Time-Out

Last night Rachel was in our room. We were all laying on the bed hanging out. Lori finished a magazine and handed it to me. I gave it an off-handed toss to the floor on my side of the bed.

Rachel's eyes widened and she said "Daddy, did you throw that magazine? Do you need a time-out."

Instantly I thought "Dang it!" and looked at Lori. We knew what had to be done. I went to the wall, put my hands on the wall and stood there staring at the wall until Lori played the part of the timer singing "beep beep beep."

I wasn't too thrilled about it, but a small price to pay for showing Rachel consistency and that actions have consequences.

Consumer Reports Retracts Car Seat Story

MSNBC.COM -- Consumer Reports recently published a study saying that most of the car seats it crash tested failed with disastrous results. Now it's saying that they were not tested at the speeds they reported, but at much higher speeds. I'm still waiting to hear what they say in the next magazine for a full explanation, but the speeds of the actual test were still speeds you might travel (approx. 70) and the most of the seats did fail. So while the conditions were extreme, we can still take away from this article the information that the seats that passed the tests are really the only ones you should consider. More...

Breakfast with Rachel

This morning I was about to head down for breakfast and I heard a knocking at Rachel's door. I opened it and there she stood, with her pillow, blanket and Aaron, her stuffed leopard, and Benny, her stuffed bear, in her arms. She said she wanted to go and lay on mommy's bed, which is apparently part of the morning routine.

I explained that mommy was still sleeping, but would she like to have breakfast with me? That was acceptable, provided I changed her diaper first. Very adamant about that. I tossed the pillow, blanket and Aaron back onto her bed and then scooped her up and took her downstairs. After dispatching the dirty diaper and thoroughly washing my hands, we went into the kitchen. I cut up a banana for her and poured myself a bowl of cereal. We had a nice time together.

Then I set her in front of Sesame Street (ugh! TV! I'm a horrible parent!) and prepared to leave for work. Lori didn't think that was a good idea and roused herself to come and hang out with Rachel. So I got to see my whole family before work which was a real bonus, compared to the one or two cats I typically see before heading out the door.

Single Sex Classrooms?

MSNBC.COM -- Here's an interesting one, out of Virginia... they're considering separating kids out at a middle school by sex. They cite differences in temperature preferences, inequality of test scores, differences in learning styles, the idea that girls are less likely to engage in a co-ed classroom, things like that. I think it's rather interesting and will be curious to see where they go with this and if it works out for them. More...