Recent Comments:
Think your kid is a picky eater? Boy, 2, subsists on yogurt {ParentDish}
Jun 29th 2008 1:04PM Hard to know exactly what the parents have been through, but I believe that - barring some legit problem - if a child gets hungry enough, he'll go ahead and eat what he's given. I think most parents are too guilt-ridden to tolerate the idea of their child missing a meal, so they cave in to the child's whims.
I don't profess to be an expert - and my child is picky at times too - but I hafta wonder if this phobia is the product of weak parenting establishing a pattern of willingness to cater to the child rather than hold firm when the pickiness began...
My little guy has gone to bed hungry - and been all the more ready to accept what was given at breakfast - because he turned up his nose at the dinner table. I certainly felt like a heel, but it didn't harm him and I believe it reinforced the message that he should eat what he's given.
Five-year-old gets credit card {ParentDish}
Jun 20th 2008 1:58PM On the bright side, I'd keep the card and use it from time to time in order to keep it active. Just imagine how having 15 years of established credit history will come in handy when it comes time for some big purchase, like a car...
Juvenile offenders to fulfill community service with blood {ParentDish}
Jun 17th 2008 11:36AM I'm a big proponent of donating blood, but this is a cop-out.
Given that being a blood donor is essentially a solitary act, this undermines the whole "community" aspect with regard to the offender. Sure, the donated blood benefits the community, but there's no rehabilitative component in this - the offender would be getting a scant slap on the hand, a snack, and be ushered out the door like a hero.
Kids need for the consequences of their actions to be deeply experienced in order to learn from them. This cheats that process and only make it all the more easy for that teen to continue criminal behaviors. Let 'em off the hook now and the community at large will pay an even higher price later.
Should we be thinking about standardized everything for plug-in vehicles? {Autoblog Green}
Jun 16th 2008 2:21PM And while we're at it, maybe we can finally be done with those crappy old 12-volt power ports a.k.a. "cigarette lighter" outlets (a.k.a. ANSI/SAE J563) in our cars? A few select cars have had on-board standard 115V power outlets for several years. Let's get this going as an industry standard already!
Has the economy caused dads to be more involved with their kids? {ParentDish}
Jun 15th 2008 4:30PM I think there's a shift in mindset that's having an affect. This isn't the 1950s and Ward Cleaver has long since passed away. The old cliched notions of fatherhood and marriage in general are (slowly) giving way to newer models of family lifestyle.
I'd like to think that there are increasingly more of us guys who view and treat our wives as equals - partners. There's nothing especially heroic about that - I do my best to regard my wife with the same care & respect as I'd like in return.
Share and share alike: Equal parenting {ParentDish}
Jun 14th 2008 4:09PM MLW & I have a fairly uncommon arrangement in that we do split up the workload roughly 50/50. The 'roughly' part comes with natural variances that will occur - obviously, there'll be times when one has to work late, run and errand, feels lousy, has out-of-town company drop in, whatever. But we divvy the work up pretty evenly.
I like to joke that she's management and I'm labor - and it sorta pans out that way. She handles almost all of the billpaying and paperwork stuff, whereas I handle nearly all of the chores around the house. I do a fair bit more than half of the cooking, but that's something I enjoy. She does a fair bit more than half of the laundry these days - which is something I do not enjoy.
We split the parenting duties up pretty evenly too - I'm the "get the kiddo up, fed, & ready to go in the morning" guy and she's the "winding the kiddo down at the end of the day and getting him into bed" gal. Works well that way since we're morning and night people, respectively.
I've seen far too many marriages crap out because of the "good ol' boy" redneck mentality that seems to subscribe to the old cliched notions of marriage from black & white TV shows.
My brother and some of my 'buds' have given me crap about being whipped. But, y'know, this isn't 1950. I'm not, for good and bad, my dad. I got married because I wanted a mate and a partner, not some kind of drone. I would never treat my wife as some kind of subserviant grunt. And I don't get treated like some kind of strong-backed but weak-minded doofus like the prototypical TV hubbies.
Anyway, sorry for the rant but not all guys are created alike...
GM to begin pushing its hybrid SUVs hardcore {Autoblog Green}
Jun 10th 2008 12:13AM A hybrid SUV is an oxymoron. It's a sad, misguided, & greedy attempt on the behalf of automakers to seem green yet still cater to outdated, redneck attitudes. The whole idea of the improved fuel efficiency of a hybrid is almost completely negated by the excess weigh and poor aerodynamics of SUVs. This is definitely moving in the wrong direction.
But the main thing we're fighting - especially here in "God Bless the Red, White, & Blue" America - is the perception that bigger and faster is better. A prevailing attitude here in Texas - and I suspect most other areas of this country - is something like, "By God, if you ain't got yerself a big dick truck, well heck, ya just ain't much of a man, now are ya?" And there's the idea that a smaller car can be neither roomy nor comfortable. And then there's that old notion that a small car is a cheap car for people who can't afford something big & luxurious.
But all of these points are terribly misguided! Small cars actually are often quite deceptively roomy - my wife's New Beetle offers more front seat passenger space than a Hummer H2! Smaller cars often feature far better engineering too, which leads to another good point: SUV Safety is also quite an oxymoron!
After nearly 50 years of profiting handsomely from building false perceptions and stroking our redneck egos about how horsepower equals manhood ("That thing got a Hemi in it?") the automotive industry and their marketing gurus have a social responsibility to take the lead in aggressively reshaping how we look at cars. They've got to apply that same moneygrubbing fervor towards making Americans feel ok about smaller, less resource-wasteful cars.
Toyota considering April 2009 intro for next-gen Prius {Autoblog Green}
Jun 6th 2008 10:34AM I'm digging the Yaris-esqe styling! If the production model actually looks like that photo, I'm in!
Goodbye grass stains, hello AstroTurf! {ParentDish}
Jun 5th 2008 3:23PM Not discounting the concern about the long term effects breathing in the chemicals from ground up tires, but don't people already do this anyway - essentially tires are slowly ground up as you drive, right? So in heavily-trafficked areas, there's probably quite a bit of those chemicals already being inhaled and nobody thinks twice about it.
I suspect you could probably just rinse debris, bird droppings, etc. off of the turf and the rubber bed beneath would allow the water to drain through.
I wonder if any of these artificial grasses feel even close to like the real stuff? I'd be tempted to consider this for the sake of a consistently nice appearance and significant savings in upkeep.
How can a dad help his overweight daughter? {ParentDish}
May 27th 2008 10:01AM Like Raquita said, rather than saying anything to the girl, the dad could let his actions speak louder than words. Start adopting a household-wide series of healthier eating & lifestyle habits and see if she picks up on these.
There are lots of subtle little things to "up" the activity level without this necessarily seeming like "exercise." Washing & waxing your own car(s), for example, is a great way to have some fun family time on a Saturday morning (before it gets too stinkin' hot to go outside) and save quite a few bucks in the process. With 2 or 3 people working on this, it doesn't take long and the pride everyone gets from having a clean & shiny car is an immediate reward.
Likewise, maybe make plans to clean out the garage and enlist help from the kids. Chores are only "chores" if you fail to put a fun, teamwork spin on them.
