DISQUS

I\'ve been there with the sand, stickers, pebbles in the dryer, Play Doh, and accursed glitter. Balloons, too. My wife had a wellness fair at work yesterday and brought two helium-filled hell spheres into our house for the boys. She thankfully asked if it was okay to bring them in and I insisted that they stay in the mudroom until I could dispose of them with a bamboo skewer. In my world, the only good balloon is a popped balloon.

Don\'t forget about the \'buy back\' technique. Set up a pretend store and have your kids sell the candy back to you. 5-10 cents for a small or fun size. Maybe a quarter for a full size bar. You can then take them to buy a small toy (which most of them would prefer anyway) or put the money in savings for something bigger they might want down the road.

In addition to getting rid of all the sugary treats, you are teaching your kids how to count money. They also don\'t feel like they\'re losing out as they might when you pare down (or outright steal from) their stash.

Check out this article.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/artic...

I love the concept, but I\'m a little concerned about the after donation/purchase support with the Give One Get One. The web site doesn\'t tell you anything about that part. There\'s a lot of touchy-feely stuff about the organization and children across the world, and the computer\'s design and specs; but nothing relative to customer support. Granted, I understand that some poor child living in a hut isn\'t going to be dialing up 24/7 customer support centers, but service/warranty will be an issue for me when there\'s a technical problem and I\'ve got a disappointed kid at home trying to use his laptop.

Again, I applaud the mission. I\'d just like more details. It also seems like they\'ve got some competitors in this market, one of them being the Asustek Eee PC which is supposed to be available to the general public at Best Buy and Newegg very soon--but you can\'t get the $199 model. That\'s just for big contract purposes.

In the end, we\'ll probably end up going through with the OLPC XO; but look before you leap.

We tried all the major brands and some generic/store brands, and regular Huggies does the best job for us when it comes to containing bodily fluids. That was the top priority over price. I agree that not every kid is right for every diaper. You\'ve got to use what works best for YOU.

One thing I can say is that I definitely prefer the velcro/hook & loop closure over the adhesive.

Will,

Thanks for the kind words.

First, I wrote this in response to an item I saw about a New England Journal of Medicine article, which specifically spoke about the relationship between weight gain and gynecomastia. I am by no means an expert on the subject and do not profess to be one, but I am aware that this affliction is not due solely to overeating. From the statistics given in the article I read (which came from the NEJoM article), 1 in 3 clearly translates to a common condition in my eyes. Although I don\\\'t suffer from this, I saw a documentary on this condition as it pertains to breast cancer in men. I realize that watching this show hardly gives me a glimpse into what it is like living with gynecomastia, but I don\\\'t think any guy could have watched it and not sympathized with a man on screen wrapping an ace bandage around his torso because of his embarrasment at his condition, even though he did nothing to bring it upon himself.

Secondly, here at noodad.com we write in a style to entertain and inform our intended demographic. As a result, even the most sensitive of topics typically gets a lighter and more humorous treatment than you\\\'d find in a scientific journal or an encyclopedia entry. In fact, if you strip out the vernacular from the above paragraphs, the summary would be that: a. A recent NEJoM article shows a strong link between weight gain and gynecomastia; b. a brief description from the doctor about how this happens; and c. don\\\'t let this happen to you if you can avoid it. I don\\\'t think that\\\'s so bad, and I contend that any man who suffers from gynecomastia would encourage those who could avoid getting it (specifically through excess weight gain) to do exactly that.

Now, I\\\'ve been out of diapers for some time, and I don\\\'t plan to be back in them for at least fifty more years if I can help it. As a stay-at-home dad, I\\\'ve changed a lot of soiled diapers, which has made me the most proficient of bottom wipers--including my own. If I indeed had the flexibility to put my head between my legs, I\\\'m certain I wouldn\\\'t smell feces.

Finally, for someone who seems sensitive about making light of medical conditions, I\\\'m surprised you implied that I defecate in my pants. Apparently you have no regard for sufferers of Bowel/Fecal Incontinence, the clinical name for an affliction that causes some of its sufferers to soil themselves with painfully embarrassing regularity. That\\\'s rather callous of you.

I pay $10 an hour for two kids. I have an afternoon helper during the school year who gets $5 an hour. In the Boston area, $10 seems to be about the average.

Hi Heena,

There\'s not much you can do. Unless you\'re scheduled for another ultrasound, there won\'t be another chance for the technician to look between the legs. I think it is common for them to say they aren\'t 100% sure, especially when it is a girl. We have two boys, and both times we got a clear view. You\'ll just have to go with your gut instinct as to whether the tech\'s \"not 100% sure\" comment was to cover his/her butt, or if it he/she really couldn\'t tell for sure. Good luck, and congratulations!

wahoodad

1. It\'s very late when we write some of these articles, and at 1:00AM I forgot to take out the line in the article that reads \"There are pros and cons to both sides of the argument...\" To answer your questions anyway (as you are giddy with anticipation), the only pro to catering to a picky eater that I can think of is the elimination of daily mealtime battles with said picky eater. I see no cons to your child eating a varied diet.

2. The term \"torture\" in paragraph two isn\'t meant in a literal sense, but rather as a tongue-in-cheek hyperbole to convey how some overdramatic children react when they are compelled by a parent to remain at a table until they eat what\'s in front of them, e.g. Ralphie\'s brother Randy in \"A Christmas Story\".
Additionally, in the first paragraph, I didn\'t mean for readers to be confused by my description of what happens when a kid eats too many chicken nuggets and too much applesauce. Just to be clear, I\'ve neither seen a child grow feathers, nor have I witnessed whole Granny Smith apples in lieu of feces in a dirty diaper.

3. You propose an excellent strategy for tackling this dilemma. It is both fair and rational, and I think it is a good example of how parents of a picky eater might get their kid to try more foods--especially if the grownups are sometimes eating things that aren\'t their favorite. Oftentimes the parents cook what THEY want and expect the kids to eat it without complaint. An extension of this strategy might be to alternate who chooses what\'s for dinner, as long as everyone agrees to eat what\'s served on the days someone other than them chooses.

Foodad, if you don\'t have piles of extra cash laying around for diamonds, I recommend the Rapala X-Rap Deep 10 freshwater fishing lure in Glass Ghost finish. Not only is it shiny, but it\'s got realistic swimming action!

Sometimes when our lawn needed to be mowed, my dad would push the mower in all different directions, making winding paths that went around the house and overlapped each other. He would leave it like that for a while and my brothers and I would run races through the course or pretend we were exploring in the woods. The fact that I still remember my dad taking one of his mundane tasks and making it fun for the boys reminds me to do the same with mine.

Noo,

Went on a SquidSoap hunt today (Target, Walgreens, Wal-Mart) and came back empty (and dirty) handed. Where\'d you get yours?

I agree with SIL about keeping financial responsibility priorities in check when it comes to spending, but I think it\'s okay to buy things like this once in a while if you can swing it. It sounds like your wife just simply told you what she would like for her birthday when you asked her.

Sure, your wife could carry her crap in a different, less expensive bag, or wear a Chanel knock-off perfume from CVS instead of the real thing. And guys could also smoke White Owl cigars and drink Natural Light beer while they play poker \'just for the fun of it\' with their buddies. Or perhaps guys could use second-hand clubs from Play It Again Sports when they tee-off at the town-operated 9-hole golf course with the cork tees and above-ground irrigation system running alongside the \"fairways\". As evolved as we men are, there will always be things that we don\'t understand about women and they\'ll never understand about us.

If you can afford it and it will make her happy on her birthday, the bag and perfume are worth it.

I\'m not sure how new this product is, but I first heard of it about two months ago--which put my kid (now 18 mos) out of the window of time in which to use it. I know some people who have this and they swear by it. Even though the Bumbo may quickly outlive its usefulness in your house, it sounds like the durability, practicality, and its reputation would make it easy to recoup some of the cost on ebay or craigslist.

Nice review ReviewDad. Looking forward to more.

Jeez, what a softy you are, Noo. I\'ve been to a couple of these things, and I started long before we got to the Fleet TD BankNorth Center Garden: one \'thing\'. That\'s it. If you start early enough, it works. \"We\'re going to see the show. This isn\'t a shopping spree. You can have one souvenir, and that\'s all.\" And yes, I did say these things to my then-four-year-old. You have to start before the stuff is in sight. If this was your first Disney on Ice performance, then you\'re excused. Going into this blind is disastrous.
Did you notice that after the show ended they suddenly had a Disney coloring book pack for $5, usually sold right at the top of the exit escalator? You can\'t buy these during the show! And how about the sheer number of vendors? It\'s crazy! Then again, Disney is the master of commercialism...

The person asking the question said that his wife didn\'t like the pinching. That\'s what I commented on. Rose makes a good point, though. This can be a healthy, playful expression if both people involved don\'t mind. Once the pinchee says \"no\", though, the pincher should cease.

Maybe times have changed, but when I was growing up, \'house\' was innocent. It was \'doctor\' that you had to look out for...

Cancel if your kid has a fever, too.

It\'s a fact of life that kids can be cruel, so you\'ve got to let your kid know about bullies and what to do if they run into one--just as you teach them what to do if a stranger approaches them. Bullying can start early, too. In my son\'s preschool class a couple of years ago, there was a bonafide three-girl clique of four-year-olds that teased another little girl for--get this--dressing like a baby. My son\'s school teaches an anti-bullying campaign starting in Kindergarten. He recently enrolled in jujitsu, which I hope will increase his self-confidence and allow him to take care of himself if any bullies target him.

Let\'s not forget about another repercussion of bullying. Although an extreme example of what can happen, almost every kid who shoots up a school is described as having been bullied in the past.

Pinching your wife\'s ass around the house, while leaving a restaurant, or standing in line at a wake may have been acceptable before kids; but you especially have to realize the message it sends to your offspring. Latia is right on target. Kids will learn from, and mimic, your actions. If you\'re doing this at home, don\'t be surprised by a call from the preschool because your little boy is grab-assing in the dramatic play area during an innocent game of house.

Wasn\'t it \"pork chops and apple sauce\"?

I think Peter had some other great shows as well: saving the girl in the toy shop; the one where he played himself and a look-alike through the magic of split-screen filming; and the time when he got fired from the bike shop but pretended like he still had a job anyway.

Forcing your kid to be a vegetarian isn\'t fair. Monitoring their intake of any fatty food is reasonable, but there are a lot of good things in lean meats. And if God didn\'t want us to eat animals, He wouldn\'t have made them out of meat...

I knew I wouldn\'t get that chunk of dialogue right--but I also knew someone would correct me!

Whiny or not, Luke does prevail in the end. Point taken.

Luke Skywalker perhaps is the worst whiner in all of moviedom. Listen closely the next time you get your geek on and watch Star Wars. \"Awwwww, Uncle Owen! I was gonna go pick up some [I]transformers[/I] today!\"

Noo, you want that autographed picture for your kids, right?

Ahhhh, what a conundrum. I\'m a huge rule follower, yet I have let my son pass as younger than his true age to gain free admission to theme parks. The catch is that I didn\'t proactively seek the free entry. If the ticket clerk assumed he met the age requirement, we waltzed right in to the park. On the small scale, this happened at Story Land in New Hampshire. On the biggest possible scale, this happened at Disney, Universal, Sea World, and even Gatorland during a sweep through the greater Orlando area. We saved hundreds on that trip, and in each case it was the ticket clerk who said \"you don\'t have to pay for him.\"
So, my feeling is that if it is the park worker\'s mistake, enjoy the freebie; but I don\'t think it is okay to lie if you\'re asked. You also can\'t justify the lie because you think the park is lame, food is lousy, and souvenirs are crappy. If you don\'t like the product or think it costs too much, then don\'t use/buy it.

I see no problem with girls playing Little League at all. Although softball is nearly identical to baseball, it is a different sport.

I know that in our area (Boston) there have been cases of boys playing girl sports. They didn\'t have boys volley ball in this area when I was in high school, and I remember my school\'s volley ball team facing a squad with twin brothers in the state tournament. I also remember reading about a boy who played field hockey--wore the skirt and everything.