Hey, Pops! When packing up the tots' lunch box, leave the pot out, okay? One dad's likely none-too-mellow anymore, after he was arrested for sending his toddler son to daycare with a joint in his lunchbox. Apparently, the dad accidentally dropped the marijuana into the lunchbox the night before while he was packing his son's lunch for the next day. Illegal substances aside, you've got to give him props for not just packing the lunch, but also for doing it the night before, rather than waiting till the morning rush...
Kids crack themselves up over just about everything. But, is that reason enough to change Christmas carol lyrics from "don we now our gay apparel" to "don we now our bright apparel?" One elementary school music teacher in Michigan thought so. Tired of listening to kids giggle over the traditional lyrics, she had them sing a revised version for a while, but the school has since decided to deck the halls old-school style. The cackling carolers have a concert later this month and something tells us they might get their best attendance ever...
Yes, we've done a good job in teaching our kids to be good sportsmen (and women). But, are we taking it too far? A Boston high school football team recently lost the "Super Bowl" after a player was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct-excessive celebration. The offense? As he was running the ball into the end zone, he briefly raised his arm in the air. Just before he scored, he was flagged for the offense and the team ended up losing the game. Although both teams were warned about excessive celebrations before the game, some think the referees went too far in their penalty. They argue that the refs could have given the player a lesser penalty, which wouldn't have cost the team the touchdown (and game). Do you think we're going too far in our efforts to keep things polite on the field or is this a good lesson for players everywhere?
Poor Kermit, after years of lamenting that it's not easy being green, now he's being labeled a "red." While most people who've taken their kids to the new Muppets movie have seen nothing more than a delightful film the whole family can enjoy, one Fox newscaster saw a darker message. The business commentator expressed outrage that an oil executive was cast as the villain in the new movie, thus sending an anti-Capitalist message to children. After his guest asked why liberals couldn't just leave kids alone, the anchor asked why, for once, the Muppets couldn't "have the evil person be the Obama administration." He then asked, "Where are we? Communist China?," a comment that has led many to wonder if people are actually equating the Muppets to Communists. And here we thought it was just a nostalgic, feel-good movie for the holiday season...
It's no secret that young teachers are leaving the profession in droves. But, is the poor pay really what's to blame? One former teacher says not as much as most people think. People know teaching generally isn't a high-paying profession before they go into the field, so low pay may not be what pushes them to leave. This one-time teacher says that a lack of feedback on her performance, combined with other frustrations such as insufficient planning time and limited access to important data about students are the types of things that pushed her out of the classroom -- not her salary. She worries that when policymakers focus the debate on pay, they're missing the bigger picture of the challenges and frustrations facing today's teachers.
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.