We hope the kids at one Chicago high school were all born with exceptionally large bladders because their school recently limited the number of bathroom breaks they can take to three per semester. With classes lasting 83 minutes, that's a long time to hold it. The measures were taken in an effort to stop kids from using bathroom breaks as an excuse to ditch class. However, many are concerned about the potential health impacts of the el baño ban. Urinary tract infections and incontinence have both been shown to result when people refrain from peeing for long periods of time -- not to mention the fact that it's hard to focus on the lesson plan when you're trying to focus on not peeing your pants.
A real man wouldn't shoplift the pootie from a single mom. In "Jerry Maguire," Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character memorably warned his friend about the ethics and moralities involved when dating a single mother. In real life, we all recognize that dating as a single mom is a tricky business, but very little research has actually been done on the topic. Recently however, a study followed 300 newly divorced mothers for the two years after they filed for divorce to see how they viewed their re-entrance into the dating scene. The researchers noted that single moms who date have two, potentially conflicting, goals. The first is to find adult companionship for themselves. The second, is to seek someone who will serve in the parenting role for their child(ren). Women's ethnicity and socio-economic status tended to influence which role they viewed as more important, with highly-educated and affluent women focusing more on finding adult companionship. For women wondering if they'll ever date again, the news is good. 86 percent reported having had some dating experience and 71 percent reported a serious relationship.
At seven, kids aren't (officially) allowed to have a Facebook account, but some have their very own blogs. One mom allowed and encouraged her second-grade daughter to start her own blog. Knowing that the virtual, online world is the world of the future, this mom embraces her daughter's interest and participation in the technology. Stating that she actively monitors her daughter's Internet usage, she has no concerns about the matter. Would you let your child start their own blog? Would your feelings change if your child used a pseudonym and didn't post pictures of themselves?
First it was anorexia, then tanorexia, now it's "drunkorexia." The new trend (not to mention new concern for parents) on college campuses is "drunkorexia," where students are skimping on meals during the day in order to save calories for binge drinking at night. Oh kids, as if binge drinking weren't bad enough, but to do it on empty stomachs... They say that as many as one in five students has saved calories for alcohol. Unfortunately, it gets worse. Drunkorexics are at a greater risk for becoming the victims of sexual assault and are more likely to have severe eating disorders later in life.
Tick tock, guys, tick tock. There is now more evidence of the male biological clock, with researchers finding that a man's chances of fathering a child decrease after the age of 41. While their sell by date isn't as cut and dried (up) as women's, and they don't have to suffer through menopause, there is now significant evidence that men, too, need to hurry up and procreate. The study showed that at 41, a man had a 60 percent chance of contributing to a pregnancy but by 45, that decreased to just a 35 percent chance.
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.