I Speak of Dreams

Joel Takes on John Rosemond's Wooden-Spoon Parenting Advice

Link: Pax Nortona - A Blog by Joel Sax » Bipolar or Just Spoiled?.

Why I Never Use About.Com, And Don't Recommend It

About.com  claims to be authoritative:

Exclusive to About.com, over 600 expert "Guides" steer About.com's     content - sharing their passions, expertise and how-to information with visitors     every day.

In this post, Lisa Jo Rudy's "expert" lumps together all kinds of treatments for autism, without bothering to inform her readers of the evidence:  Low Cost, Low Risk Treatments for Autism.

Cost per hour for a behavioral therapist: up to $150 per hour.
Cost for an evaluation by an occupational therapist: $400 and up.
Cost for a private autism school: $40-60,000 per year.
Cost for treatments like...

Auditory Integration Therapy (verdict: potentially quack treatment for autism with little scientific evidence)

Chelation, (verdict: quack treatment for autism that has no basis in science and potential of injury)

Vision Therapy (verdict: quack treatment for autism that has little basis in science)

Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment (HBOT) (verdict: quack treatment for autism that has little basis in science

and similar biomedical interventions: up to hundreds of dollars per treatment.

Ms. Rudy, About.com's "Expert on autism" didn't bother to warn her readers that these treatments are ineffective and potentially dangerous.

And that's why I shun About.com on most things.

 

Baby Genius Edutainment Industry Worse Than Useless

Alissa Quart coined the phrase "baby genius edutainment industry" in her book, Hothouse Kids, and article in The Atlantic Monthly.   The claim is that  watching these videos/DVDs  "engage babies and provide parents with tools to help expose their little ones to the world around them in playful and enriching ways — stimulating a baby's natural curiosity."

Oops.  A new paper, part of a larger study, has found that making infants eight to 16 months of age watch such videos actually reduces language acquisition:

The scientists found that for every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants understood an average of six to eight fewer words than infants who did not watch them.

This is not a trivial problem.  A previous paper from the study found that

By 3 months of age, about 40% of children regularly watched television, DVDs, or videos. By 24 months, this proportion rose to 90%.

The answer is simple.   Turn off the TV.  Don't let kids under 24 months watch any electronic media, as the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends.
This is a bit trickier for families with infants and older siblings, who may not be adversely affected by a modest media diet.  At any rate Don't buy or use media (videos, DVDs)  "designed for babies" for a child under 24 months.

Below the fold, more details on the study and the papers from the study.

She's Over 21, But It Still Reeks of Pimping to Me

Via amcgltd--I should just subscribed to the Adorable Channel and skip the weird & f'd up stuff, I swear.

Shelby and Mike Lane are very proud of their daughter, Sunny's, career. 

But it's more than just showing off the physical assets and the innocent pouts that have earned her the nickname the "Shirley Temple of Porn," because she looks much younger than she is. Sunny will only say that she's in her 20s.

A Very Troubled Kid

Via amcgltd--I should just subscribed to the Adorable Channel and skip the weird & f'd up stuff-- I learn of troubling things:

Andrew Riley, 13, is charged with 128 felonies, in Athens County Juvenile Court. They include burglary, theft, vandalism and witness intimidation. The delinquency charges stem from a crime spree that has lasted more than a year, authorities said.

Andrea Sharos Endangers Other People's Kids

Andrea Sharos's son Jonathan Carrillo was driving a car with a positive blood-alcohol.  He was too young to get a driver's license.  He and a friend died when he crashed  in 2005.  So what does Sharos do?

Buy booze for other people's kids.  And let them drive. 

http://www.kmov.com/topstories/stories/kmov_localnews_070227_boozemom.2b35d68.html

Birthdays Without Pressure

Thanks to Ed, I learned that Focus on the Family is worried that Birthdays Without Pressure is missing the boat.

Then I started reading the responses on the message boards.

California No-Spank Law: Dumb

California Democratic Assemblywoman Sally Lieber has proposed new legislation for California to make spanking a misdemeanor, with a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

One: I do not advocate spanking as a regular discipline tool.  It is simply not effective to teach children to make better choices. 

Two: I have two stepchildren and one birth child.  The collective spanking incidents for the three of them is maybe...five?  I know I swatted Jumper Girl when she was a toddler, once, for darting into traffic.

But you can't legislate good parenting.  If this law is passed, what resources would be diverted away from real child abusers?

Age Compession #4358

From Apt. 11D, I read Lawrence Downes' essay in the New York Times, "Middle School Girls Gone Wild"

What surprised me, though, was how completely parents of even younger girls seem to have gotten in step with society’s march toward eroticized adolescence — either willingly or through abject surrender. And if parents give up, what can a school do? [snip]

But my parental brain rebels. Suburban parents dote on and hover over their children, micromanaging their appointments and shielding them in helmets, kneepads and thick layers of S.U.V. steel. But they allow the culture of boy-toy sexuality to bore unchecked into their little ones’ ears and eyeballs, displacing their nimble and growing brains and impoverishing the sense of wider possibilities in life.

There is no reason adulthood should be a low plateau we all clamber onto around age 10. And it’s a cramped vision of girlhood that enshrines sexual allure as the best or only form of power and esteem. It’s as if there were now Three Ages of Woman: first Mary-Kate, then Britney, then Courtney. Boys don’t seem to have such constricted horizons. They wouldn’t stand for it — much less waggle their butts and roll around for applause on the floor of a school auditorium.

I don't know why Downes is surprised.

Worst Mother of the ???

In Gary, Indiana, Arlene Ambrose was driving her 15 year-old son and another 16 year old boy around the neighborhood.  The 15 year old was armed with a semi-automatic rifle.  Ms. Ambrose slowed down, and reportedly told her son, "When Mama say shoot, you shoot."  The "target" was Jermaine "Bobo" Martin, 29.  Mr. Martin reportedly had mental handicaps.  While in custody, Ms. Ambrose's house caught on fire.

Both Ms. Ambrose and her son have been charged in the shooting.