...]
October 5, 2006
Next Up On FOXNews: 85% Of Dads Obsessed With 'Sexpot Dolls/Characters?'
Last week I received a press release about a new study on parental skanktoy fatigue:...an overwhelming majority of mothers believe that many dolls available for young girls today are too provocative. The research says these mothers would like to see...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 4, 2006
#300MM: Obscure, Inacurrate Algorithm Makes Sweet Publicity Hook For Baby Food Company
Gerber staked an early claim to the 300 millionth American hoopla, and is holding some sort of contest or promotion with big prizes for someone. I have no idea, but I'm sure Google will help you. They're basing the whole...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 2, 2006
Think Of The Children And Their Cent Pk Vu
Discussion of real estate among the playdate set is because they're New Yorkers, hello. Anxiety about real estate, however, is attributed primarily to the parents:Julie Friedman, a senior associate broker at Bellmarc, described clients who are the parents of three...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 27, 2006
This Week In Precocious Children News
4-year old sure plays a mean pinball set of drums. [youtube via eric] 3-year old London boy buy-it-now!s a pink car on eBay. Had it been a less Barbie shade of pink, his dad wouldn't have minded. [chi sun-times...
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[read the full post...]
September 26, 2006
This Week In Killer Teddy Bear News
Remember, kids, "RELEASE OF ANY TEDDY BEARS into fish hatchery water IS NOT PERMITTED." [emphasis in the original] Teddy Bear Massacres Fish [boingboing]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
NY Mag Gets The Nanny-Spying Money Quote
Congratulations [sic] to the nanny narc-ing blog for helping turn New York Magazine onto the whole Babysitter Surveillance Industrial Complex this week. And they get Rhyder McClure [real name], the founder of the New York Nanny Cam Company [installation: $1200],...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 24, 2006
Brio's New Target Market [Hint: Starts With Gr-, Ends With -ups]
Indulge me a bit of MBA geekdom, but ever since that high chair turned up, I was kind of intrigued why Brio, which has been known for over 100 years primarily as a wooden toy company--and especially as a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 22, 2006
The Times Square, They Are A-Changing: Uproar Over Slightly Visible Breast
People have such short memories. Time was when the whole economy of Times Square centered on catching a glimpse of a breast in some "out of the way" place. Now, a mom from Brooklyn is claiming Toys R Us employees...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 20, 2006
Alright, Alright, Croc Hunter's Daughter Made Me Cry
I guess it's good to remember that most kids would love to have a clown for a father. At least until they go to high school. The kids, I mean, not the clowns. And being named after the dog doesn't...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 19, 2006
Papa Don't Lynch: I Wanna Keep Mein Kampf
Yeow. When they found out their 19-yo daughter's baby daddy is black, the Nicholas Kampfs tied her up and threw her into the car, so they could drive her to New York. Because I guess it's easier to get a...
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[read the full post...]
September 17, 2006
Ultrasound Makes Indian Female Infanticide So Much Easier
Not a story for the faint of heart, this Reuters report on a Punjabi female fetus abortion clinic running under the guise of a maternity hospital is written in the rather sensationalistic style of the Indian newspapers. The takeaway, though,...
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[read the full post...]
September 14, 2006
Woz's House Has Cave, Murals For The Kids
More news from the Stuff I Won't Be Buying Dept.: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's house in Los Gatos, CA, was bought by some developers who did some extensive remodelling. But they left most of Woz's additions for his kids intact....
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[read the full post...]
September 12, 2006
Time Warner Sells Out; Token Dadblogger Keeps It Real
Gawker has the all-employee email announcement that Time, Inc. is selling off a bunch of their "niche" magazine titles, and by "niche," they mean magazines with a rate base of 2.2 million or less:The Parenting Group is also for sale....
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September 8, 2006
High Reality TV Producer Alert In Effect For Madison Avenue Tomorrow
Love the concept of a street fair, but hate the idea of generic tube socks and having to shuffle along with of all those, you know, people [or "those people", the italics really work either way]? Join Cookie Magazine and...
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[read the full post...]
September 5, 2006
1,400 Chinese Nannies Can't Be Wrong, or NY Magazine Has This Country By The Parenting Shorthairs
And by "this country," I mean "Connecticut." The NY Times wades into the whole Chinese Nannies For The Children Of The Overclass thing a bit late, but don't worry, they've got a new angle: Chinese Au Pairs. See? Completely different....
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Carbon Neutral Diapers, Now In Cloth, Too
Carbon Clear has been offering a carbon and greenhouse emissions offset for disposable diapers for a while now, inspired by the birth of company founder Mark Chadwick's daughter. Treehugger reports that Carbon Clear has just expanded to include cloth diaper...
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September 4, 2006
When What We Love And Who We Love Are At Odds
Whatever his animal conservation and awareness accomplishments, Steve Irwin's clownlike persona and the unfathomably unpredictable circumstances of his death make him a poor posterboy for discussing the issue of whether to continue extreme behavior after you have a kid. [And...
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Baby-Dangling Croc Hunter Killed In Freak Stingray Accident
TV personality and wild animal wrangler Steve Irwin, shown here in 2004 dangling his plump, 1-month-old, chicken-sized son during a Crocodile feeding show at his animal park, has died while diving on camera, off the coast of Australia. He...
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[read the full post...]
September 1, 2006
Daddy Types Eye On Breasts
They're important enough to get our undivided attention, so here's news from the breastfeeding front: Lactation rooms, company-supplied breast pumps, "sorry about the background noise" comments during conference calls, it's all good news for working moms who want to...
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Outraged Yet? Links From All Over
Over at BoingBoing, Xeni's all freaked out. You'd think she'd never seen a fully illustrated, nothing-left-out, 1971 Danish sex-ed book for preschoolers by Per Holm Knudsen before. [attention t-workers: that first link starts with an illustration from the book;...
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August 31, 2006
UK Child Database: The Worst Form Of Government Intrusion, Including All The Rest
Honestly, I don't know what's more whacked out over there in England: the fact that they're actually serious about starting a single massive database with details on every child in the country, which will be available for use by hundreds...
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'Flat Daddy' Cutouts For National Guard Families
Wow. I-- wow. Soldiers in Maine's National Guard who've been deployed to Iraq keep in regular, almost constant touch with their families through email, satellite phones, and even video conferencing. On top of that, their families receive life-sized photo...
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[read the full post...]
August 30, 2006
Two Trojans, And They Still Get Pregnant
USC Heisman Trophy winner and new Arizona Cardinals QB Matt Leinart and his former [at least] girlfriend, USC basketball playing Junior Brynn Cameron are reportedly expecting a child in November. Leinart described Cameron as his girlfriend in 2005, but he...
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[read the full post...]
August 28, 2006
Children Bilingual The Language Structures Intermix
Also, linguists their children as subjects use. Children's way with words sparks research [physorg.com via robotwisdom]...
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August 16, 2006
Evil Flying NCAA Monkeys: You're Not On Kansas' Squad Anymore, Daddy
ESPN.com columnist and DT reader Dan Shanoff [hey, Dan!] forwarded this story which is apparently burning up the bandwidth over there: defensive tackle Eric Butler has filed a Title IX discrimination suit against the NCAA after he was repeatedly denied...
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[read the full post...]
August 15, 2006
Elmo's World News Tonight
The Wide Elmo's World of Shorts. The Weekly Elmo's World News. Elmo's World According To Garp. It's An Elmo's World After All. OK, I'll stop now: They're not loving Elmo on the West Coast. In the LA Times, Joel...
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Slightly Tangential Links Roundup
Live by the Us Weekly, Die by the Us Weekly: For all the people patterning their family life after Chris Robinson and Kate Hudson: sorry, but you'll need to separate now and fob the kid off on a series...
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Tonight? Tonight? L'Chaim
Maybe it's just me, but even if I was breastfeeding too long, I don't think it'd help to have my rabbi describe my breasts as "an attractive cafeteria rather than a scintillating piece of flesh." Kosher Coupling by Shmuley Boteach:...
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Moms Are From East Hampton, Dads Are From Quogue
"In the luxe and relaxed setting only a beach house can afford, the afternoon will feature celebrities, stylists, editors, and writers perusing the best in Mom & Baby." There are car services for folks coming from Manhattan; children's attendants and...
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[read the full post...]
August 9, 2006
Pediatricians: Replace Shopping Carts Of Death Concussion
The American Academy of Pediatricians is calling for new safety regulations and designs for shopping carts because of all the injuries they say occur with the current 70-year-old design. [Nice of you to chime in now, Docs. What took you...
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[read the full post...]
August 8, 2006
It's Raining Breast Milk During World Breastfeeding Week
In case you didn't notice, it was World Breastfeeding Week last week. And if you go over to Celebrity Baby Blog, right now, it's just bursting with a buxom bevy of breastfeeding-related posts. They really took aim and let...
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[read the full post...]
August 4, 2006
Scientists To Aussie Bums: Put Up AND Shut Up
A recent University of Melbourne study of new dads who work outside the home while their new mom partners do most all the "housework" and baby care, and who, while taking twice as much leisure time as their partners, still...
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[read the full post...]
August 3, 2006
We Interrupt This Britney-Free Zone For This Important Announcement From The Newark Bears
Britney Spears arguably the Madonna of this generation has brought the issue of baby safety to the forefront of the American conscious. The Newark Bears know that the Pop Diva's public mishaps are far from intentional. It is her celebrity...
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The Baby Roasting In Wal-Mart Parking Lot Google Map
So some woman in Florida accidentally locks her baby in the van in a Wal-Mart parking lot, begs the shopping cart guy for help, he says talk to the manager. Eventually the manager says something along the lines of, "Hey,...
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August 1, 2006
Non-Scientists: Whiny Parents Get People Riled Up
Students of journalism in the UK and US have proved that long articles by parents flouting their selfishness and repeatedly calling themselves "brave" for admitting how bored they are with their kids will elicit much heated, indignant response from readers....
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Scientists: Fatherhood Makes You Smarter
Studies of the prefrontal cortex structure of first-time and experienced marmoset parents show that "Fatherhood produces changes in very high-cognitive-level areas" said Yvesgenia Kozorovitskiy of Princeton University. It's important to remember, though, that this information is coming from people...
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Scientists: Beautiful Parents Have More Daughters
It's not that simple, of course, as lead researcher Dr Satoshi Kanazawa explains: "Beautiful parents have more daughters than ugly parents, because physical attractiveness is heritable and because daughters benefit from attractiveness more than sons." Other recent papers from Dr....
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July 30, 2006
BabyTalk Shoves Breastfeeding Agenda In Innocent Infant's Mouth
When are the nursing nazis at BabyTalk Magazine going to get the message? New parents have enough stress in their life without having to worry that their newborn infant might be inadvertently exposed to a naked, engorged breast in the...
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July 28, 2006
After Luncheon, Arsonist Beats Out Four Others To Win Parent Of The Year
I don't really care one way or the other if one of this year's Parents of The Year, Nabil and Nargues Khalil, is a convicted arsonist. What most interests me is how the revelation exposes the total self-serving BS PR...
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July 26, 2006
Welcome To The Gesell Dome
More gearhead-y goodness from Ann Hulbert's Raising America, this time from the 1930's and early 40's, when Dr. Arnold Gesell was at his zenith, dispensing systematic, scientifical-sounding childcare advice from his Clinic of Child Development at Yale. Gesell's greatest contribution...
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Whew. You Can Still Be Rich And Stupid.
I was just in Las Vegas, and so I have a hard time believing there was a connection between income and IQ. But apparently, there is. Some recent studies of twins and adopted kids that also factored in family socioeconomic...
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July 25, 2006
Next Up: Are Women Evolutionarily Suited For Math?
Since Britney Spears' flaunted her manny in the nation's face, the Washington Post felt compelled to ask the tough questions: are male humans genetically capable of picking up kids from preschool? Fortunately, the answer can be found just across the...
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[read the full post...]
July 19, 2006
Mothering Magazine's International Breastfeeding Symbol Contest
Mothering Magazine is upset, and they're not going to take it anymore:The image of a baby bottle on an airport sign announcing the location of a "parents lounge" infuriated us and got us thinking: Isn’Äôt there an international symbol...
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[read the full post...]
July 17, 2006
Safety: Beware Of Falling Televisions
Let your kid watch whatever you want, but just make sure the TV is anchored to the wall. According to a single Houston-area hospital's statistics, front-heavy TV's have fallen on toddlers 11 times in the last year, causing five deaths...
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[read the full post...]
July 14, 2006
Stealing A Baby's Identity Seems Pretty Easy
OK, so the story's a couple of years old now, as is little Andrew, who's probably gotten into plenty of trouble with the credit card companies all by himself now, but still. This story about a 5-month-old baby having his...
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[read the full post...]
July 10, 2006
Utah Anthro Prof Has Tenure, Develops Baby-Parade Theory
By analyzing the way chicks dig a guy with a baby, and comparing it to the parenting technique of the sloth in Ice Age, then performing a regression analysis on the title of a ten-year-old book on how Japanese men...
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[read the full post...]
July 7, 2006
CEO's Nanny Drives A Phil & Ted's
Well, the crisis in childcare continues apace. USA Today reports that even some CEO's are feeling the pinch as the cost of quality childcare spirals out of control. Seems that nanny agencies who specialize in placing background-checked, multilingual nannies with...
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[read the full post...]
June 30, 2006
Ouch. Time Looks At Educational Toys - In 1964
Just when you think this generation's somehow actually different...while researching our new magnifying glass stool, I came across this Time magazine article from 1964 about ambitious parents and the boom of "so-called educational toys":Advanced placement begins in the nursery, say...
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On Loving Your Gay Baby
Andy at Towleroad spotted this ad on the subway today. It's from a new campaign by the Ali Forney Center, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth homeless services center. Apparently the documentary Paris is Burning...
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Loong, Hard At-Home Dad Article From Esquire
Every time I read an in-depth article about the travails of family life with two little kids, especially when it's about a family barely scraping by where the dad's an ex-Marine who's taking care of the kids while struggling to...
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June 28, 2006
UK Gov't Database To Get All Up In Your Kid's Biznazz
I've never been able to jibe Britain's obsession with installing closed-circuit cameras everywhere with any notion of freedom and non-authoritarian government, but apparently most of HM The Queen's subjects are quite able to hold onto the illusion, thank you very...
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June 21, 2006
Longboarding: "For Gnarly Dads Only"
First off, Happy Go Skateboarding Day. You have at least two hours left to celebrate. Second, there's no mention of LATCH adapters for them, but from this article in the coolhunting trend rag known as USA Today, it sounds...
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[read the full post...]
June 19, 2006
More Token Dad Stories From All Over
I feel like I really dropped the ball by choosing last week--the one week when every news organization feels obligated to have a dad story--to go on vacation. Here are a few I've come across. If you spotted a notable...
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What The Bookstore Clerk Really Thinks Of Kids
Minnesota Nice in a nutshell: smiling, polite, slightly passive aggressive but mute on the surface, but seething with unaddressed, unexpressed rage underneath. Moira Manion, a Minneapolis writer/bookstore clerk did a commentary on Marketplace about toddlers whose parents allow them to...
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[read the full post...]
June 18, 2006
Newshour-Themed Birthday Party For St. Paul 3yo
The birthday boy can identify senators on sight and calls Jim Lehrer "Jimmy Jimmy BoBo." This is what happens when you watch TV during dinner, people. 'Jimmy Jimmy BoBo' Lehrer Makes Birthday Party Newsworthy [washington post via waxy] And...
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Happy Dadblog's Day!
Did you know that in Iceland, Father's Day is called "the day after Independence Day?" and it's usually celebrated by nursing a hangover and waiting for the tinnitus from last night's Icelandic death-metal concert to wear off? Meanwhile, in the...
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[read the full post...]
June 11, 2006
Family Values My Butt: UC Study Shows Working Class Parents Get Screwed
Considering that the study appears to be largely an exercise in awareness-raising, it was really disheartening to see how little coverage "One Sick Child Away From Being Fired: When 'Opting Out' Isn't an Option" got in the media when it...
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[read the full post...]
June 8, 2006
Dads Who Know, Use Facebook Are More Confident, Involved
A study that confirms my own personal perspective? It MUST be true! Rebel Dad has a good writeup of a BabyCenter-sponsored survey that shows new generations of dads [they actually use Boomer, Gen X and Gen Y as the breakdowns]...
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[read the full post...]
June 7, 2006
Dan Zane Rallies Brooklyn Arena Protestors Before Naptime
A protest concert/fundraiser by Dan Zanes for the group, Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, was as good a reason as any for a NY Observer reporter to train her bemused, investigative eye on the Brooklyn baby scene. The group is raising...
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June 5, 2006
Harlem's Immigrant Problem
mom pushing stroller: "the twins just got into every school from the park to the river. Where should we send them, Alan?" dad carrying a single bottle: "Sarah, forget preschool. With an IQ of 150, let's fast track them...
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[read the full post...]
June 1, 2006
Govt: Dads Care, Matter Now
The CDC's National Center on Health Statistics released the latest results of the National Survey of Family Growth [NSFG], which is notable because it's the first round of the study to include men. So, uh, thanks, I guess. The data...
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[read the full post...]
May 30, 2006
It's Kids-a-Poppin' In Boston
There must be something in the mineral water in Wellesley, because according to the Boston Globe Magazine, the richies there are poppin' out babies by the Suburban-ful. Apparently, it's either a competitve thing, a "no Ivy tuition worries here, pal"...
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May 25, 2006
So I Met Some Celebrity Parents Recently
In my recent travels, I've had the chance to meet some new parents who also happen to be celebrities. We chatted about babies, strollers, traveling with children, the blog, etc. Very nice. Both times, I told them that now that...
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May 18, 2006
Right, Then! I'm Uninteresting To Conservatives In The UK!
So Boy George's neighbor is named Tom Leonard, and he's a columnist for the Daily Telegraph who writes on the topic of fatherhood. A couple of weeks back, he took to explaining the problem with daddyblogs: In a nootshell, 'e...
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[read the full post...]
May 15, 2006
It's Wall-to-Wall Hipster Parents In The Bay Area
There are enough parents in the Bay Area who a) want to dress their kids cool/in black/like themselves, b) want an Oeuf but don't want to shell out $800 for a crib, and c) tell themselves their Passat Jetta [sorry,...
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[read the full post...]
May 12, 2006
Reissuing The Moderno: The Rocker That Made YrjŹ Kukkapuro A Household Name
In 1960, Professor YrjŹ Kukkapuro, the Finnish designer and academic, introduced what would become one of his most famous works: the Moderno rocker. It was the centerpiece of a clean, unassuming, ergonomic, and classically Scandinavian line of chairs that were...
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[read the full post...]
May 9, 2006
"This is the dark side of pandas..."
And just in time for Mother's Day. In a show of fascinating science reporting, zinger quotes, and spectacular deployment of literary devices, Natalie Angier writes in the NY Times about how mothers in the animal kingdom can turn out to...
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[read the full post...]
From De Islands: De Etymology Of "Baby Daddy"
The terms "baby mama" and "baby daddy," it turns out, originated in Jamaica in the 1960's and migrated to the US via song lyrics. Once they were popularized in hip hop lyrics in the late 90's, the terms lost most...
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[read the full post...]
May 4, 2006
OK, I Am Totally Cool With Frilly Pink Outfits. This Time
The NYT has a story and an audio slide show about a ballet class in Queens for little girls with cerebral palsy. It was founded a few years ago by Joann Ferrara, a physical therapist with Associated Therapies, who paired...
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Congratulations To Jack White For Daughter, Consistency
Jack White, of the White Stripes Whites, and his wife Karen Elson had their daughter. And they named her Scarlett. See, it had to be a red name? But Ruby was never an option? because Jack used to date Renee...
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[read the full post...]
May 2, 2006
Rich Dick
Just goes to show, money can't buy class. Here's a blind item that Gawker pulled from today's NY Post:Which billionaire buyout buccaneer called his 3-year-old son to the dinner table the other night and had him repeat to the guests...
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Men Besides Tony Randall Have Biological Clock After All. [And He's Dead.]
After so many centuries living next to the French, you'd figure the British would have managed to deal with their sense of inadequacy in the wooing and babymaking department, but nooo. A study into the causes of the UK's dropping...
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April 26, 2006
How Is A Manhattan Preschool-Age Child Different From A Washer/Dryer?
A; Good old-fashioned bribes can still get a washer/dryer in. The influx of young families and rising real estate prices has spurred demand, but many buildings in the city still forbid private washer/dryers. Avoids the allegedly dire threat of "sudsing,...
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April 25, 2006
Read It For The Articles? Cookie Or Playboy
"I am a bunny. My name is Nicole. I love in a big hollow tree." Take the New York Observer's quiz and see if you can guess which magazine these ten quotes came from: Cookie or Playboy. For the...
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[read the full post...]
April 18, 2006
Toddlers Dazzle Sony Researchers By Playing With Robot
What is it with Japanese robotics scientists, don't they ever interact with actual children? When Sony stuck one of its little humanoid-shaped QRIO robots in a San Diego day care center, the kids--all under two years old--interacted and "bonded" with...
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April 13, 2006
Give Back The Van: Missouri Couple Fakes Sextuplets For Loot
Two lessons to learn from the Missouri couple who claimed they were having sextuplets--hell, they claimed they had them, but had to put them in hiding in a NICU somewhere because some crazed family member wanted to kill them: When...
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[read the full post...]
April 12, 2006
Yonkers Junkie Gets Five Years For Boiling Kids
The baby daddy who punished his two kids (actually, one was from a previous baby daddy) by locking them in the bathroom with the hot water running--where they were basically scalded-and-drowned to death while the dad passed out after shooting...
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[read the full post...]
March 28, 2006
It Took $8 Worth Of Quarters To Win Him Back
A 3-year-old kid climbed up the chute and got himself stuck in one of those "grab a toy with a claw" games at a Godfather's Pizza in Minnesota. The kid didn't seem to mind, and I guess the parents...
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[read the full post...]
March 27, 2006
Coming Soon To A Wal-Mart Diaper Near You
A notebook of illustrated poems by the 12-year old John Lennon will be auctioned on 19 April. This picture of a walrus from a verse by Lewis Carroll shows definitively that Lennon knew what a walrus was decades before...
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[read the full post...]
March 22, 2006
"Any Kids?" "Not That I Know Of."
When they're considered at all, it turns out fathers are little more than speed bumps to be driven over and ignored on the way to a smooth and uncontestable adoption. That's more or less my takeaway from the NY Times'...
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[read the full post...]
March 20, 2006
Study: Whiny Berkeley Kids Grow Up To Be Conservatives
I know what you're thinking: "Wha wha wha??? The whiny ones in Berkeley turn out to be conservative???" Maybe they're grading on a curve, I don't know. But a UC Berkeley sociology professor, who's on the business end of a...
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Well, If Her Majesty Approves...
You know how your friends who went to Lycee Francaise, even the American ones--who am I kidding? especially the American ones--would have that bilingual message on their answering machine, and you were all, "Dude, I get it. You speak French."?...
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[read the full post...]
March 13, 2006
More UWS Apartment Madness, This Time With A Baby
Again, there's something about this couple and their new baby and their Upper West Side apartment-hunting antics--a sublet to get into the neighborhood, months of open houses and failed bids for "Jr 4's," i.e. 1BR with enough alcove space for...
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[read the full post...]
March 11, 2006
Funny, I Thought Everyone Wanted To Live In The Brady Bunch House
From the NYT:Psychologists who study interactions between people and environments say that buyers often unknowingly seek out spaces that are physically evocative of childhood havens. And the aha! feeling that a person experiences upon walking into a space can often...
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March 10, 2006
This Week In UWS SAHD's In The News...
"What's incredibly interesting about this story is the light it sheds on the psychological impact of this amazing real estate market on New Yorkers," said Ian Van Tuyl, a 39-year-old writer and stay-at-home father who, with his wife, paid $126,000...
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[read the full post...]
March 6, 2006
Da' Coyotes
Coyotes have moved into Chicago. Apparently drawn from the outer fringe suburbs by plentiful food sources, the urban coyote population is up by 3000% in the last ten years. Top on the coyotes' menu: the booming population of wild babies...
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[read the full post...]
March 3, 2006
Panda Kindergarten Actually Designed For Hook Ups
There was an article recently about how much US zoos were paying to rent pandas from China. [Short answer: a-freakin'-lot.] Now there's this Reuters video story of a "panda kindergarten" full of adorable panda cubs frolicking in a snowy playground....
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Fast Company Brings You: The BabySuit
Another installment from the "wait, haven't I been reading this article for the last ten years, too?" department: this time a classic bubble-era fluff-piece on how all us businessfolk are ignoring demographics at our own peril!. ["there are no...
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NYT: Preschool Application Essay Is The New LSAT
Remember back in the good old days when all it took to get your twins into the 92nd St Y's preschool was $1 million and a letter of recommendation from Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill, your boss's boss's boss's boss? Well,...
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[read the full post...]
February 23, 2006
Japanese Reporter Pimps Out Breastfeeding Cat
Still trying to triangulate this one to figure out who's weirder: a) the breastfeeding cat b) the child-free women who let it latch on on camera c) the female reporter who's pimping the cat out around the country d) the...
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NYT: Dogs A Lot Like Children For Some
According to the NY Times, the generation that created the gifted and talented kid has also created the gifted and talented dog. And while children rebel against expectations by doing drugs, joining bands, and making unflattering family-centered documentaries, dogs react...
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[read the full post...]
February 21, 2006
Baby Boom Contributes To Hamptons Summer Rental War?
Uh, I guess I'm not going to dispel the notion that I'm writing for an elitist demographic this week... According to one realtor talking to the NY Post, one of the reasons there's a run on good summer rentals in...
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"We're On A Mission From Dan Snyder"
Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder also owns 12% of Six Flags, the money-losing theme park company, and after a proxy fight, he finally gave management the boot and installed his boy Mark Shapiro, who'd previously been in charge of programming...
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[read the full post...]
February 10, 2006
You're A Wonder, Wonder Woman
The woman edits a zine called The Mother that sounds like parenting advice rounded up at Lilith Fair and on Paradise Island, and she nurses her 8-year-old daughter. Clearly, what some man might think is totally beside the point...
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[read the full post...]
February 9, 2006
Tanzanian Woman: A Dingo Fed My Bay-bay!
Baby feeds on dog's milk [yahoo via dt reader arlopop]...
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February 8, 2006
This Just In: IKEA Continues To Spread
DT reader JJ sent this in, from The Onion Radio. My favorite part is that the story is "brought to you by Chili's": Ikea Claims Another 10,000 Lifestyles [theonion.com]...
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Think Of The Children???
"THE birth of the world's sexiest baby is still two or more months away..." [nypost] As DT reader Matt points out, this is the GROSSEST LEDE EVER....
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February 7, 2006
This Is Less Funny After Episode II
See, The Onion thought they were so smart and funny, but now we know that all the kids on the Death Star are Jango Fett clones, so this isn't realistic at all. Hah. Death Star To Open Day Care Center...
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[read the full post...]
Bronx Zoo: No More Elephants, Just These
Whenever we're in DC, we'll take a walk over to the National Zoo, and it's frankly depressing. The kid loves it, of course [although the hippo freaks her out, so we have a deal not to see him. The pygmy...
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[read the full post...]
February 2, 2006
Advertiser Dogpile at Cookie's Place!!
David Netto must be steamed. According to this article at Salon, the Ooba bassinet has gone from "Coming soon" to "Coming Sign Of The Conumerist Children Apocalypse" in less than a month. Here's my favorite exchange, with Dr James Twitchell,...
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[read the full post...]
February 1, 2006
It's Getting Hard To Keep Up With The Chinese Nanny Trend
From the news, you'd think the planes to France are full of unemployed nannies. as everyone in Manhattan gets in line for an upgrade to the hot, new $100,000 Mandarin-speaking model. There was that Jan. 16 BBC story I linked...
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January 29, 2006
Unlike Everyone Else, The Great Zucchini Is No Phony
You know how sometimes you see a guy with an absolutely appalling combover, and you play out in our head how you--a complete stranger--are gonna do the guy a HUGE favor by walking straight up to him and saying, "Look,...
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[read the full post...]
January 28, 2006
Wow, Baby Universe Bought PoshTots.com for $12 Million
The Richmond-based PoshTots caters to--now let me see if I can remember their explanation correctly--rich, bored pregnant women on bedrest with laptops, is that right? Well, clearly, it's a growth market, and it's attractive enough to the decidedly more middlebrow...
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January 23, 2006
Disney: From Now On, Only Fatherless Characters
Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Jasmine, Belle, Nemo, Pocahontas. Where were the moms? Bambi had a mom, and look what happened to her. For decades, children and parents have been bombarded with stories and role models put out...
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January 22, 2006
Congratulations, Josh Homme: She's An Homme, Baby
Queens of The Stone Age frontman and Brody Dalle had a baby girl last week; her name is Camille. Which works out well because this was posted on the QOTSA message boards a month ago:...after I asked if he knows...
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January 19, 2006
NY'ers: Wo Yao Yige Chinese Nanny
So Mandarin-speaking nannies are the new hotness in the US, according to the BBC, as parents try to give their kids an early start on the language of their future overlords [or, if you're a nationalistic optimist, their future...
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January 16, 2006
Expensive Rear-Facing Strollers Impair Child's Shoplifting
According to this headline from the UK's Daily Record, pushing your kid around in a rear-facing stroller can significantly delay his taking. Fortunately, the only strollers that have this rear-facing seat option--Bugaboos, a BebeConfort, and the Quinny Buzz--are for rich...
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January 13, 2006
The Swedish Play. For Babies.
Ibsen it ain't. Sounds more like Mummenschantz, but it's apparently working in Sweden. "B aby Drama" is a play for 6-12 month-old babies, and it's already sold out it's run in Stockholm.The hour-long play shows the cycle of parenthood, birth...
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January 12, 2006
Home Cookie-ing: Take Four Chefs, Add One Oeuf...
From the headline, I thought it'd be about renovating a Brooklyn brownstone with your in-laws, but the article in the NYT today mostly talks about a scrappy, anti-materialist, upstart magazine for parents called Cookie. ]Has anyone heard of it? Apparently...
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Activist Judge Condemns Unborn To Hell[ish Commute]
A Godless, activist judge has ruled that a fetus is not a person--for purposes of using the carpool lane, anyway. While fetuses and blow-up dolls are being oppressed, . Who do the liberals running our coutry consider a "person"? Hookers,...
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January 5, 2006
Train Your Kids To Eat Right, They'll Practically Take Care Of Themselves
A Bay Area dad and stepmother left two boys, ages 5 and 10 home alone while they flew to Las Vegas for New Year's. Apparently, the dad had asked Grandma to babysit, but she said she was too busy. Not...
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Flash: Bragging Parents Are Annoying
The NYT breaks the scandal today that bragging about one's child is an annoying pasttime of too-competitive upper-middle-class parents. It involves bumper stickers and soccer field taunts. But if you're a first-time dad, is it ok? Or is that just...
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January 4, 2006
'Dodgy Dads' Found And Tagged In UK?
Where are the balloon-throwing idiots dressed up like Batman when you need them? In an attempt to show that his love of stupid coinages will not be overshadowed by his penchant for inflammatory ideas, a new government minister in the...
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January 3, 2006
So If Your Daughter's A Lesbian, And Your Name's Dick, Then What?
According to British researchers, parents' voting patterns are linked to the gender of their children. By looking at people who switched their votes from liberal to conservative and vice versa, they found that the more girls you have, the more...
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January 2, 2006
Pandas: The Science [And The Religion] Of Cuteness
The NYT has a looong article on the science of cuteness, from Hello Kitty to pandas to babies to baby penguins to...baby pandas. Turns out cuteness is used by human babies to stay alive; by those at the top of...
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December 27, 2005
Limbo Doctrine In Limbo
Apparently, limbo is about to be banished from Catholic doctrine quicker than a baby who dies without being baptized is banished from Heaven. The NY Times has a rather flippant article on how the Church is trading in centuries of...
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December 21, 2005
Art: Juergen Teller, New Dad
I'm always interested to see what happens to an artist's work when he has a kid. Partly because the new presence ususally makes himself or herself felt in unexpected ways, but mostly because good artists are usually very attuned...
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December 15, 2005
Bill Maher Steals Dad's Cab In A Snowstorm
I'm sure the woman who sent this in to the NY Daily News gossip column thought she was standing up for the man in the story. But let's face facts: no man--even a man with a baby and a stroller...
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One Embryo: 100 Swiss Francs.
The Swiss National Bank recently announced the winners of the design competition for the new Swiss Franc notes. The most obvious feature--even more eyecatching than the skull on the 1,000 or the HIV virus on the 200--is the weeks-old...
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December 9, 2005
Why Does A Female Monkey "Fancy A Cooking Pot"?
Just in time for Christmas, a new study reveals that baby vervets [yeah, I didn't know either, and I go to the zoo a dozen times a week. It's a monkey.] prefer gender coded toys "Just like most human boys...
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December 8, 2005
Imagine All The People Getting The Hell Outta My Way
I had to go from the West Side to a meeting downtown, so the kid and I headed over to the B train at 72nd Street. B is for BIG mistake. Turns out someone had been shot on the corner...
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December 7, 2005
San Francisco To Become Paradise For Coffee Shop Whiners?
Seems that San Francisco is a hard city to live in for young middle class families, so they're all planning on moving (or at least half of them, according to one study). If you're one of those cranky bastards whose...
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December 1, 2005
For Unto Us A Sean Is Given
Just when you thought the K-Fed family couldn't get any wronger, Britney had to go and dress the kid's nursery up like The Nativity. At first, I worried that little Sean's swaddling clothes weren't flushable gDiapers, but who cares now?...
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NYC Overrun By Immigrants...Little Immigrants From Heaven
According to the NYT, the under-5 population of Manhattan increased 26 percent between 2000 and 2004. SHOCKING. The most likely explanation, they say, is not Mexicans in East Harlem [seriously], but high-income families who don't "disappear into Brooklyn and New...
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November 30, 2005
Jacqueline The Caribbean Nanny Lives In A Windowless Studio On 2
While I'm not ingratiating myself with many of my Upper East Side neighbors, I might as well point to this ad, which ran in Sunday's NYT Magazine. Its elitism is as transparently stupid as those Bridgemarket Food Emporium ads that...
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November 21, 2005
Things I'm Surprised I'm Thankful For: NY Magazine
1)The Look BookSometimes, when my husband works late, Iíll bring the girls over the next day. We do a feeding there in his office. He runs a hedge fund...Her hands were full, so I doubt she did little air quotes...
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November 16, 2005
Sounds Like Someone Took That 'Zero Population' Module In Third Grade Seriously
Ahh, the 1970's. It took either 6,970 years [counting from Adam] or 3 million years [countiing from Paranthropus robustus] for human beings to develop a society advanced, self-aware, sophisticated, and free enough for an idiot like Les Knight to even...
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November 13, 2005
Shaken Up
I was listening to the radio the other night on the way to the gym. Turned out to be "Married to the Military," a documentary from American Radioworks about the challenges of life in a military town, Fayetteville, NC, home...
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Other Daddies Typing, Vol X.3 - Etc
Here's the info stuff from the blog round-up: So parents [Swedish dads, New York moms] taking their kids into prison with them? wtf? [bloggingbaby] Beth of Blogging Baby flew solo with the kid and did just fine, thanks. She had...
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November 10, 2005
Sorry, Moms, The Mob Has Spoken
So after the story dominated local newscasts last night [?!?], Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn gave a stern talking to to the moms quoted in yesterday's NY Times article about the Scone Nazi and his "inside voices" sign for...
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Waiting for Beckett, or Congratulations, Conan O'Brien!
In the year 2000, I bet Conan had no idea that in five years, he and his wife Liza would name their second kid Beckett. Well, life's funny that way. Beckett was born last night in NYC. He's 8.25 lbs...
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Man Buys India's 3-year-old Marathoner For 800 Rupees
So a 3-year-old boy in India regularly runs marathon-length distances, but if I read this story right, the Indian government is upset because his "mentor" may be harming his health, but they're fine with the fact that his mother sold...
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November 9, 2005
Baby Gangland Warfare Erupts in Chicago Restaurants
When I got an email a few days ago forwarded from a NYT reporter seeking examples of kids in restaurants, I dutifully sent along some anecdotes of the kid's meltdown at the conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Tokyo. But until...
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Gatea, Bosque, Gatea! Colombian Baby Marathon
600 kids were expected for Cali, Colombia's first "MaratŰn de Gateadores," [aka Crawlers Marathon] a couple of weeks ago, but according to the municipal health ministry 1,122 showed up. The human equivalent of a frogjumping contest, the races pitted kids...
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UK National Toddler Curriculum: 'No Latin Until Age 3 '
The British government is proposing a national curriculum for kids ages "naught to five." I looked that up; it means zero. Obviously, I was not the beneficiary of a nationally standardized curriculum which every type of professional caregiver was responsible...
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November 8, 2005
Move Over, Bun, There's A Cookie In The Oven
Set to hit newsstands next week, the NY Times has a preview of Cookie, which was presumably delivered to their office by the conscripted children of Conde Nast employees. As editor Pilar Guzman explains, Cookie is a new type of...
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Things I've Never Seen: Cats, Les Miz, Yoga Mamas
After not seeing Cats or Les Miz for a few years, every year that I still didn't see it became more significant. Not seeing it came to feel like an accomplishment; if I ever saw them now, it'd be quite...
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November 7, 2005
NYT: When Does Paternity Start?
If you're for a man's right to be involved in the decisions about using or donating embryos, then you should probably support a man's involvement in the decision to continue or end a pregnancy, right? That's the logic of some...
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November 6, 2005
Me, I'm Just Happy They Got The URL Right
Now that he's famous from LAX to LA Harbor, I hope celebrity dad-to-be Dan Paik doesn't forget us little people. Paik is well-known in Manhattan Beach as "the guy who loves his Bugaboo even though the kid's not coming until...
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November 4, 2005
Boy, 15, Traces DNA, Finds Sperm Donor Dad's Last Name (Fortunately Not Gallo)
If he inherited his precociousness from his dad, well, then it was only a matter of time. A 15 year-old British kid was conceived using anonymous donor sperm. He submitted his own DNA to a genetic genealogy database, which eventually...
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October 31, 2005
Is Your Name Michael Diamond? Why, Yes, Yes It Is.
From downtown Manhattan, Tribeca. My style is wild, and you know that it still is. Stroller schlepping, and youíre doing the bump Shake your rumpFrom today's Gawker Stalker:I spotted Mike D of the Beastie Boys today (10/28) at 1:10pm on...
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Anti-Child Types: The Magazine Article For Non-Dads
It's been a while since Amy Sohn's flamethrowing column in NY Magazine singed anything around here. This week she has a short, sweet article about how hard dating is for people who know they don't want kids. One anti-kid woman...
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October 28, 2005
The Househusband's Tale (In The Guardian)
Jon Absalom decided to put his career on hold to take care of his kid--to become a househusband, a word like 'lorry' and 'arse,' which I hope stays over there. [Besides, it always reminds me of The Housemartins, why not...
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October 26, 2005
Dad Type: Caging Children 'Next Hot Trend'
Because with endorsements like this, the stock price will be going THRU DA ROOF! Dad: Caging Children 'Necessary' [foxnews via Ivan] Actually, read the original Cleveland Plain Dealer piece is slightly more sympathetic and even more depressing. These feeble-minded people...
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October 19, 2005
Indiana Man Leaves 4-mo In Car, But Can Explain
So a dad from Michigan City, Indiana, William Kersey, borrows a car, which is reported abandoned on a Chesteron cul de sac Saturday night, 'round 11, with the door open, the dome light on, and a 4-month-old baby inside. Two...
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October 18, 2005
FLASH: David Copperfield To Impregnate Girl
Of course, that his plan involves not having sex with her and not even touching her is news to no one. Apparently, he first perfected this positively mystifying no-sex, no-touch technique during his years-long engagement to Claudia Schiffer. David...
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October 16, 2005
So I Can Deduct Preschool Tuition As A Business Expense?
The newest world of business networking is therefore not the golf course, the power breakfast or the alumni reunion. It is the schoolhouse. As much as country clubs once did, schools - especially private day schools - are bringing together...
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October 14, 2005
Meanwhile, In Mr. Kate Moss News,
Kate Moss's baby daddy Jefferson Hack is apparently taking care of the kid (Lila Grace just turned three while Mom's been in rehab) and seeking sole custody. A media guy himself (he co-founded Dazed & Confused magazine), when Page Six...
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October 12, 2005
I Didn't Know There Were Any J-People In Arkansas
I thought they were all in NYC and San Francisco. At least that's where the two J-families WE know live. But congratulations to Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar down near Little Rock, who just had their 16th kid, a girl,...
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[read the full post...]
October 11, 2005
Diaper Free & Psychically Scarred? Blame The Media
There is something in the air, and it ain't the smell of diapers. The NY Times has an op-ed from Prof. Meredith Small about going diaper-free. She boldly confronts the true source of the hypothetical psychological trauma that EC kids...
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October 7, 2005
NYC Under Threat From Stroller-Pushing Terrorists?
If you see a menacing, Geraldo-looking guy pushing a stroller on the subway, CALL THE COPS IMMEDIATELY. IT IS NOT GERALDO. HE DOESN'T TAKE THE SUBWAY; HE HAS A BENTLEY AND A DRIVER. On the other hand, if you see...
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October 5, 2005
At-Home Dads Multiplying Like Rabbits?
Rebel Dad, who's something of an expert on this kind of thing [statistics and government policy ARE the favorite sports in Washington, DC, after all] has parsed some Census Bureau statistics and is feeling pretty darn good. I'll let him...
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Zuckerman: Famous, Prick, Fires US News Staffers On Maternity Leave
God Bless America, land of the free-will employment. The country where media moguls can escape the profit-sapping oppression of governmentally mandated employment protection regimes in their home country, and where they can be totally at liberty to fire employees who...
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October 4, 2005
Remember That NYC Baby-Stabbing?
It gets better/worse. Turns out the stabber and his roommates in the mental home traded some words over--well, I'll let him explain:ěLately, they been getting on my nerves,î he said of ěOassieî and ěBilly.î ěTheyíd been hounding me to clean...
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October 1, 2005
WWZD: What Would Zahara Do?
Coincidence?? Fox News Exclusive Friday: Angelina Jolie's kids--the most influential nippers in the world--singlehandedly launching hot trends in hairstyles, fashion, and third world adoption. Just look at this: Zahara has apparently turned the until-now utterly obscure "Baby Bjorn" into...
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September 30, 2005
NYC Needs Its Infant Dumpsters Back
How could we let this happen? A child was abandoned and forced to walk around a Queens street barefoot for who knows how long? If only the infant dumpster plan that Rudy Giuliani introduced in the mid-90's hadn't been...
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September 20, 2005
Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way In
I'm not sure if it's comforting to know that there are stupid lawsuits prompt stupid reactions in the UK, too, but I do know that they don't pay as well. The dad who got hit in the face with the...
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September 16, 2005
From This Week's New Yorker
From this week's New Yorker magazine comes this cartoon by William Haefeli. You can purchase prints, shirts, even note cards with it, at cartoonbank.com. [via chipdaddy and rebeldad]...
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September 12, 2005
Xtreemie Born To Brain-Dead Mother Dies Of Infection
That pregnant, brain-dead woman in Virginia whose husband struggled to keep her body alive until their baby was viable, who gave birth to a girl in August just as the cancer was ravaging her body? The kid just died. Infection....
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[read the full post...]
September 8, 2005
Yikes! Crazyman Stabs Baby On UUWS
A "bearded and bespectacled madman" from the neighborhood nuthouse attacked a 10-month old baby. in her stroller. with a knife. repeatedly. On the street. 171st St. Washington Heights. In broad daylight. While the kid was being pushed by her 20-year...
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September 6, 2005
Yikes, 6-Yr-Old Leads 6 Other KidsTo Shelter
The youngest was 5-months old, but there was a 14-month-old and four 2- and 3-year olds, too. Turns out when the evacuation chopper arrived on the roof of their New Orleans apartment building, the parents were told to put the...
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September 4, 2005
Chuck E. Cheese Wants YOU!
Apparently, part of the entertainment for birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese is a promotional video produced by the Department of Defense showing happy, shiny soldiers in Iraq handing out candy to happy, shiny children and standing around happy, shiny...
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September 1, 2005
Excruciating Report From Inside The Superdome
"We pee on the floor. We are like animals," Taffany Smith, 25, said as she cradled her 3-week-old son, Terry. In her right hand she carried a half-full bottle of formula provided by rescuers. Baby supplies are running low; one...
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UPDATED: What To Do [Besides Take 'Katrina' Off The Name List?]
It's a question I've been asking myself the last couple of days, especially as I decide whether to post about this or that toy or deluxe nursery furniture. Cooper at Been There and some other bloggers are getting busy, meanwhile,...
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August 31, 2005
Which One Of You Drove The $6,000 Crib?
DT readers should recognize this kind of article. Knight Ridder reported last month that a lot of the modernist designs appearing in the kid's furniture market these days are being driven by designer/parents who are fed up with the same...
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Brit Dad Stays Home A Week, Survives To Write About It
Columnist Damian Whitworth turns in a level-headed report of what would otherwise be the premise of an eye-rolling reality tv show: he stayed home for a week with his 2-year-old son. Some things that jump out: So 'new dads' are...
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August 29, 2005
Slate On The Hot Topics: Circumcision & Delivery Rooms
Slate's columnists weigh in on two topics that have lit up the ol' weblog here the last few days. First, normally, I'd rather have the tip of my penis cut off than agree with Christopher Hitchens on anything, but when...
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August 28, 2005
'Take the Baby from Your Wife, Now'
A breastfeeding mother was arrested mid-feed, allegedly roughed up, and made to spend the night in jail, even after other officers confirmed to her that the situation was an error, a case of mistaken identity. Sounds bad, I know but...
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August 26, 2005
Center Fielders Of The World, Unite!
Nice to see I'm not alone in playa-hating at Snoop Dogg's style of coaching his son's little league football team. I mean not only did he buy the kid a starting quarterback spot, he bought the whole league (AND sent...
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August 20, 2005
As If Surrogacy Isn't Difficult Enough...
Imagine the surrogacy nurse, your prime contact at the fertility clinic--who's called "the mother whisperer," she's so good helping her patient/clients through the difficult emotional landscape of having another woman carry their embryos to term--gets arrested for the murder of...
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[read the full post...]
August 19, 2005
Watch Out, Angelina's In An Adopting Mood
Given her months of Lara Croft training, no baby is beyond her reach, so watch out. Angelina Jolie Coming For Your Baby [theonion.com, via dt reader Michael]...
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[read the full post...]
August 18, 2005
Coach Snoop Rocks LA's Little League Football World
A couple of years ago, a dad named Snoop Dogg got involved coaching his sons' little league football team in Los Angeles. The team got new uniforms, a thumpin' bus, and a lot of attention. Now, Snoop has broken from...
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Art: Stephen Hendee For Kids
A few months back, NY Mag did a feature on the apartment of friend-of-many-friends and art world gadabout Yvonne Force, her husband Leo Villareal. They put an awesome crystalline wall sculpture by Stephen Hendee over their kid's crib. [note...
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August 16, 2005
"Is This A Baby Neighborhood?"
"[Rob] Huge. [Jodie] We know so many people nowóthe deli, hi Miles, the laundry, hi Miles. [Miles puts on his Mickey Mouse ears.] All the stores have baby sections now. The Indian restaurant has little baby T-shirts in the window."...
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August 14, 2005
Making The NICU More Baby-Friendly
The NYT Magazine profiles the efforts of Harvard child developmental psychologist Heidelise Als to help premature babies by making the NICU more supportive of kids' brain development, not just their phsyical survival. What that involves: making the NICU more womb-like,...
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[read the full post...]
August 11, 2005
British Study: The Kid Is Not My Son?
According to news reports of a new study of DNA paternity testing in the UK, nearly 4% of men turn out not to be genetically related to the kid they think is theirs. Trouble is, that 4% number is a...
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[read the full post...]
August 8, 2005
Magazine Industry To Dads: Take Your Balls And Go Home
"Baby Mags Experience a Boomlet" [Mediaweek, via DT reader Christy]:...Moms moms moms moms baby magazine boom moms moms moms women women moms spending lifechange moms moms advertising moms moms busy moms financial services moms work moms moms moms baby automotive...
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August 7, 2005
Art: Aleksandra Mir's "The Most Beautiful Thing Today"
Every once in a while, I'll see a piece of art that I want to post, but then I think, "Nah..." Well, Aleksandra Mir's doing a project--just a little bulletin board, really--at White Columns, an alternative space in the West...
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[read the full post...]
August 4, 2005
Taking A New Look At Breasts
First, did you know it's World Breastfeeding Week? Neither did I. Second, an Australian study of mothers who breastfeed their kids past the age of two really like it, and so do the kids. [Um, but isn't that because the...
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[read the full post...]
August 1, 2005
Put Down That Cookie.
ACK! THE BABY OR THE FURS? Don't choose, now keep both! 10 QUICK CLEANING TIPS According to a Conde Nast source who's no doubt already nursing several eating disorders of her own, when the editors showed the debut issue...
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July 30, 2005
Honey, I Scalded The Kids In My 'Drug-Induced Stupor'
Sheesh. Two kids, ages 3 and 1, died after apparently being submerged in a scalding, overflowing bathtub in Yonkers. The mother's charged with negligence and the baby daddy of the youngest one is on the hook for manslaughter. Police say...
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"I was like, 'Yo, look, a baby.' "
A Brooklyn woman on a 4AM cigarette run found an abandoned baby hanging in a gift bag on a fence. She took it to her neighbor's house to feed it, but was all bummed when the ambulance got there too...
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[read the full post...]
July 24, 2005
BoBos In Purgatory, or "What's That Guy In First Class Typing About?"
Based on this feeble "Flying with kids? Ack!" Dave Barry impression, NYT conservative columnist David Brooks should stick to spinning his musings from the checkout line at Whole Foods into all-encompassing social theories: It is an iron rule of plane...
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July 22, 2005
I Stand Corrected. RFID Prevents Babynapping in NC Hospital
It seems like just yesterday when I was questioning the efficacy of RFID-embedded pajamas to prevent what the technology solution providers were calling an "epidemic" of child kidnappings by "convicted sex offenders." Well, color ME embarassed. Turns out just last...
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July 15, 2005
Irony Alive, Well On Upper West Side
The collapse left a storefront-size hole in the block, like the gap of a missing tooth. The scaffolding out front was bent and broken. A massive ventilation unit leaned uneasily atop the pile. Neighbors kept saying how as many as...
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The Real UWS Miracle: The Nanny's Been With The Family For 7 Years
So not only does nanny Brunilda Tirado, shield her charge from falling Upper West Side grocery stores, she's been with the family for three kids and seven years? Wow. Seconds before the crash, Tirado had been scratching lottery tickets at...
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NYC Building Collapses on Mountain Buggy, Baby
When I heard a 7-month-old baby had been pulled from the debris of a building collapse yesterday on upper Broadway, I (and my wife, who went to Columbia for grad school) shuddered. Then, um, I wondered what kind of stroller...
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July 14, 2005
NYT: Umm, Thank Your Grandma
The NY Times reports on the increasing [?] phenomenon of grandparents "getting more involved" in their grandchildren's lives than was the norm in previous generations. And by "getting involved," they mean, "writing big checks" for things like tuitions, camp, houses......
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[read the full post...]
July 7, 2005
Breastfeed Or The Terrorists Will Have Won
Reading this, I would say the answer is 'maybe, but we really don't know. But it sure pisses off the retailers, doesn't it?' Is black-market baby formula financing terror? [csmonitor.com via DT reader Erich]...
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July 5, 2005
Why Men Have Nipples. Seriously.
After an exhaustive assessment of fathers' childrearing involvement in cultures around the world, the British charity Fathers Direct recently made a startling discovery: men's nipples are there, not only for twisting in pool fights, but for sucking by a crying...
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July 1, 2005
Industrial Designers Awards: More Than Rectal Thermometers, Much More
Very interesting. Here are some other kid-related winners from the Business Week-sponsored Industrial Design Excellence Awards: Gerber SippySnacker, "a reinvention of the iconic sippy cup that, for the first time, combines a spill-proof cup and snack holder." Note: also named...
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June 30, 2005
Why We Don't Remember Childhood
A recent study shows that to persist, memories need to be encoded into language. The result: kids aren't able to remember things that predate their ability to put it into language. Cognitive Daily via kottke [update: at 11:43PM one night,...
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June 24, 2005
Whoa. Lancet Throws Down Gauntlet for Dad Involvement, Research
Check out this quote from The Lancet announcement of Ramchandani, et al's recent findings on paternal postnatal depression:Fathers know that interaction with their babies is important. More and more young mothers and fathers want to take care of their infants...
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June 22, 2005
Helllooo, Ladies!
According to this NPR story--which I heard half of this morning, something about how single mothers are to blame [??]--there are fewer boys being born in the US these days. I'm gonna tell you right now, your sons better not...
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June 20, 2005
Kids Wanting To Meet Their Sperm Donating-'Dads'
And not just the Nobel-prize winning ones, either. The Chicago Tribune reports that as the first generations of anonymous sperm-donor babies reach adulthood, they're expressing unexpected interest in identifying--and contacting--their 'genetic dads.' The phenomenon has brought some changes to the...
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P. Daddy Loves His Baby Mammas, Hates Givin'em Money
As he explains in a post-hearing outburst to a NY Daily News gossip columnist, P. Diddy is a very involved baby daddy, and he still loves his baby mammas, even as one of them wins a $250K/yr child support judgment...
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Alpha Mom, Beta Publicist
Isabel Kallman and I probably have about one thought in common. At first blush, I probably would've thought a six-page profile in New York Magazine about me, my media empire, and my vast tracts of parenting expertise was a good...
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June 17, 2005
I guess the lesson here is: use Craigslist
If you're going to run off with your kid instead of dropping her back at her mother's, don't try and raise money on the road by selling stuff on ebay. Cuz they'll getcha. Internet auction site helps track down suspected...
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June 16, 2005
Boston Globe: "Dads are no longer the 'assistant parent'"
According to this Boston Globe headline, new generation of dads is apparently staying at the office longer, and handing the parenting chores over to Mom, where they belong. No more of this, "let me take over," and "here, let...
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Whose Nanny?
It's the happy shiny flipside of passive-aggressively treating your nanny like a housekeeper: "affluent parents facing growing demands on their time" are expanding the nanny's portfolio to include managing their own travel and events planning, remodeling, even putting the slides...
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June 8, 2005
"The best way to increase awareness of embryo adoption is controversy"
One supersized controversy with a side of controversy and a tall glass of controversy coming right up! Forget tomayto tomahto, and pick sides in the embryo adoption/embryo donation nomenclature battle. Why does it matter? Ask Barbara Walters if anyone knew...
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[read the full post...]
June 7, 2005
Rosie O'Donnell Not A Breast Man
News from the People's Popular Breast Liberation Front Of Judea: According to someone who attended yesterday's nurse-in at ABC's Columbus Avenue studio complex, The View continues trying to grow its audience 150 angry breastfeeders at a time by unleashing more...
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ABC: No One Wants To See Breasts (Except on Desperate Housewives, Sundays at 9PM Eastern, on ABC)
When Barbara Walters kvetched to her posse on The View about having to see a woman breastfeeding on the plane, some other Viewster was like, "Ew, I'm so embarassed when I have to nurse," and the rest go, "Yay, she...
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June 5, 2005
Citibabes: Making a Difference, Changing Lives
There are so many incredible, worthy institutions whose tireless efforts helping children and moms in need happen far from the spotlight of the fickle media. Take, for example, the United Nations, that ramshackle little non-profit with the ambitious name on...
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June 3, 2005
Note To Preschool PR Directors: You Don't Want To Expel The Angry Writer's Kid
The day that Yale report on off-the-charts preschool expulsions came out, author/dad Neal Pollack and his wife got the call from their kid's school that they needed a meeting. The 2-year-old just got the boot from the school, and now...
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May 27, 2005
Moving To The Suburbs: Apparently, It's "Those Damn Kids!" Week At Daddy Types
The NYT has a long article about families making the big decision to move out of the city--on accounta the kids, and includes a lot of seemingly helpful practical tips: don't move on a whim; find the town--or the street--first,...
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May 25, 2005
Preschool Expulsions: Maybe It's Not Those Damn Kids
Smart people are starting to unpack that Yale study showing that pre-schools expel kids at a rate 3x higher than higher grades. The result: maybe preschool itself is the problem. Of course, the theories put forward in this NYT article...
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May 24, 2005
Those Damn Kids Ruining Berlin Holocaust Memorial
Berlin just opened its Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a gridded field of dark grey stone pillars of varying heights designed by the American architect Peter Eisenman. The abstracted, maze-like memorial is supposed to evoke feelings of disorientation...
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May 23, 2005
WSJ: Kids Flying In First Class
The Weekend Journal has a story on the increasing number of children flying in first class, and the opportunities and conflicts this causes for airlines and their most loyal, most profitable customers: business travelers and elite frequent flyers. Of course,...
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May 18, 2005
Daddy Showers: What Happens In Memphis Stays In Memphis
Not anymore. I just received this request for help from a parenting magazine writer. If you or your buddy fits the bill, I'm sure she'd appreciate hearing from you. Email mediahelp@daddytypes.com, and it'll automatically forward to her:I am doing a...
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May 17, 2005
FLASH! National Preschool Hoodlum Epidemic
According to a just-released study by the Yale University Child Study Center, preschool-age kids are being expelled at an alarmingly high rate, up to 3x as frequently as K12-age kids. The causes or reasons aren't clear, or rather, they're not...
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May 3, 2005
That's why they call it "reproduction"
From the frontlines of East Village parenthood, Katherine Stewart confesses to being shocked, shocked that her kid isn't unique: turns out every other Sophia, Ava, and Maya in town does baby yoga, too. The moral: don't name her Sophia because...
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That's One Ugly Child In The NYT
You already read about how parents pay less attention to their ugly kids, so the NY Times article won't be totally new (although it does have some previously unreported details of the study). I just thought the ugly kid in...
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May 2, 2005
Classic: NY Baby Afraid Of Grass
Jen from Gothamist gives a heads up on one Manhattan dad's attempt to acquaint his son with the wonders of nature, as reported in The NY Times Metropolitan Diary:On a recent weekend, I took Lukas, my 11-month-old son, to the...
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April 29, 2005
Red State Parenting: Umm, Conflicted?
These two stories ran side by side in the print version of my hometown paper, the Raleigh News & Observer this morning [reg. req.]: According to the expert opinion--purely academic, you understand--of the 54-year old professor who examined the evidence...
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April 21, 2005
A Playmate For Little Aryan
Awww, now isn't that cute? No, in fact, it's not. A couple in BF Australia says they didn't know what the Nazi flag meant when they hoisted it in their yard, but their 4-month-old daughter Breanna "enjoyed watching the brightly...
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April 16, 2005
You're not ugly, Honey. You just have a bad haircut and dirty clothes.
You probably already know by now that parents pay less attention to their uglier children. That's the latest finding of grocery cart safety expert [sic] Dr Andrew Harrell, Director of the University of Alberta's Long, Dark Winters With Nothing Else...
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April 13, 2005
Congratulations, You Can Breastfeed!
Well, not you. Babytalk won a National Magazine Award for service journalism for their lengthy August 2004 article, "You Can Breastfeed!" by Kristin OíCallaghan. With a title like that, you wouldn't expect too much advice directed to dads, and you...
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April 8, 2005
USA Today, Canada Tomorrow
Times have changed our kids are getting worse they won't obey their parents they just want to fart & curse Should we blame the government? Or blame society? Or should we blame the images on TV? So much media, so...
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Thug Mugs Bug Baby
What the--? An Upper West Side mom and her 3-month-old son Jackson were mugged in broad daylight, at gunpoint, in the center of Central Park? (10AM, near the Bandshell) The guy waves a gun in the kid's face and takes...
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April 7, 2005
Grandpa, Don't Preach
In a continuation of French Day here at Daddy Types, Grandpa John Ritchie says, "Rocco is certainly picking up a lot of French. He speaks it all the time at home because Lourdes is fluent. They talk to each other...
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April 4, 2005
YF UK Magazine Far Less Interesting Than Its Acronym
Your Family is a new magazine for new parents published by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Richard Morrison's analysis of it in the Times of London has an all-too familiar ring to it:So there is...
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Target Gets Approval of Seal
YOW, Baby Chic 101 really works over Heidi Klum and her baby step-daddy/baby daddy-to-be Seal...for shopping at Target: "Heidi is shown holding Target baby clothing (I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth), and various...
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April 3, 2005
A Cinderella Story
I can't tell you if they have changing tables in the men's room at the ESPN Zone in Disneyland's Downtown Disney, but they do have babies in the ladies' room. At least one. From the LAT: "This seemed to be...
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April 2, 2005
Camping Out For Preschool Slots
Is it just me, or does an elaborate system of prep courses and consultants, a stress-inducing interview and screening process, and five figure tuition for pre-school sound kinda nice right now? Parents wait all night in freezing weather to enroll...
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March 31, 2005
Parent Companies, The NYT Is Onto You
The New York Times reports on how the baby market's best design and innovation is coming from parent companies. There are a few brands--Oeuf and Argington, for example--that have been on DT already. One surprise (to me, anyway): Baby Gear...
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March 30, 2005
Baby Mammoth, Anyone?
There's a Japanese magazine for kids that supposedly rocks--hard--called Mammoth. It was started by Lucas Badtke-Berkow, the founder of Tokion. While it definitely targets (hip Japanese) moms, it sounds more substantial than just a Wallpaper*-y design mag. I mention it...
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March 24, 2005
Born To Shop? How About Give Birth To Shop
Does this story sound familiar? "There's so much product out there that they want to get the right things for their child, and they want all of it. "Increasingly, new parents have the money, the confidence and the inclination to...
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March 23, 2005
Je VouDRAIS ParLER Au SALLE de bain
Hate to tell you, but according to Carnegie Mellon researcher Erik Thiessen, the exhausting sing-songy voice you use with kids--after consulting their Lame-Name-o-Tron, scientists called it Parentese-- helps them learn language more quickly. Specifically, it helps them identify word boundaries...
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March 22, 2005
CPSC: Any Problems With That Swing? Graco: I Don't Recall.
Man, I was a naive chump. As we were outfitting the kid's nursery, there were a couple of criteria we didn't even consider: would the furniture we bought kill our baby? Would it maim her or break her limbs? Hal...
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"Him? Oh, That's Just My Grad Student"
Everyone in LA needs an entourage. If you don't have a film crew following you around, hire some bodyguards and constantly pick up the tab for some sycophantic friends. If that doesn't work, there's always starving anthropology students. Researchers at...
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March 21, 2005
Competitive Birthday Party-Throwing
It's as bad as you feared, even worse. However much you thought of spending for your kid's birthday party, whatever elaborate entertainment you thought of hiring, it's not enough to outdo some other parent of your kid's friends. There'll always...
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March 18, 2005
No Baby Parking At The Wrong Gallery
I always used to tell our artist friends, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, that they'd make great dads; but now I have to wonder a bit. The Berlin-based duo was recently in NYC to create a very elaborate installation...
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Plot To Kidnap Letterman's Kid, Nanny, Foiled
Kelly A. Frank, a 43-year old painter in Montana was arrested for plotting to kidnap David Letterman's son and the kid's nanny. Apparently, Frank kept a key to Letterman's ranch after doing some work for him, and he planned to...
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March 16, 2005
Brits Bonkers for Babybots
What is it about the United Kingdom and robot babies? A group of Welsh politicians took robot babies into town in order to get some first-hand experience on the challenges of traveling and shopping with a kid. Fortunately, some reporters...
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British Crack Babybots
Teens in the UK are being sent home for two nights with robot dolls programmed to simulate drug addiction and fetal alcohol syndrome in order to teach them TO STAY OFF DRUGS--at least while they're pregnant. The robots are preemie-sized,...
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March 10, 2005
Yeah, I'd be pretty critical, too
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution: Girl, 3, shot by playmate is critical Apparently, the girl, Antysia McClinton, was shot in the face by her 4-year old friend. They found a small-caliber gun lying around the house. Since my preferred solution--you...
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March 8, 2005
Best of New York's Best of New York
A couple of highlights from the newest Best of New York listings: Best Kid's Clothing: Sons & Daughters, Inc., 35 Avenue A. Cool stuff you won't automatically see on every other kid at the day spa [I don't know what...
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March 2, 2005
Mind The Bollocks
At least around the kids. Glen Matlock, the fifth Sex Pistol (he wrote the big songs, but was replaced by Sid Vicious) and now a father of two, is (*^&*in' pissed-- er, rather upset--about all these people swearing in the...
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February 23, 2005
Now Let's Talk About A Jack Spade Stroller
Congratulations to Andy and Kate Spade, who, after years of pushing baby gear on others, can now push it for themselves. Frances Beatrix Spade was born on Feb. 18. While they're obviously busy for the next couple of months, I...
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February 19, 2005
Hollywood Parent Parody [?] in Italian Vogue
When I saw a Bugaboo on the cover of Italian Vogue at the newsstand a couple of weeks ago, I had to check it out. It took me a few pages to realize there was a reason I couldn't readily...
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February 16, 2005
Sodium Polyacrylate: It's Not Just For Diapers Anymore
Sodium polyacrylate is the the superabsorbent polymer (SAP) in disposable diapers, but it has a host of other uses as well (in addition to drying out the leak in my old Mercedes' footwell): Fuel-Dri Tank Dewatering System, available from Hammonds:...
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[read the full post...]
February 11, 2005
You Gotta Fight. For Your Right. To...Stay Up All Night Rocking A Baby To Sleep
This one comes via Rebeldad, who has highlighted some potential bureaucratic whittling away at the Family Medical Leave Act, the only federal law which provides dads with job protection if they take time off--unpaid time off, even [cue Euro and...
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February 8, 2005
Could You Call It A Field Trip?
The Board of Education's proposal to start the 2005-6 school year on August 29th is seriously harshing the buzz of San Francisco parents who were planning to take their kids to Burning Man. School year's early start burns parents [sfgate,...
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February 7, 2005
Trend Convergence: Gen X Dads Reporter on Rebel Dad Radio
You young punks don't know how easy you have it. Back in my day, we had to go to a newspaper website and read an article to find out about Gen X dads. All this fiddle faddle about podcasting--why, in...
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This Still Doesn't Explain Paris Hilton. Or DOES It?
Or Bennington College. According to recent research in the UK, the wealthier the parents, the smarter the children. OK, that might be a tad inaccurate or simplistic. The study found that:A five-year-old whose parents earn more than Ł67,500* has reading...
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February 2, 2005
War Daddy
War daddyhood is in the eye of the beholder, so definitions vary wildly. Recruiting experts, fans, and coaches all agree that they don't come along too often. When a war daddy does arrive, he must combine elite ability with extraordinary...
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February 1, 2005
TSG's Bad Dad of The Week
Florida dad Douglas Dycus has been arrested and charged with felonious abuse for using a stun gun to break up a wrestling match between his two sons. The fight, you see, was delaying the whole family. The 14-year-old victim's name...
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Baby on Board: Sophia, SSN 048-88-9320
From the TMI Department by way of boingboing comes Stick Family Robinson, a customized collection of stick figure stickers for your car that allows you to telegraph the makeup and personal information for your entire family to the entire world....
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January 31, 2005
Dooce Is The Miramax Of The Bloggies
How else to explain her multiple Bloggie nominations AND the perfectly timed marketing campaign--a NYT Style secion coverstory on parent blogs starring Heather and Leta? [Right now I'm making a rocking hand-to-ear phone pantomime and mouthing the words, "let's do...
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January 30, 2005
Discrimination's Discrimination, Except They Call It LE Discrimination
Just in case you were tempted to move there by recent posts that made Canada look like the parents' paradise, where everyone just shuttled back and forth between hockey games, lavishly subsidized child care, and endless free surgeries, be sure...
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January 29, 2005
All, For The Ladies
Doing something I almost never do--read a parenting magazine, Child in this case--and I barely get past the table of contents before I regretted it. There's a cutey cute cartoon advertisement for All laundry detergent where a guy is pulling...
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January 25, 2005
Fertility Tourism
According to this front page report in the NY Times, the high cost of infertility treatments in the US--especially egg donor programs and in vitro fertilization--are driving increasing numbers of Americans to find foreign clinics. One South African doctor pitches...
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[read the full post...]
January 17, 2005
Boston Globe on Gen X Dads
These guys dub themselves "Dads in the Dark," though they see their group as far from unenlightened. They grab paternity leaves and reject overtime even when they could use the money. They are as adept at sculpting Play-Doh as they...
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Remember 'Desperate Househusbands'?
A while back the NYT ran a story so transparent in its origins and so goofy-biased in its portrayal of suburban at-home dads, it was laughable. At least to us cityfolk. Dads in the suburbs, meanwhile, were pretty damn pissed....
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Pataki Proposes Baby Daddy Tax Credit for NY
Since the site has been getting a lot of visitors from their message boards, I was poking around S2S, Sister 2 Sister Magazine over the weekend. A lot of the discussion is about how a baby mama can get her...
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January 16, 2005
Art Auction For A Kid With Leukemia
Some friends have organized this at a friend's gallery, and quite a few wonderful artist friends have donated work. On Mon. Jan 31 from 6-10pm, at Passerby, there will be a silent auction to raise money for treatment of Amina...
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January 12, 2005
Dad Ads: They're Really For The Ladies
Ads with bumbling dads in them have gotten under the toupees of more than a few at-home dads out there, but according to Fox News, gee, you're being kinda sensitive about it, dude, and besides, those ads aren't meant for...
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January 10, 2005
A Boy Named Tsunami
In India, Lakshmi Roy put his family, including his 8-months pregnant wife, on his bike and pedaled them to higher ground to escape the tsunami. His wife then went into labor and delivered the baby three weeks early. Some wiseacre...
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[read the full post...]
January 7, 2005
Time Out New York Kids
I stopped reading Time Out New York a while back when I realized it was just reminding me of all the things I was missing because I was 1) out of town, 2) too busy, or 3) doing something else...
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[read the full post...]
January 4, 2005
Cookie: The Magazine For Conspicuous Parenting
While I was out yesterday, Fairchild, the publisher of W Magazine, was reported to be preparing the launch of Cookie, a combination of Child and Lucky magazines "aimed at parents who plan to spend a fair amount of money styling...
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[read the full post...]
December 30, 2004
NYT: Champion Of The Hip Parents Rights Movement
Two articles on the same topic in a week? Is this an editing disconnect? Or a brave stand for the rights of oppressed parents yearning to be to free hip again? In the New York Times, David Handelman has a...
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[read the full post...]
December 26, 2004
Hip Family Hotels, or Paris on $1,500/Night
So you're a hipster worried that your jetsetting, boutique hotel-hopping days are over? Afraid that all your vacations are belong to Mouse? Well relaaax. According to Jennifer Conlin's report in the New York Times, there's a new crop of hip...
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FDA: Vioxx is fine, but mall ultrasounds? Watch out
While apparently asleep at the wheel while big drug companies' billion-dollar pain-killers turn out to cause heart attacks or whatever, the FDA has not been shy to go after "facilities with captivating names such as Fetal Fotos, Peek-a-Boo, Womb with...
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[read the full post...]
December 22, 2004
Desperate Househusbands
In the unspoken rules of suburbia, mothers broker the play dates with an exacting calculus, weeks and even months in advance. For some moms, socializing with each other while their offspring crawl around is as essential as whether or not...
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[read the full post...]
December 21, 2004
Bingo. Hey, Where's Our Pithy Moniker??
The women get Domestic Divas, Mini-me Moms, etc. etc. and what do men get? Called fat, uptight, and homophobic. I thought you were trying to sell us something, Euro RSCG..."What our study has revealed is that there isn't just a...
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Do You Know A Yummy Mummy?
Somehow, I doubt you do. Typically, when someone's trying to persuade you of something, they mention their qualifications or past accomplishments. Hold that thought:"Last summer we introduced America to the 'metrosexual,'" says Marian Salzman, EVP and Chief Strategy Officer of...
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December 17, 2004
Why Not Show Your Support?
Buy this bracelet for $5, and show your support for the Lance Armstrong Get The Ex-Wife Who Nursed You Through Cancer To Take The Three Young Children While You Run Around With Sheryl Crow Foundation. Seriously, people....
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[read the full post...]
December 16, 2004
This is why you don't have a 13th floor in your building
The nanny had just taken the 10-month old boy out of the car. Woman jumps off 13th floor, killing baby [Jerusalem Post]...
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Dude Looks Like A Grandson
Sorry, saw that easily half of the Google News posts were about Steve Tyler becoming a grandfather, not Liv Tyler and her husband having their baby, who they named Milo. Details at Celebrity Babies...
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NYMag Tries, Fails, To Conceive
Amy Sohn tries shooting fish in a barrel--how smug marrieds annoy their child-free friends--but all she hits is her reflection; her whole story's based on her self-absorbed extrapolation of a passing comment, "we've lapped you," made by a new mom/friend...
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December 15, 2004
Who's Your Daddy? Guess Right And Win $100K
What moral capacity is required to keep Fox News's true believers' heads from exploding when their favorite company puts out a show like Who's Your Daddy? I really want to know. On Jan. 3rd, Fox will air a reality TV...
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[read the full post...]
December 12, 2004
Bellini Crib Rated #1 [Among Politicians On The Take]
Outfitting a nursery's expensive, especially if you're gonna do it right Some people like to get friends and family to chip in a little somethin', which is great, unless those people are civil servants and their friends get their money...
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[read the full post...]
December 7, 2004
Japanese Dads Forced To Take Paid Leave
What's more Japanese than the government requiring all male city employees to take 40 days paid leave before their child's first birthday? How about that until now, no man has ever taken a day's paternity leave in the history of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 5, 2004
It's Twins! But Not When You Think
So in 1999 some woman in Montreal was dating an identical twin, who's understands himself to be the father of her child--and who's been acting as such, for five years, by paying child support and visiting the kid every other...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 3, 2004
"New" Slang from "the playgrounds and college campuses" [sic]
William Safire explains the words "kids" are sporting these days, including many terms that are so over, even I've stopped using them. "Camo is fashion slang, short for "camouflage," used to describe outdoorsy wear that blends in with jungle greenery."...
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Fathers 4 Justice, Now On The Fen
Fathers 4 Justice, the costume-wearing, irrational publicity-stunt-pulling UK advocacy "group" comprised largely of one bloke who, surprise surprise, has been denied custody of his kid, has set up shop in Scotland. On the roof of the Scottish Parliament. In Santa...
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[read the full post...]
December 2, 2004
Wanted: LI Baby Blogs
Or do you call them blawgs out there? Heh, just kidding. I've had a request from some media types (not reality TV this time, relax) seeking parents on Long Island who keep baby blogs. If you're interested in being interviewed,...
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[read the full post...]
AF Dad Phones It In From Qatar
Air Force mechanic John Markin rounded up 700 min. worth of phone cards so that he could call into the entire labor & delivery of his second child back in Indiana last week. [A momentary hats off to his wife,...
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[read the full post...]
November 30, 2004
Hormone Swings: They're Not Just For Women Anymore
One interesting vein of research was presented at the At-Home Dads Convention a couple of weeks ago in Chi-town. Rebel Dad mentioned it, and now, Peter Baylies, the at-est-home dad of them all, expands on it. Turns out that pregnancy,...
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November 25, 2004
Um, Happy Thanksgiving?? Don't Read This
No, seriously, don't read this.Reacting to the news at City Hall, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said, "I don't know how anybody could do things like that, but that's the world we live in."At least save it for tomorrow....
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November 23, 2004
The Headline Sounded Worse Than The Story
His wife's in on it, and anyway, the kid's only 3-months old. Before I read the story, I had these horrible visions of a musical remake of The Lover flash in front of me. Johnny Hallyday to Adopt Vietnamese Girl...
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November 22, 2004
How Many Bad Ideas Can You Fit In One Post?
So some Scottish Queer Eye interior decorator couple is going to "adopt" a baby for their new reality TV series. But they're only going to take care of it for five days of filming, then they'll hand it back. To...
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Operation Baby Freedom
Fort Campbell, KY, home of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, is in the middle of a baby boom. The 101st started coming back from Iraq in January, and for some reason, the number of babies born since September has jumped...
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[read the full post...]
November 14, 2004
Malcolm Gladwell Sniffs Around Diapers
Funny how, in 2001, when this article came out, I just didn't care that much about the fascinating history of innovation in disposable diaper technology. Now I'll be a hit at parties when I explain how, thanks to Harmon &...
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[read the full post...]
November 13, 2004
All the items in Caitlin Flanagan's New Yorker story
For your shoppertainment, and for the poetry of it, here are all the furniture, gear, and "Must-Have!" what-nots mentioned by brand name in Caitlin Flanagan's New Yorker article, "Bringing Up Baby." Items previously on Daddy Types are marked with a...
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[read the full post...]
November 8, 2004
At-Home Dads Convention,, Nov. 20
The 9th Annual At-Home Dads Convention is coming up, as if I need to tell you. Unlike most other occupation-related conferences, it's on a Saturday, Nov. 20th, to be precise, at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, Illinois. The AHDC...
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October 20, 2004
Q: Who's Your Daddy?
Q (cont'd) Because even though he's whipping our daddy's butt 8-1 in the 7th inning, we're still gonna act like we're winning by taunting you and stuff. - Yankee Stadium crowd...
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October 19, 2004
Raised Type
Forget baseball players or hiphop stars; if you really want your kids to hook you up when you're old, raise them to be typeface designers. At least that's the message I'm getting from the remarkably similar childhoods of Jonathan Hoefler...
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October 16, 2004
Thumbs Up to New Dad Spc. Charles Graner Jr.
It can be hard sometimes for a man when the mother of his child is more famous than he is. In the case of Sp. Charles Graner, it's not just hard, but hard time. His ex-girlfriend, Lynndie England (Abu Ghraib,...
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YOW. 1-Year Old Drowns In Bucket Of Water
While a father in Michigan was "distracted for three to five minutes" talking to someone--or "playing football," I'm not quite clear--his one-year-and-a-day-old daughter got out of the house, onto the porch, and into a 5-gallon bucket of water that'd been...
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Bratproofing your kids with artificial non-affluence
The Wall Street Journal thinks it's news that a Sacramento couple with an 8,000sf, 6br house makes their two sons, Neo and Eon, ages 3 and 2, respectively, share a single bedroom. Otherwise, they become "little czars," says their mother,...
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October 13, 2004
Wanna put your reality in reality TV?
The producers of ABC's new reality series, Wife Swap, are looking for families with at-home dads to work their television magic on. Listen to their pitch:ARE YOU AN AT-HOME DAD? IS YOUR FAMILY READY FOR...PRIMETIME TELEVISION? Wife Swap is an...
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October 12, 2004
Thank the children of linguists, but pity them, too
SUNY Buffalo professor Dr. Jeri Jaeger researches how children develop language skills by studying how they slip up. Turning "one, two, three," into "one, twee," for example. In this previously unstudied field, it was necessary to be very familiar with...
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October 9, 2004
George W. Bush made my baby cry, too
We left the kid at Grandma's house last night so we could attend the opening of a friend's art exhibit. When we called Grandma at 9:45, well after the kid's supposed bedtime (obviously, Grandma lets her get away with anything.),...
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October 6, 2004
Beyond Pollock-Spotting: Kids in the City
"Look, I made a Pollock," "That new 'don't walk' sign looks like the ones in Europe." City kids say the darnedest things. In this week's Observer, Mary Elizabeth Williams writes a funny, thought-provoking essay on how challenging it can be...
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October 5, 2004
So You Want Your Kid To Be An Artist
Marla Olmstead is a 4-year old from Binghamton, NY whose paintings are selling [or, at least, they're for sale] for $6,000 in a gallery in town. Her painting career began a couple of years ago, when her father gave her...
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[read the full post...]
September 29, 2004
Daddy, I Can't Get The Toilet Off My Head
That was the gist of the conversation between 18 month-old Katie Chang and her dad, who came home from work when the sitter couldn't get Katie's training toilet off her head. Daddy wisely called 911, and firefighters used wirecutters to...
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September 28, 2004
Dr. Phil is Crazy. Run Far Away.
And take your kid with you. On Slate, Ann Hulbert exposes the ridiculous, contradictory, and divisive "advice" Dr. Phil deals out in his book and on his TV show. Meanwhile, Hulbert turns out to be the author of the interesting-sounding...
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September 26, 2004
Mom's a Bitch: Siberian Boy Raised by Dog
This sounds like fake news. A 7-year old kid in Siberia was abandoned at three months by his mother, then later by his "drunken invalid" father. He was raised by the family's old dog, until the bitch [sic] got in...
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Brain, Child looks at Dad, Child
I found out about Brain, Child magazine in a comment on Rebel Dad. It looks very thoughtful and well-done, and hats off to anyone who actually launches a magazine successfully these days. The latest issue has a long article on...
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September 24, 2004
New Dad in Conn. Berserks on Mother & Son
When I started writing this post, the guy was the prime suspect. Now he's arrested and confessed to killing both his girlfriend and their 4-month old son. In his stroller. The couple met in the Danbury Fair Mall last year,...
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[read the full post...]
September 23, 2004
Sydney's Playground, aka Tribeca House for Kids
Did you go to Brown? Were you at the City Museum party last night? Is your kid very advanced for his age? If so, be sure to mention it when you go to Sydney's Playground, the 6,000-sf playground-in-a-loft in Tribeca,...
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September 22, 2004
Holy crap, What's wrong with this picture??
Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan:"Seaman Robert Howard sat on his tiny baby to shut him up, playing PokČmon on his Game Boy as the infant suffocated and died beneath him, Howard testified on Monday... "...28-day old son Logan... "'Please tell me...
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SoHo House for Kids (BYOE)
I'm putting this in 'news' because DaddyTypes doesn't have a category for 10-20,000 square foot members-only spa/gym/club/playlands in SoHo for babies and their parents mothers. Citibabes in in the works for a 10,000-sf loft in SoHo; there'll be a gym,...
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[read the full post...]
September 20, 2004
The Hurricane-Baby Theory?
Everyone knows the Blackout Baby Theory, and I remember hearing about a very localized Snowstorm Baby Theory when Microsoft's overworked programmers got stuck at home for a few days. But the Hurricane-Baby Theory is on the other end of the...
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September 14, 2004
Child-Safe Zones: A network solution to losing children
England, a small island country, blanketed with security cameras, saturated with mobile phones. Yet somehow, British parents still lose their kids in public places all the time. Child Safe Zones is a centralized, nationwide network of venues (over 7,000 so...
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Thinking of Cutting your Dad-ability Short?
And if, during my darker moments I feel at a loss for perspective, I can always recall the sentiments of my wife, uttered once she felt it was time for me to pull myself together, start changing nappies again and...
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While UK figures out if courts are unfair to fathers,
The BBC has a decent roundup of the state of the British government's and family court's alleged bias against fathers; the issues are predictable, but at least they're spelled out: visitation rights, automatic custody decisions, child support payments. While...
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September 12, 2004
If you think the special needs kid story's a slog
just remember: it's nothing compared to actually being a conscientious parent to a special needs kid. That's the takeaway from Lisa Belkin's loooong NY Times Magazine piece today about Thomas Ellenson's first year of kindergarten. While Tom has cerebral palsy,...
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[read the full post...]
September 7, 2004
Parenting The Hamptons Way
The NY Post hands out some funny awards for Hamptons Summer Inanity. At least one goes to a parent:THE NOTHING GETS BETWEEN ME AND A PARTY AWARD: The unknown person who left a baby in an SUV to attend a...
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When Vegan Parents Go Crazy
How about when Crazy Parents go Vegan? Parents lose it everyday, but for some reason, some of the craziest like to take Veganism down with them. The NY Daily News reports that Coney Island dad Raphael Spindell has spirited his...
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August 31, 2004
Swiss Family 'bandons Son
Oh boy, this is the week New York really sticks it to Old Europe, and I mean but GOOD. No, I'm not talking about the Republican Convention, even though this story DOES involve a dubious arrest. And, in Gothamist's comment...
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August 23, 2004
The new DWB: Daddying While Black
The NY Times Magazine ran a long book excerpt about Ken, a 32-year old black father in Milwaukee who's making a concerted effort to break the multi-generation absent-father cycle that seems to be at the center--if not the root--of the...
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August 21, 2004
Blurbomat wants what 72% of men want
Jon at Blurbomat wants a new job. He and his commenters put cogent voice to the 72% of men who told SpikeTV they want jobs that give them more time with their families. Rebel Dad's got more findings of the...
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August 16, 2004
Ah, the baby food jar bong
At waxy.org, Andy links to the story of an Indianapolis mom arrested for letting her 5-year old son smoke crack--from her baby food jar bong. In addition to being "horrendous," giving crack to babies is so nineties, it should be...
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[read the full post...]
August 15, 2004
Cruising for, with, kids
So you just bought a brownstone, and you and your partner are starting to think about filling it with kids. How do you go about researching this major life decision? Take a cruise! That's what Peter Marchese did last month,...
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[read the full post...]
July 29, 2004
Just heard this: Flight attendant spiked kid's juice with Xanax
I was talking with some friends last night about the kid's big flight this weekend (14 hours to Osaka), and one child-free guy asked, "isn't there something you can give them, you know, to take the edge off?" "Haha, where's...
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July 28, 2004
Military Dads, Coming and Going
It's been a little over a week since my wife left on a business trip, and we're going bonkers. Just imagine not seeing your kids, your entire family, maybe even your unborn kid, for up to 18 months. That's the...
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July 27, 2004
"Pimp Your Stroller"? Gladly, Brother Tavis
A serious and belated--what's the vernacular?--shout-out to my Brother Omar and my Brother Tavis, who did an interesting segment on baby tech and gadgets that included a nice plug for Daddy Types. I am truly living large. The discussion was...
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July 26, 2004
So you think your boys can swim?
adrants and TMFTML] Reality TV giant Endemol (who produces Big Brother, maybe you've heard of it?) has apparently conceived [*cough*] its latest program idea in the pregnancy aisle at Barnes & Noble. London's Telegraph reports that the show--provisionally titled 'Make...
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July 24, 2004
AU: A call for dads-only childbirth classes?
A recent survey funded by the Australian government found that men were put off, confused, and intimidated by most parenting and childbirth information because it was targeted so clearly at women. One suggestion that came out of the questioning: men-only...
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July 20, 2004
Magazine wants to trade discussion for beer, burgers
FLASH: A writer for Redbook magazine is "looking for a married dad under 30 in nyc for a 'lively' roundtable discussion tomorrow (Wed.) night with 5 other married dads over free burgers and beer - first names only." If you...
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July 13, 2004
Emergency Fathering Advice from National Lampoon
A 1979 article in National Lampoon gives post-women's lib dads some handy advice. Topics range from the basics of childcare and feeding, to giving the kid some of that "old-fashioned discipline" without facing a child abuse rap. Here's the...
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Papi Cholo: Gang Dad photos by Robert Yager
Robert Yager's photographs have appeared on the covers of Newsweek and the NYTimes Magazine, among other publications. There are a couple of violent scenes, but most of Yager's photos of Latino gang members in LA capture the quieter moments...
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July 12, 2004
Paid Family Leave Opens Door to Communism in CA
The US Chamber of Commerce warned of a Communist conspiracy--partially paid family leave--which just took effect in California and which they say threatens The American Way of Life. And if you define The American Way of Life, as Can't Afford...
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July 10, 2004
UK Dads Fight For Shared Custody--Without Flourbombs
It may be obvious to UK readers, but I can't quite tell the what the status quo is. From this Guardian article, it sounds like divorced parents--'weekend dads,' as the headline says--get visitation for two weekends a month, period, as...
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July 6, 2004
NYMag: Men Can't Handle Post-Delivery Room Sex
It's as if that NYTimes article about men getting squeamish in the delivery room had been rewritten by Carrie Bradshaw. In this week's New York Magazine, sex writer Amy Sohn puts out the multi-pronged theory that 1) After having a...
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Coming Soon? PosthumousDaddyTypes.com
Nope, here already. NPR had a fascinating story yesterday about a woman's three-year court battle with the Social Security Administration to get her husband's benefits for the couple's twin children. The catch is, the children were conceived in vitro after...
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July 5, 2004
UK's changing babyscape
Think tank says "Free childcare for everyone," since that's just what civilzed countries do. *cough cough* Meanwhile, House of Lords vote throws monkey wrench into debate over civilized levels of kid-slapping: anything more than a "light smacking," and it's off...
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July 4, 2004
But I Meant 'Slacker' in a GOOD Way
New York Times Magazine: new marketing study...blah blah blah...51% of kids have Gen-X parents...blah blah...dads much more involved....blah blah blah...didn't we used to call them slackers?....blah blah blah..what really interests me is what people think of baby boomers....blah blah blah...I...
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June 30, 2004
Stroller Companies: 'You Are Celebrity Pram-Chasing Lemmings'
I can't top this, so I'll just link and quote a lot:Lists of the nation's top celebrities are being scoured by PR consultants for names of glamorous stars. They must be young, beautiful and - most importantly - have a...
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June 22, 2004
Token Father's Day Stories Roundup
By which I mean, Roundup of Token Father's Day Stories. Rebeldad ("as heard on NPR") has put his army of interns to work assembling and reviewing news stories from around the country about at-home dads, changing roles of fathers, and...
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Ikea, therefore I am.
Happiness is not reaching your goal. Happiness is being on the way. It is our wonderful fate to be just at the beginning ... The word impossible has been and must remain deleted from our dictionary. -- From The Testament...
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June 18, 2004
Chinese Diaper Maker Tries to Trademark 'Bush'
According to the BBC, a Chinese manufacturer applied for a trademark on the brand name, "George Bush." He plans to use it for a line of diapers in his province, Henan. In the local dialect, "Bushi" is a homonym for...
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NPR Story on Involved Dads
What is going on this week that dads are in the news so much? Sheesh. NPR had a story this morning about dads getting more involved with raising their kids. They interviewed Bonnie Erbe, the host of PBS's womens' program,...
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June 17, 2004
Dad-Baby Olympics: 6/19 at TWC Border's
Border's Books at the Time Warner Mall on Columbus Circle is hosting a Dad-Baby Olympics and a book release party for Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads by Gary Greenberg and Jeannie Hayden this Saturday (6/19) at noon....
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June 12, 2004
California: Jurisdiction of Choice for Surrogacy
As California goes, so goes the rest of the country. Right now, the California court system's advanced case law makes the state the "epicenter of the 'surrogacy industry,'" according to the NY Times. The issues being grappled with in family...
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June 11, 2004
Dads: not only NOT perfect, sometimes downright stupid
[via a Gawker reader in Texas] "Hilton Furniture owner Jack Hilton, quite a celebrity with his energetic cheap local-only Houston commercials, introduced his baby daughter on a commercial today. He named his daughter Paris. Paris Hilton." Related Tip: Use Google...
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June 9, 2004
Seal drives a Bugaboo!!!
"What are people excited about wearing this summer?" "'Baby barf!' said the singer Seal, who has been playing proud step-papa to luscious model Heidi Klumís 5-week-old baby, Leni. -The New York Observer's report from the Council of Fashion Designers...
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June 2, 2004
PlayDine: In-Restaurant Baby-sitting
Last Tuesday, in the early evening, the playroom at Big City Bar & Grill held 10 children who were supervised by two baby sitters. One mother, Chris P. [no sense taking over her Google results], hung over the railing and...
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[read the full post...]
May 27, 2004
Don't look at me; we live on the Upper East Side
You know how religious conservatives have been warning about the threat posed to families by the proliferation of the "homosexual lifestyle"? Well, now the feathered mule is on the other foot. According to this NY Times article, Chelsea, the nexis...
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May 24, 2004
Crazy Blog 4 Fathers 4 Justice
Thanks to Jay, aka The Zero Boss, for pointing out Fathers 4 Justice's weblog, Men's Hour. Did you know "bitter" also means "thank you" in German?...
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May 23, 2004
Tree Huggies
There's a heated environmental debate brewing at the store, and it's worse than paper vs. plastic. It's over the environmental impact of various kinds of diapers: traditional disposables, eco-friendly disposables, and cloth. If your kid is so worry-free that you...
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May 22, 2004
Dads Dust-up in the UK: Fathers 4 Justice
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was hit in the back by a projectile as he answered questions in the House of Commons Wednesday. The projectile turned out to be a condom filled with purple-dyed flour. It was thrown from the...
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DON'T LEAVE YOUR KID IN THE CAR
Seriously, it should go without saying, but sometimes it needs to be said. Like now. We've all seen the "hot enough to fry an egg? HOT ENOUGH TO FRY A DOG'S BRAIN" commercial. Babies have an even lower frying point...
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May 19, 2004
Three Centuries of Kids Gear at the Wadsworth Atheneum
So sue me. It turns out I did not invent fatherhood, and Daddy Types is not the first search for gear for kids. Kid Size: The Material World of Childhood is an exhibit at the Wadsworth Atheneum that explores three...
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Roger Clemens dads it up
An interesting profile in USA Today of pitcher/dad Roger Clemens, who came out of "I want to spend time with my family" retirement for a year to play for the Houston Astros--and who included "I want to spend time with...
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May 18, 2004
NOT the Dads+Diapers combo we had in mind
Dude. Gothamist wonders aloud--and in photography--about a group of diaper-wearing middle-aged men walking through Washington Square Park last week. Commenters speculate that it's a ">SIDNY (Still In Diapers - NY) event. From the picture, though, I can't tell if it's...
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Bugaboo et al: Out of Africa
Maybe they haven't seen enough Sex and the City. The Washington Post Foreign Service reports that strollers are just not popular in Kenya. Marketed as prams (and unloaded from lorries, I guess), strollers are seen as cold, distant cages and...
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[read the full post...]
May 17, 2004
Coldplay's Daddy Video: The Nappies
When they have a baby, some musicians get their friends together and make silly T-shirts. Others get their friends together, put on silly wigs, and make silly videos. Coldplay, it turns out, falls into the latter category. To celebrate the...
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[read the full post...]
May 15, 2004
Raising Little Saddam
Tot therapy, where were you when we needed you? If you thought the worst you could do to your new kid was give him TV-induced ADD, read on. White House inside reporter for the Times Elizabeth Bumiller explores the work...
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May 13, 2004
Reporter takes kid for the day, lives
They say you never forget your first time. But what they don't tell you is, when you're a reporter, you publish a minute-by-minute account of your first time for everyone's inspiration and amusement. And, of course, to score macho points...
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[read the full post...]
May 9, 2004
UK Parents Wrestle for Work/Care Balance
From London, the Observer has an extensive article on the current state of child carers (the British term for parents, etc. I hear they call trucks "lorries," too.). Mums and dads are both dealing with balancing work and family life;...
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[read the full post...]
May 7, 2004
Pediatricians' Report on Enhancing Fathers' Roles
[via Rebel Dad] The American Academy of Pediatrics just published the results of a study that gives strong recommendations to pediatricians for getting fathers more involved in their childrens' care and development. It's an excellent piece which should get fired...
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[read the full post...]
May 5, 2004
Trixie Update Update
Ben MacNeil posts a link to an excellent profile of The Trixie Update by Jonathan Cox in the local paper, the Raleigh News & Observer. Online fame often exists side by side with comfortable hometown anonymity; now Trixie'll be recognized...
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[read the full post...]
April 28, 2004
LEGOLAND Kidspotter: track your kid with WiFi
Legoland has introduced Kidspotter, a WiFi-based tracking system that lets parents locate their children anywhere within the park. How it works: parents send a text message to the Kidspotter system, which returns the coordinates of their kid's transmitter wristbands. [via...
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[read the full post...]
April 25, 2004
Pimp Daddies
Three's a trend: fathers are pimpin' their kids to movies, TV, fame in general. This is nothing new; Francis Ford Coppola put his weeks-old daughter Sofia in the baptism/murder scene of The Godfather, for example. But between reality TV and...
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April 22, 2004
Are you that Trixie from the New York Times?
People on this Internet just can NOT keep a secret. Thanks to her dad, Trixie's poo will become as famous as Mr Hanky. Buy a talking Mr Hanky plush toy, no doubt made with care (by a child in China)....
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[read the full post...]
April 14, 2004
NYMag's Parenting Porn
First, if New York Magazine's cover story on needless therapy for babies was actually intended to enlighten over-aggressive, over-scheduled Manhattan parents about the pitfalls of over-programming your child, it would'nt be so freaking long. Who has time to read all...
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April 13, 2004
Baby Blues, Daddy Depression?
The National Health Service in the UK will roll out an anonymous helpline for fathers dealing with Post-Natal Depression (PND); the service has the so-upbeat-it's-disheartening title, "Fathers Matter." Although some psychiatrists--and at least one cranky farmer--dismiss the idea of PND,...
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[read the full post...]
April 12, 2004
Techno Difficulties
According to the NY Post, Maclaren Techno XT strollers have a problem: the wheels fall off, and it pitches your kid into the street. [Q: Does this mean the brake failure of the 2002 model's finally solved?] "We're victims of...
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[read the full post...]
April 11, 2004
The Nursing Father
According to Unhindered Living, a Christian hippy lifestyle site, men are able to produce milk and breastfeed their children. How do we know this? The Bible tells us so--The Bible and Ananova. Whatever the truth, I'm sure there are...
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[read the full post...]
April 9, 2004
Dateline, ALBANY-- Some Dads Stay Home
[via Rebel Dad] The Albany Times-Union's reports extensively, if generally, on the issues facing primary caregiver dads. Rebel makes the good point that the issue might more accurately be framed in terms of equal parenting, or as he puts it,...
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[read the full post...]
April 1, 2004
Bobby Brown's Paternity Problems
So Bobby Brown's in jail? That's not news, you say. True, but now he's been jailed for failing to pay $63,500 in child support to the woman with whom he fathered two children. Brown, who was released from jail in...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
WTC Memorial Designed During Paternity Leave
According to an interview in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, architect Michael Arad was on paternity leave when he found out he was a finalist in the competition for designing the World Trade Center Memorial. His and his wife's first son,...
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[read the full post...]
March 21, 2004
UrbanBaby Message Boards: Wild Mom-on-Mom Action
In today's NY Times fashion reporter Ginia Bellafante discovers the informative, life-affirming women's mudwrestling pit that is UrbanBaby's message boards. Because a request often seeks to justify one approach to child care or lifestyle over another, it can set off...
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[read the full post...]
March 16, 2004
Um, Gay Manhattan Dad wants a La-Z-Boy?
Ignore for a moment that PlanetOut's Jeff Bennett calls his husband "Hubby," or that he coos over the weekly, treacly Babycenter.com emails written in the voice of his surrogate fetus(es). His "Who's your daddy?" column archive gives a real-time report...
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Babycenter for Dads
It's the chickest of chick sites, what with all the pregnancy going on over there, but Babycenter has a section for dads, written by moms. Let me sum it up for you: do more housework, take off more time, and...
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[read the full post...]
March 13, 2004
NPR, PRC, PRC, NPR
Just caught the end of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, where Scott Simon excitedly blurted out, "We're going to China to pick up our daughter. I-- am the father of Alice Sylvie Simon!" Related: FCC: Families with Children From China, a...
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March 8, 2004
Helping British lesbians doin' it for themselves
John Gonzalez, an entrepreneur in Bristol, is targeting his new fertility clinic, the Man Not Included New Life Centre, at lesbians and single women, who are an underserved market for sperm. But not why you'd think. Turns out the Human...
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March 2, 2004
NY Magazine on Gay Parents, or Are Babies The New Messenger Bag?
The ever-sharp service journalists at New York Magazine called the gay parenting trend last November. Frankly a Saturday afternoon trip to The Container Store in Chelsea would tell you about the same thing: that's not just daddy's roommate, it's daddy,...
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March 1, 2004
New Fathers Roundtable
The Morning News turns out to be one of the more fecund websites around. Last December they convened a new fathers roundtable from among their stable of virile stud contributors. New Fathers Roundtable Participants:Kevin Guilfoile is a Chicago writer and...
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February 12, 2004
Baby Naming Don'ts
Engineering geek names son version 2.0...
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