What's Wrong with My Kids!

Comment: Humor piece from "The Onion" (which sometimes can be offensive!)

Man Raised By Parents Struggling To Adjust To Human Society

Excerpt:

MINNEAPOLIS—Two years after his discovery by a team of developmental psychologists, David Sullivan, a man raised by a pair of mated parents, is still struggling to adapt to normal human society, sources confirmed Friday.

According to researchers at the University of Minnesota, Sullivan, 25, has made significant progress since moving into his own apartment in 2009, but the decades he spent being reared by parents has made joining civilization a desperately difficult task.

"The chances of David ever becoming socialized to the point where he can function normally among humans is very slim," said Dr. Lisa Reynolds, a psychologist who has observed Sullivan since he was first introduced into the real world. "The sheltered, isolated environment in which he spent his adolescence has left him completely unequipped to deal with modern life. Tasks that may seem simple to us, such as doing laundry or grocery shopping, completely baffle David."

Myth? "Christian parenting techniques produce godly children"

The Myth of the Perfect Parent

Excerpts:

Proverbs 22:6 has been widely adopted as both psychological premise and theological promise, despite the widespread recognition that hermeneutically, the Proverbs are not promises from God, but general observations and maxims. (Ironically, if King Solomon did pen this proverb, as many biblical scholars believe, he himself failed to exemplify its truth: In his old age, he abandoned the teaching and example of his father, as "his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been" [1 Kings 11:4].)

Despite these problems, entire formulas and programs have been created to divine and instruct on the kind of parental training that will secure the desired outcome. At least one of these programs, claiming to instruct in God's ways of raising children, has sold in the millions. A few of the more stridently conservative writers are so confident of their parenting methods and outcomes, they describe child-training as a risk-free venture analogous to staking out tomatoes, training dogs, and teaching mules, only loosely veiling B. F. Skinner-like techniques with swatches of strategically placed Bible verses.

...

One parenting writer warns, "If our parents' approach seemed close to biblical parenting, yet bore bad fruit, we can be certain it was not biblical." We can know this, he asserts, because God's Word gives us exactly what we need to raise godly children, and if we correctly apply the principles, "parents will not be disappointed."

An entire branch of Christian parenting takes this tack. "Observe and learn from winning parents," one writer advises. Winning parents are those whose children are "obedient" and "respectful," who "know God's will," who "live faithful Christian lives," he writes. We should be imitating those parents "who are successful, not those who fail."

Comment: Before I had kids ... I had parenting all figured out!

a candidate for child-abuse charges or letting kids have their independence?

Here's Your MetroCard, Kid

Intro:

I left my 9-year-old at Bloomingdale's (the original one) a couple weeks ago. Last seen, he was in first floor handbags as I sashayed out the door.

Bye-bye! Have fun!

And he did. He came home on the subway and bus by himself.

Was I worried? Yes, a tinge. But it didn't strike me as that daring, either. Isn't New York as safe now as it was in 1963? It's not like we're living in downtown Baghdad.

Anyway, for weeks my boy had been begging for me to please leave him somewhere, anywhere, and let him try to figure out how to get home on his own. So on that sunny Sunday I gave him a subway map, a MetroCard, a $20 bill, and several quarters, just in case he had to make a call.

No, I did not give him a cell phone. Didn't want to lose it. And no, I didn't trail him, like a mommy private eye. I trusted him to figure out that he should take the Lexington Avenue subway down, and the 34th Street crosstown bus home. If he couldn't do that, I trusted him to ask a stranger. And then I even trusted that stranger not to think, "Gee, I was about to catch my train home, but now I think I'll abduct this adorable child instead."

Long story short: My son got home, ecstatic with independence.


Comments: Featured on The Today Show. Trust me I know they were "different times" and a different place: Growing up in Fort Wayne Indiana (1950's), we used take the bus all over town (the bus ride was a dime). We used to do endless exploring with "bike-hikes" in the Summer. Mom would pack a lunch and off we would go. Once we sent our middle son on a bike adventure in Denver. He called after about 3 hours and providing the cross streets said "where am I?". After that checkpoint he made it home OK. I actually applaud this woman for her willingness to let her son explore! Beat me up!

Tough love

'Meanest mom on planet' sells son's car

Excerpt:

After finding alcohol in her son's car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old's misdeed with everyone -- by placing an ad in the local newspaper.

The ad reads: "OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."


Comment: Way to go Mom!