Archive for the ‘In the News’ Category
Thanks, but I’ll pass. – Chef creates breast milk cheese
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010Chile Earthquake shifts earth’s axis
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Now, this is wild stuff. The changes are amazingly tiny to us; the day is shortened by milliseconds. But it’s still astounding that a quake can have a cosmic effect. The Chile quake is the eight biggest on record.
[From Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth - Yahoo! News]
Worst dad nominations open: Dad suspected of trying to cut off 1-year-old’s penis
Thursday, February 4th, 2010It doesn’t get too much worse than this. Dad suspected of trying to cut off 1-year-old’s penis [From Dad suspected of trying to cut off 1-year-old's penis ] Share on Facebook
Read more here:
Worst dad nominations open: Dad suspected of trying to cut off 1-year-old’s penis
And the world’s oldest first-time fathers are…
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009This just in from the Armenian Medical Network website (story available also in Russian).
I love the “failure to launch” reasoning.
Italian men become fathers at a later age than any other nationality, and do little or nothing to help their wives once their babies are born, statistics office Istat said Thursday.
Italian men have their first child at an average age of 33, compared with younger than 31 for fathers in Spain, France and Finland, Istat said.
Part of the problem is that many Italian men live with their parents for longer than elsewhere in the world, with 40 percent of 30-34 year-old Italian males still staying at home.
[From And the world’s oldest first-time fathers are… - Gender: Male -]
I can’t find the average age of first time fathers in the U.S. It’s 32 in the U.K.
Obama devoted much of the Friday before Fathers Day to talk about importance of parenting
Monday, June 22nd, 2009I hope we can all be inspired by Obama’s message about the importance of dads in the lives of their kids. Some men take their own personal experience and triumph over adversity as an example of how all kids should pull themselves up despite the lack of the same advantages most of us take for granted. I like the fact that Obama speaks plainly about how the pain of going without a present father and that he was lucky to overcome it.
Obama says prime goal was ‘to be a good father’
President tells East Room audience of his absent dad’s impact“I decided that if I could be one thing in life, it would be to be a good father,” he told a White House audience, after saying that his father’s decision to walk away from his family had left “a hole in a child’s heart” that couldn’t be filled.
Obama spoke after five men, including a former addict from Baltimore, described their own struggles. The president said there was “no rule that says that you have to repeat your father’s mistakes.”
Adults who were deserted by a parent “have an obligation to break the cycle” and “do better than they did, with your own children,” he said.
[From Obama says prime goal was 'to be a good father' - baltimoresun.com]
Stories like his are often used to teach us a moral lesson that adversity creates greatness. I tend to think greatness evolves despite adversity. While Horatio Alger stories always make better news stories, most people who are “successful” come from homes with supportive, loving and involved parents.
News flash: American kids eating better; my kids still the same
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009The eating habits of American children appear to be shifting. And for a change, the news is good.
Chicken nuggets, burgers, fries and colas remain popular with the under-13 set, of course. But new market research shows that consumption of these foods at restaurants is declining, while soup, yogurt, fruit, grilled chicken and chocolate milk are on the rise.
The findings, based on survey data by the Chicago market research firm NPD Group, follow a report last year that childhood obesity appears to have hit a plateau after rising for more than two decades. That finding, reported by The Journal of the American Medical Association, has been greeted with guarded optimism, and it remains unclear whether efforts to limit junk food and increase physical activity in schools have had a meaningful effect on the way children eat.
[From Well - Kid Goes Into McDonald’s and Orders ... Yogurt? - NYTimes.com]
Well, not in our house, where it’s still a battle to get some fruit in the cereal, or to force consumption of any vegetable that isn’t deep-fried and served with their other favorite vegetable, ketchup. Our pediatrician just reminded us as well that kids should get from 16-24 ounces of milk each day. We weren’t really worrying about milk, since they eat a lot of cheese and often have cereal, but I think I was also laboring under the weight of my own delusions that kids still get milk in school like they used. Sure, they kept those little 4 oz cartons of milk on the radiator and they were often disgustingly lukewarm by the time we got to them, but at least we were being forced to drink milk two to three times a day. Now, our school has no beverages or hot lunch and asks us to send a reusable water bottle to school. I suppose there is some new device I could find that would keep milk cold until lunch time, but I haven’t found it yet.
Rats – Again we didn’t make the “List of famous dads Americans want to see in their underwear”
Monday, June 15th, 2009A recent survey by Jockey brand underwear survey (Insert PR accolades here) names the following dads as intensely viewable in their underwear. This is not me talking, but rather 1000 “people” 18 or over in a random telephone survey. And the winners are:
Brad Pitt – 29%
Matthew McConaughey – 24%
Hug Jackman 16%
Will Smith – 16%
Barack Obama – 13%
The survey also actually queried whether people thought Obama would want boxers, boxer briefs or briefs as a gift for Fathers Day. I won’t titillate you with what style underwear most Americans fantasize our president wears.
I actually don’t recall getting the nomination form for this survey, which may explain why the list is so full of “non-surprises.” I gotta say, though, that since Bill Clinton, made the question “boxers or briefs” so important to the country’s future, I really don’t want to ponder Mr. Obama in anything other than a blue suit and rep tie.
Pick your kids’ friends based on what they eat says new study
Friday, June 12th, 2009A new study published online in Social Science and Medicine says that parents’ eating habits actually have little to do with what kids eat. The national study, which looked at a representative sample of 2291 parents and 2692 children found little similarity between kids’ and parents’ diets, with just a slight edge moms versus dads. However, the study did show that, especially as kids get older, peers have a far larger effect, with more similarities within peer groups. Kids do tend to eat what other kids are eating.
The study did not try to analyze why parents’ and kids’ diets don’t resemble each other more, but suggests that parents aren’t doing as good a job as they should to not only show good eating examples, but get kids to actually follow them.
Parenting advice: Watch what you eat, model good eating habits and make sure kids are eating a diet similar to the (good) one you are following. Failing that, make sure your children eat often with other kids who are healthy eaters.
11% say waiting on economy to have children
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009Major life decisions go on hold with recessions, including home purchase and renovation, and even having kids.
Eleven percent of Americans surveyed said they planned to postpone marriage, and the same number said they are waiting to have children, according to the survey by legal website FindLaw.com.
[From Recession Kills The Mood: Americans Put Off Marriage, Children (And Divorce) Because Of Economy]
Most people however, 84% in the same study, say that the economy will have no effect on major life decisions. Bravado or reality, the truth is that marriage rates have been dropping from 2000 to 2007 and birth rates also were down in 2008 versus 2007 (CDC).
GreatDad listed among “Digital Influentials” by Cory Treffiletti – MediaBizBlogger
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
If you consider yourself an Influential, then you’re reading the right column. And if you’re reading this column at all, then you must be digital, so welcome to the Digital Influential!A little over a year ago I started writing this column because people were always asking me what I thought was cool, which is quite ironic when you get to know me and realize that I’m pretty much not cool. I wanted to make it easier to share with my online compatriots what I found to be of interest and see if I could spark the fire of virality to help some of these up-and-coming companies succeed. After a year I can say that in some cases I helped and in some cases I didn’t, but along the way I came to realize that it’s not the outcome or the destination that counts, but more the excitement of the journey itself. I’ve used this column as a motivator to stay on top of the new and innovative, and I’ve found it to be enjoyable in and of itself. I find that I truly appreciate surfing some of my usual suspects to see what modish new sites are driving the zeitgeist. Hopefully when you read this column you become inspired to do the same, and if you do, please send me a note and let me in on the secret so we can share it with the rest of the readers and discover the new together!
Anyways, now that I’m a proud papa I find myself visiting a whole new plethora of sites that will help me to be a great dad, which is how I found GREAT DAD (http://www.greatdad.com/). The site is written to help dads figure out how to be, well, great! I discovered that there are loads of sites aimed at moms, but not as many for dads, so when I come across one I feel I have to share.
[From Jack Myers - Cory Treffiletti's Digital Influentials. MediaBizBloggers.com]
We always love making it on another list of sites that are “driving the zeitgeist,” especially by a real dad. Thanks Cory!
