DISQUS

Interesting, we just travelled and rented with Budget. No few for a car seat for our 3 year old and a booster for our 5 year old...try Budget I guess?

If you are too dumb and uncoordinated to manage taking a stroller down an escalator you shouldn\'t have kids. I do it all the time, and its a cinch.

Nothing to do with being lazy, just to do with being superior. Its survival of the fittest, and if you can\'t handle taking a stroller down an escalator you shouldn\'t be allowed to drive, drunk or sober.

I\\\'m actually mad at American Idol. I want to watch but when it is on at 8 we just have our 5 year old down. This year we have let him watch a little and it is fun. We didn\\\'t let him watch the auditions early on, where it is just making fun of people, but now we enjoy it together. And he actually has some constructive input. He\\\'ll say right after someone sings whether he thought they did well or not.

At least its music...watching America\\\'s Top Model with him (tempted thought I am) is another story!

Didn\'t miss your point...in fact, I was the one who originally made it with my caveat :)

Jeanton,

before you go calling me names take half a second to read what you quoted me saying. I clearly say,
caveat, (if you aren\'t sure what that means, look here, http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/ar... ) except for those with health reasons, or adoption, etc).\"

I stand by what you say, and next time, read before you rant.

Of course it is. Anyone who disagrees is puritanical, bottled-up or otherwise repressed and can go screw themselves as far as I am concerned. Of course a woman shouldn\'t have her tits hanging out, but I don\'t think 99.9 percent of women do.

If anything, I\'m all for scowling at women and men who bottle-feed (caveat, except those who for health reasons, or adoption, etc) in public. If you can breastfeed and you chose not to that is far worse than breastfeeding in public.

Sorry Shujump, I don\'t mean to offend but for me some things are just wrong, and spanking is right up there. It teaches children that violence is an acceptable form of communication, which it isn\'t. I\'m sure many people would be outraged to say punching a child in the face as hard as possible is an outrage...I feel the same way about slapping a child or giving it a child the belt.

People who spank aren\'t good parents. It teaches everythiing wrong about life.

I do like the way Laurie\'s boobs jump up and down when she sings but Melanie from the old Sprout gets major kudos for her old hijinks, http://news.com.com/2061-10802_3-6098329.html

I agree with everything you say foodad. The only thing I have issue with is the whole baby einstein thing. Kids watching TV is one thing (my kids do)....babies watching it is another.

Don\'t mistake laughing at a TV for learning, Harry. It isn\'t. And when kids grow up and have ADD because they are used to the flashing fast images on a TV why are we surprised as a society? The Baby Einstein series is brilliant for one reason, marketing. They created where none existed for [b]babies[/b] to watch TV. How? With clear titles like Baby Van Gogh, Baby Mozart etc that we all eat up thinking of our babies that way.

Instead our babies get used to sound and motion they simply aren\'t ready to understand.

Here are some links for ya:

http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/money/...

The telling thing about the link above is the interview with the founder of Baby Einstein....he claims that there product is intended for parents to interact with their babies when using, much like a book. Bunch of lies cause he knows all parents do is plop their baby in front of the tv and walk away,

http://www.edupax.org/Assets/divers/documentati...

umm....yes.

The american pediatric society officially recommends [B]no[/B] TV for children under 2. If you think the baby einstein series or any other series for you kid under 2 are doing anything for them you are just buying into a marketing lie.

Maybe cause I\'ve only got boys, but putting a onesie on a boy seemed a little odd at age 2...Onesies for babies yes, but for toddlers?!

No!

Under 3? Never used onesies past 2.

Our eldest just started kindergarden and one of the first modules is learning the differences between people. Its interesting, because I don\'t think, pre-kindergarden, he noticed color differences at all. But now, since the class, he now notices differences more. I guess it is a good thing, afterall at a certain again kids will notice the differences anyway. May as well put it in a positive light.

On a completely different note while growing up for part of my childhood in Singapore (I white and Jewish) I remember, when traveling in more remote parts of Asia strangers coming up and patting me on my very blond hair!

One thing I\'m curious about Noodad, do Asian people (or relatives?) give you attitude about being bi-racial?

Right after our first son\'s bris the moel showed us exactly the same thing....and it works (although not with a 2 year old!). Checked out the movie, looked like you were doing it a little faster and longer than I would with a baby

I hate leashes...they truly are for dogs. One of my favorite leash experiences was when flying recently with my wife a two (young kids). We were waiting at the airport at 10 in the morning to board the flight. There was a mom there with a two-year old whose only words were \"pepsi\" \"pepsi\". Each time the kid said it his mother put a bottle of pepsi to his lips. Of course the kid was tethered...who wouldn\'t be if you jacked your kid up on pepsi? Unreal.

\"Dr. Sears, or Dr. Bill as his \"little patients\" call him, is the father of eight children as well as the author of over 30 books on childcare. Dr. Bill is an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine. Dr. Bill received his pediatric training at Harvard Medical School\'s Children\'s Hospital in Boston and The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto -- the largest children’s hospital in the world, where he served as associate ward chief of the newborn nursery and associate professor of pediatrics. Dr. Sears is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and a fellow of the Royal College of Pediatricians (RCP). Dr. Bill is also a medical and parenting consultant for BabyTalk and Parenting magazines and the pediatrician on the website Parenting.com.\"

And his books are great reading!

Thank you mattdm for bringing some semblance of reason to this discussion. And your link to Dr. Sear\'s is great. I\'ve found that site and his books to be an invaluable resource.

I have nothing but respect for people who chose to co-sleep. Some parenting things are truly black and white, like, say putting a baby in a car with no car seat. Co-sleeping simply isn\'t one of those issues.

Well, one person\'s co-dependency is another person love which is why, like with most things parenting I think its best not to judge. And the dog vomit you cite could actually be the reason by co-sleeping deaths are far less common than crib related deaths.

And that is written by Dr. Sears himself, an incredibly respected pediatrician who has eight children of his own, who he has brought up with his wife, also Dr. Sears.

Worldwide statistics indicate that co-sleeping is far safer than the crib industry would like you to believe, http://www.babyreference.com/Cosleeping&SIDSFac...

Again, we haven\'t done co-sleeping with our kids but I\'m not one to judge.

I actually disagree with this pretty strongly. Neither of our kids co-slept with us but I have a few friends who I truly respect who did co-sleep.

I\'m pretty sure all research indicates that the rolling over your baby while they are asleep thing is a complete myth. If anything, co-sleeping advocates would say it is safer than leaving a baby in a crib.

Also, the few times we did it when one of our babies was sick were actually wonderful nights for the family, there is truly nothing like sleeping together with a baby.

I think this falls into the each-to-his-own category.

Dr. Sears has a great piece on co-sleeping here, http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T071000.asp

A coupon book for the rest of the year, coupons include:

- right to sleep in.
- right to go out late the night before the right to sleep in.
- various sexual favors.
- breakfast in bed, etc.

Great list but I disagree strongly on the diaper thing. I\'ve never noticed a difference between generic and not, except for cost. As for wipes we are big fan of the Costco Kirkland brand of wipes. You can get a big ol box and wipe away.

To save money on formula try breast-feeding (I know it doesn\'t work for everyone). You\'ll save a ton of money on formula and washing the breast is more fun :grin .

Totally agree on the sippy cup thing. On the food thing, early on, if you want to save money on baby food and give your baby better stuff to eat making your own baby food is very simple. Just buy a bunch of apples, blend em up, add a little water, and put them in ice cube trays to freeze. After they are frozen put them in ziplock bags. You can do the same with vegatables, etc. We saved a ton of time and money that way. When you need to feed the baby mix in some rice cereal, microwave, and you are good to go.