Toddlers live a life of ease, transported in style in tricked-out strollers, supplied with limitless Cheerios and a full sippy cup available at all times. So why all the temper tantrums? After all, their parents are often just glorified, underpaid butlers, what is there to complain about? Maybe a lot. It's easy for parents to forget that toddlers don't enter our world with a handy rule book. Remembering how foreign our world often is to toddlers can help parents keep a sense of perspective.
Oh, the kids on the bus go toot, toot, toot. All through the town. And then they get a one-day bus suspension -- for passing gas. Two middle school boys (i.e., the target audience for any good fart joke) managed to coordinate their gaseous expulsions, which caused an uproar and resulted in their bus blacklisting. The pair, who have been deemed repeat flatulence offenders, were handed what some have claimed to be a harsh sentence for their stinky crime. Perhaps mandatory Beano consumption would have been more appropriate?
Maybe you can mess with Texas. The Lonestar State may be going soft on crime, as a new bill is now before the state legislature which would require school officials to obtain parental permission before teachers are allowed to paddle students. In 2006-2007, 50,000 Texas students were paddled in school. That's the highest rate of paddling in the Union, folks.
Yes, you talk to your baby about everything going on in her little world and read to her, but how often do you sing to her? Sally Goddard Blythe, the director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, says that parents don't place enough time and emphasis on singing to pre-verbal babies. Don't worry if you're tone-deaf, your little one won't notice or complain about your singing until they're at least 2.
One Pennsylvania school thinks punishment is a dish best served cold. School administrators got so fed up with students' complaints about the hot lunches provided that they doled out only cold sandwiches in the lunch line for a full week as punishment (fruits and vegetables did remain on the menu). Along with the complaints, the kids had been generally misbehaving and failing to clean up after themselves. Administrators say the measures have worked and that behavior has improved. Talk about letting the punishment fit the crime.
So often, the only knowledge young children have of money is watching their parents spend it - at the grocery store, gas station, toy store... No wonder they grow up thinking money grows on trees, it is green after all. In this new economy, more people are focusing on teaching kids about financial literacy. What steps do you take to teach your children the value of a buck?
Dana Macario is a TODAY Moms contributor and Seattle mom to two sleep-depriving toddlers. She is currently developing an alarm clock that will start an IV coffee drip 10 minutes prior to wake-up time. Once properly caffeinated, she also blogs at www.18years2life.com.