Parenting

Say it ain’t so! A new study suggests that children who are spanked are more likely to be happier and more successful. Could it be? Children who are disciplined are also disciplined in life too? Or that children do need strict boundaries and perhaps the more humantarian way to provide them with that is a quick, swift slap to the bottom?

Important to note however, the study also showed an increase in behaviorial problems if a child continues to get spanked into and after they reach adolescence.

According to the research, children spanked up to the age of 6 were likely as teenagers to perform better at school and were more likely to carry out volunteer work and to want to go to college than their peers who had never been physically disciplined.

But children who continued to be spanked into adolescence showed clear behavioral problems.

A “white nationalist” woman in Canada has lost custody of her two children, after she drew a swastika on her 7-year-old daughter’s arm and sent her off to school. Lest you think that might be a bit harsh action to take, remember this is the same court system that overturned a dad’s grounding of his daughter.

The Winnipeg mother told the CBC she regrets redrawing the Nazi symbol after a teacher scrubbed it off. She is fighting the child welfare system to regain custody of her daughter, 7, and son, 2, who were removed from her home four months ago.

“It was one of the stupidest things I’ve done in my life but it’s no reason to take my kids,” the unidentified woman told CBC News. She is currently allowed to see her kids for two hours a week.

Child and Family Services workers were alerted after the second swastika incident at school, the CBC reported. When they arrived at the family home they found neo-Nazi symbols and flags, and proceeded to seize the kids.

It seems like the administrators of “tough love” may have gone a little too far in the marketing. Federal investigators are looking into a number of youth “boot camps” — essentially boarding schools for troubled kids — for engaging in deceptive practices in encouraging parents to send their kids there. We weren’t aware this was such a big business! Now us parents are outsourcing discipline?

As part of the federal review, investigators at the Government Accountability Office made undercover calls to boot camps and referral services that work with them.

In one case, an investigator posing as a father was advised to hide information from his wife about a program, according to GAO investigator Greg Kutz, who was scheduled to testify about the investigation Thursday before a House committee.

“The referral agency warned our fictitious parents that his wife might ‘freak out’ about sending her daughter to a boarding school, and stated: ‘I want you to tell her that it’s a college prep boarding school … If she thinks that you want to send her daughter to a place where there are drug addicts and people that are all screwed up, she will look at you and say ‘no way,”‘ Kutz said in prepared testimony obtained by The Associated Press.

Kutz also stated that when investigators called a Texas wilderness therapy program, they were misled by a program representative into thinking health insurance would reimburse the family’s expenses upon completion of the program.

There’s been yet another handgun accident. What’s really tragic is that these kinds of accidents could easily be avoided.

A 3-year-old girl, who found a gun in a bedroom in her home on Detroit’s west side, shot herself in the head this afternoon.

Detroit Police said the shooting took place at the girl’s home in the 12800 block of Lahser around 2:30 p.m.

The girl found the handgun, reportedly owned by one of her parents, and shot herself in the right side of the head. At least one of her parents was home at the time of the shooting.

The girl did survive, but her current condition is unknown.

Stephen Hook, a father from Spokane, Washington, came up with a new “Creative Behavioral Exercise” to deal with his stepson, Jerry, who has been a constant behavioral problem. Jerry’s latest infraction was stealing his stepfather’s lighter, so to teach the boy a lesson Hook had him stand on a busy street corner near his school holding a cardboard sign that said, “I STOLE FROM MY PARENTS.” Whether or not this is abusive is probably a subject for debate, but we have a feeling little Jerry might think twice before stealing from his dad again.

“Jerry has had several problems with lying, stealing and fighting at school. He sees a private counselor, the school counselor, and has been in an intensive behavior modification program through Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane. Today we received yet another call from his school principle (whom we are now on a first name basis with) stating that Jerry had a ‘Zippo’ type lighter that he had “found on the way to school.” When his principle described the lighter, I instantly knew that Jerry not only steals from family and friends away from home, but is now stealing from our home and that the property was mine”, stated Hook a former resident of Tucson, AZ who returned to Washington seeking a better quality of life and believes he has found it with his family.

When asked by AZR the reaction of passing drivers and that of Jerry himself. Mr. Hook further stated, “There were people honking their horns in support and others who made sure I watched them dial 911. Although a few police officers and detectives drove by we didn’t have any trouble from anybody; and Jerry, other than being a little cold and crying a bit, I think he’s getting the message”.

Wow, can’t imagine why this mom wouldn’t want to spend more time with her little angels. Melissa G. Dean, a mother in Ocala, Florida, apparently would leave the house for days at a time — she was, in her words, “on strike” — leaving her four teenage boys to fend for themselves. Apparently the teens are out of control, and she just couldn’t take it anymore. Dean was subsequently charged with child neglect, and when reporters showed up on the scene to get the scoop, her kids demonstrated why Dean should perhaps get a lenient sentence:

On Wednesday FOX 35 sent a reporter and photographer to the family’s home for a story. When they got there Dean’s sons walked up to the news car when they pulled up and started swearing, and yelling out racial slurs three times the kids came back at the news crew. After the first time, the FOX 35 news crew called 911. The four kids then surrounded the FOX 35 news photographer. One of the kids stood behind him with a pipe in his hand while another kid threatened to hit him.

When police showed up they talked to some of the kids, who had scattered then took a report. A woman with the Department of Children and Families also showed up. We’re told the boys are staying with neighbors. No word on where the mother is after bonding out of jail.

Yet another reason we’re going to change the locks and convert our kid’s room into a den the day they graduate college:

“Boomerang kids” who treat the family home like a free hotel are driving their parents to distraction, a leading British charity has warned.

Lifestyle clashes abound — from piles of laundry and mounds of debt to drug and alcohol abuse — with one parent complaining “our home became a war ground of constant arguments.”

Parents seem to seesaw between frustration about their children still living at home and feeling that at least they are happy and safe.

Stating that Britain has reached a “tipping point” (or is it “tippling point”? Hey-oh!) Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has announced a new plan that will punish parents for their under-age kids’ alcohol indulgence. Ranging from community service to fines of up to 1,000 pounds, Smith is looking to crackdown on parents who won’t take responsibility for their children. Too bad they couldn’t just do that on their own without the government having to get involved.

“If we can do more to bring home to parents the implications of giving children drink straight from the fridge or the cupboard, I want to see that happen,” [Smith] said.

The Home Secretary said that almost half the alcohol obtained by teenagers has “come from the family home” and that teenage binge drinking was now a “cause for concern”.

She added that young adult binge drinkers had an “appetite for destruction” and announced that the Government had commissioned a firm of auditors to review the sale of alcohol.

Jill Hawkins, a woman from Brighton, England, appears to be going for a record number of surrogate births. She has already been the surrogate mother for seven — count em, SEVEN — babies and is planning the eighth. Unlike some surrogacies, all the children are genetically hers. It would seem like an emotional roller coaster to “give up” so many of your children — how does she do it? The answer is that she simply doesn’t want the baby she’s carrying. She has no desire to have children of her own (er, you know what we mean) and does it all for “[her] couple”, certainly a fascinating mindset that many parents would not be able to comprehend.

The babies conceived by Ms. Hawkins have all been her own genetic children but she says she has never wanted to keep them.

“I am not giving up something I want, which people can’t understand,” she said.

“I am not saying it doesn’t hurt - of course it does - and I do feel very emotional about it and I care very deeply about the baby.”

Her first child, Lucy, is nearly 16. She was followed by Bertie, Jamie, David, Sam, Alexandra and Isobel.

The parents of Corey Delaney, the Australian teenager made famous for his house party that drew 500 people and caused thousands of dollars in damage, are sticking up for their son, saying he just made a mistake like any other teenager with limited supervision. Well, we appreciate the unconditional love and all, but face it — your kid is a royal screw up.

In an open letter to the media, she and her husband, Steve, said the image of a teenage party animal was wide of the mark: “The Corey we know is a loving, kind and fun boy who plays computer games with his eight-year-old sister, takes her to the park and always has time for his family. We certainly don’t excuse Corey’s behaviour … But how many parents have been let down by their teenager when they have been given a bit of extra trust?”

Delaney has become an internet hit both for his party and for the brazen way he explained himself in the media. At one point, when a reporter challenged him to take a long hard look at himself, he said: “I have. Everyone has. They love it.”

“He’s come a big gutser [failed], he’s a bit sore and sorry for himself,” said his stepfather, his wife adding that if her son was unable to find a suitable full-time job he would be returning to school at the end of the month.

Hail to the “mean” muthas of the world!

When a teenager broke the house rules by hiding alcohol under the seat of his car, his mother follows through with a threat that makes this mother a role model for parents all over…

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Jane Hambleton has dubbed herself the “meanest mom on the planet.”

After finding alcohol in her son’s car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old’s misdeed with everyone — by placing an ad in the local newspaper.

The ad reads: “OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.”

This Dad gets the parenting nod from parents around the world!!!!

We’re takin’ it back, eh Pops? That’s the way you do it!!!

After catching his teenage son smoking pot, a father sold his son’s coveted “Guitar Hero III” video game on eBay as punishment, and made over $9,000, PC World reported.

The father, a Canadian school teacher, spent two weeks searching for the rare video game for the Nintendo Wii gaming system before buying it for his son.

“Ugly parent syndrome”? I thought that was stricly an ugly American thing. Apparently not…

A junior rugby union match in New Zealand was abandoned at the weekend after a player’s mother stormed onto the field and attacked one of her son’s 10-year-old rivals.

“Ugly parent syndrome” has become an all-too-common feature of junior sport, but rarely do the adults take it out physically on the kids.

Nothing like making your kid a pawn for the rights of criminals.

This mother, a former illegal alien, is now prostituting her 8 year old kid out in effort to circumvent laws and prey on the publics emotions. One would think if the mother truly cared about her kid, she would want him with her, not out pimping her politics.

LOS ANGELES—With his mother deported to Mexico for violating immigration laws, Saul Arellano has been thrust into the national spotlight as the face of her cause.

The 8-year-old had already become a household name in immigrant circles when his mother took refuge in Chicago’s Adalberto United Methodist Church in August 2006 and stayed there a year.

But as he’s expected to take part Wednesday in pro-immigrant activities inspired by his mother, his obvious reluctance to be the poster child of the immigration movement has even raised questions from supporters about whether he’s being exploited.

I am so going to make my kid’s life miserable with this:

Of course, these gadgets can’t really ensure safety, but they can offer parents help if their child gets into trouble. The satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) that helps drivers navigate unfamiliar roads also is used to help parents keep track of children. With cell phones such as the Wherifone GPS Locator Phone or tracking tags such as the GemTrack GPS Personal Locator System, parents can make a phone call or log on to a password-protected Web site for their child’s location. These systems may deliver options such as a panic button kids can push that will relay an SOS to a preset phone number or e-mail, a remote audio monitoring system so parents can hear what’s going on near the device and a log of where the device has been that day.

And when he’s a teenager, I am so going to solidify my neurosis with this:

There are also trackers that can be hidden in the family car, such as the Travel Eyes 2. Radio-frequency identification (RFID), the technology used in the Illinois tollway I-PASS collection system, uses radio waves to transmit a unique ID number that can be picked up on a nearby receiver.

And this? It makes me downright giddy!:

RFID tags, like the ones in the Locator Plus Pack With Distance Alert, can be pinned to clothing or put in backpacks, giving parents a way to keep track of as many as 24 kids within 600 feet; and an alarm sounds when children step outside of a preset safety zone.

Anyone else out there prepared to use technology to keep an watchful eye on their kids? Can it go too far?

I say you just can’t be too safe. Allow them freedom, under the privilege of safety.