The Best of the Rest of the Web: Learning to Trust Your Own Instincts, Busybodies, and How Smart Phones Change Our Lives

Note to the Busybodies:
“Practically nothing about the way other people raise their little terrors is any of our business…” —Philip Galanes (@SocialQPhilip), stating the obvious to those who refuse to recognize it—in this case a Westchester resident who wanted to tell his friend how poorly behaved his child was at dinner—in the Social Q’s column of The New York Times, “A Brat at Lunch”

How much responsibility should your child have in paying for their college education?

All of it……. 2%
Most of it…….. 27%  
Some of it……. 48%  
None of it…… 10%
Not sure…… 3%

—from a survey of 800 U.S. parents of college-bound children 16-18 conducted by Rasmussen Reports (rasmussenreports.com) for Discover Financial Services; for tips on saving for college, visit nymetroparents.com/college.

Rockefeller twins Mary and Michael in youth.

The Lone Twin
“Like other school children, Michael and I were each given separate paints and sheets of paper. I left mine and joined Mike, both of us on our knees, our fingers oozing in and out of each other’s grasp as we slapped the paper and pushed the delicious colored liquid out over the white sheet. Soon, the teacher came over and made me leave Michael and go back to my place. I sat and stared at the paper and the paints. Alone, I had no sense of what to do or what to make.”

—Mary R. Morgan, reflecting on her childhood bond with her twin brother Michael Rockefeller, who died in 1961; Morgan eloquently recounts her journey to reclaim her individual identity and grieve her brother in her memoir Beginning with the End (Vantage Point); Morgan, who grew up in Westchester, is currently a New York-based licensed psychotherapist specializing in working with twinless twins and is a mother of three children of her own; visit her site, beginningwiththeend.com, for more info, touching video clips, and links to bereavement resources, including for multiples

“WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME and energy second-guessing ourselves when we really should just trust our own instincts.”

—Katherine Lee (@KLeeAbout), a Brooklyn mom of one and former magazine editor who now serves as About.com’s expert on school-aged children, in a NYMetroParents online exclusive (nymetroparents.com/bts-tips)

“Our phones are our lifelines…maps, music libraries…and news sources. They are our brag books…an emergency text from the sitter, a quick search for a Starbucks with a clean bathroom for a diaper change, a spontaneous play date maker.” —Liz Gumbinner (@Mom101), the fabulous multi-tasking blogger, speculating on a recent study that says mothers are 18% more likely than the general population to own a smartphone, in a post entitled “Can You Unplug?” on katiecouric.com