From our December 2012 issue, a selection of thought-provoking, laugh-inducing, and just plain interesting facts and quotes from the web and the world of parenting.
| Each Kindness
—Jacqueline Woodson (@JackieWoodson), Brooklynite, mother of two, and award-winning young adult author, in a guest post at blogs.nymetroparents.com; Woodson’s latest is a tender and intense picture book, “Each Kindness”(Nancy Paulsen Books; ages 5-8; $16.99); learn more at jacquelinewoodson.com |
“I don’t want the word ‘bullying’ to become cliché. I don’t want people to no longer hear it when they hear it. And too, I think what’s happening among our children is far more complicated than this word. When I think of bullying, I think of the constant, everyday ways in which people, both young and old, endlessly persecute others…But I fear that while we’re looking for the kid getting beat up or the kid beating up, we’re missing or looking away from the everyday unkindnesses.”| Perfectly Overrated “Wouldn’t it be nice if our children were always perfectly behaved, got straight A’s, never tried a cigarette or a beer, never got in a fight or said a bad word—and ate kiwi, zucchini, and tofu and never even wanted McDonald’s? How amazing would that be? Everyone would think we were perfect parents. But our kids are human, just like we are. And you know what? It’s better that way.” —Claire McCarthy, M.D. (@drClaire), a pediatrician and mother of five children ranging in age from 7 to 21, in a post entitled “When Kids Make Us Look Bad” on huffingtonpost.com; she also writes for the Thriving blog at childrenshospitalblog.org. |
| “Teens may say they want you to totally leave them alone. Too bad. Some reasonable monitoring is still required, but you also need to know when to keep your mouth shut and let the kids handle their own lives.“
—Thomas W. Phelan, Ph.D., in “Surviving Your Adolescents: How to Manage and Let Go of Your 13-18 Year Olds” (123magic.com); and while that may seem easier said than done, he’s got some amazing concrete tips to help you—his advice covers everything from eye rolls and rejection to talking about sex and dealing with “MBAs: Minor-But-Aggravating issues” |
 “When my older son was little, I bought a kitchen set for him to play with. If the look on my husband’s face could kill!! He couldn’t understand why I would buy such a toy for our son. I had to remind him that he was a great cook himself! When our boys were little, he helped to change diapers, bathe them, and feed them. To me, that made him a greater man.”—Niki Bhatia, a former teacher and stay-at-home mom of two boys, who lives on Long Island and blogs at niketabhatia.blogspot.com, in a guest post at blogs.nymetroparents.com |
81% of kids say they think they’ll see a female president in their lifetimes —according to the KidsNation 2012 poll by KidsHealth.org and TIME for Kids magazine, which surveyed 1,700 children |
