On Tiger Moms: "What the controversy surrounding Chua demonstrates, however inadvertently, is that parenting techniques are always grounded in basic assumptions about the way things are and what matters to us. And they are always guided by some answer to the most fundamental of ethical questions—how to live?"
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posted by the man of twists and turns
on May 7, 2012 -
52 comments
The novlist Julie Myerson has written a book, The Lost Child, about her son's addiction to cannabis, the violent behaviour she says this caused and her tough love policy.
Extract. Her son is
angry that she's published it, and says his parents over-reacted: "I wasn't doing anything that most other teenagers do, but such was their naive terror of drugs they were acting like six-year-olds". It comes out through
MumsNet that Julie Myerson was the anonymous author of a Guardian column, "Living with Teenagers," which described her children's behaviour candidly without their knowledge.
Extract. Myerson first
denied this. The Guardian discusses whether it was
right to publish the columns. Myerson is
interviewed about whether she was right to publish The Lost Child. Her partner, and son's father, Jonathan Myerson supports her:
This is an emergency. Her son says she's
addicted to writing.
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posted by paduasoy
on Mar 15, 2009 -
160 comments
The great-grandfather could walk six miles to go fishing; the grandfather could walk a mile to go to the woods; the son can't go more than 300 yards from his house.
How children lost the right to roam, including a map illustrating the point.
posted by JDHarper
on Jun 15, 2007 -
95 comments
California bill to ease "move aways" by custodial parents pulled. Until a recent CA Supreme Court decision, it was easy for custodial parents to move themselves and their children far from their ex-spouse. The Court reversed the old rule and held that the move could be blocked if the non-custodial parent could show that it would interfere with his/her relationship with the kids. Legislation to reimpose the old permissive standard passed through the State Senate, but has now been pulled off the legislative calendar after an outcry by father's rights groups.
posted by MattD
on Aug 18, 2004 -
17 comments
AnarchistParenting.com As any parent knows, kids are heavily into anarchy. It seems that some parents are, too.
Personally, I like to keep my anarchy where it belongs:
fairytales (which are also the only places it works.)
posted by agentfresh
on Nov 17, 2002 -
38 comments
Abigail and Brittany Hensel are in the 6th grade and continue to defy the odds. After the initial struggle with the personal pronoun (her? their?), one is left with both curiosity and sympathy. The greater issue is how to assimilate the truly miraculous.
posted by kablam
on Nov 11, 2002 -
22 comments
White couple gets black twins, sue IVF clinic. Experts say a mistake could have occurred in one of three ways.The wrong sperm could have been used to fertilise the right egg, the right sperm could have been used to fertilise the wrong egg, or the embryo implanted in the woman may have been another couple's altogether. Although it is not clear whether another couple has laid claim to the children, legal experts say the judge will be expected to make a modern-day judgment of Solomon on who should be considered the babies' legal parents. This is unploughed legal ground. Is there a fair way to sort this out?
posted by Mack Twain
on Jul 17, 2002 -
34 comments
Nickelodeon is airing a special tonight on families that have same-sex parents. The concern of some is that this show: "proves that this network has been co-opted by homosexual activists who are targeting children. Sodomy is not a family value. Nickelodeon has now lost the trust of parents."
My issue with it is that it appears that they are not publicizing the fact that they are showing this to the parents to allow them to decide if their children should watch it or not... I couldn't find anything on their website, except the
listing in the schedule for "Nick News Special Edition" (MORE INSIDE)
posted by darian
on Jun 18, 2002 -
67 comments
Mother jailed for girls' truancy A question for our British gang, is truancy such a problem in the UK now that this is really necessary? When I went to school in England, lo those
mumblemumble years ago, I don't remember it being this bad. For the rest of the world, do you think truancy in your country would justify locking up the primary caregiver or is this punishing the wrong person? Can parents be held responsible for everything a child does? And better said, should they? When should we grant children the priviledges and penalties of their own autonomous actions?
posted by dejah420
on May 13, 2002 -
27 comments
Bringing up Adultolescents Newsweek has a fascinating article on adult children who're still living with their parents after graduating from college. It's hardly a new concept, but this is a good piece. (Especially noteworthy: The parents who spend away their own retirement savings providing for grown kids.) And if you've priced a supposed "starter" home recently, you know as well as I do that this trend isn't going away any time soon.
posted by GaelFC
on Mar 19, 2002 -
13 comments
Children's lives insufficiently documented. Video-shunning parent ostracized, jailed. I agree with this parent. Constantly taping your child, it does sometimes feel as if you're sacrificing actually being in the moment to capturing the moment, and this during some of the best "moments" of your child's life. If my understanding of old age is correct, however, memories are all you have. So I'm trying to nail me some shit down, for rocking chair days.
posted by luser
on Feb 13, 2002 -
23 comments
A couple from the UK have a beloved son who has leukemia, and who may need a marrow transplant to save his life. They are using in-vitro fertilization to select a fertilized egg which will be genetically similar enough to their son so that the resulting baby could be a marrow donor. Is it ethical to design a baby as a transplant donor, even to save the life of another child?
posted by Steven Den Beste
on Oct 15, 2001 -
25 comments
Kids' Abuse Drives U.K. Pensioner to Suicide Stories like this really make my blood
boil. This is happening all of the time in the UK. Many of our children are completely uncontrollable. Lots of Brits live in fear of children who bombard their houses with bricks and deliberately scratch their cars.
But the police remain
powerless since the courts can't sentence these children to hard time. In a country where hard discipline is discouraged, is it time to start
really spanking children again? No, I think it's time to start
spanking the parents.
posted by wackybrit
on May 16, 2001 -
25 comments
