crazedparent

Too much television...

These numbers from the American Association of Pediatrics are astounding...

• 70% of child-care centers use TV during a typical day.
• In a year, the average child spends 900 hours in school and nearly 1,023 hours in front of a TV.
• The average American child will witness 200,000 violent acts on television by age 18.

Wow. Just...wow.

From a KidsHealth story on how tv affects kids.

From this day forward...

I'm getting tired of typing "the Express" and "Mighty Q." Enough of the code speak.

Let's face it...if you've read this article or read my posts on DotMoms, you already know the Express is Nolan (after the Express himself, Nolan Ryan). Mighty Q. is Quinlan...but we do call him Quin, Q., Little Q., Q-ball, Q-tip, Q-dawg, and my favorite, Q-T.

Got it? Okay. Back to our regularly-scheduled random riffs.

Vaccines saving lives...

The debate about childhood vaccines still rages. But check out this story from Reuters...UNICEF  estimate 1.4 million kids under the age of five die each year from diseases preventable with vaccines. Unbeliveable.

Bad, bad 'net...

Internetnews.com ran a story today stating "most americans say 'net is danger to kids."

Harris Interactive for Zone labs ran a study asking 2,322 men and women their thoughts on kids and the Web. Ninety-four percent of respondents believe the 'Net poses a threat to children. The biggest fear? Kids connecting with pedophiles in chat rooms.

Deets on the study: here.

Also, for information on how to keep your kids safe on the Web, take a gander at safekids.com and safeteens.com. Good tips on how to deal with safety in chat rooms, spyware, and *gasp*, catching your kids with online porn.

Strategic questioning..

Check out this story from Steve Brewer at Scripps. It's about how kids get strategic in asking permission for something from mom and dad. Mom says no? I'll just ask pops...he always says yes. Or vice versa. Much of this happens when Dad is watching television according to Brewer.

I love this...

"At our house, my wife and I are known as the "Yes-No Parents." One of our sons will make some request _ to stay out late, to hang out with friends at the mall, to buy a genuine samurai sword _ and my wife and I will answer simultaneously. I'll automatically say, "no." She'll say, "yes." We'll share a long look, our eyes calculating the algebra of the disagreement. Then I'll say, "Whoops, I meant 'yes.' "

That look of disagreement...we've shared that plenty of times, me and the crazedparent papa-san. It's almost comical.

Any good stories about the "Yes-No" factor with your kids?

The off button...

Jen-o-Rama's post today at Blogging Baby  really struck a deep chord with me. She asks, "Working from home: Is there really an off switch?"

Up until my maternity leave back in April, I worked for a tech company. I fought long and hard to create a part time position for myself. I worked three days a week...Tuesday through Thursday. On my off days, I was unreachable. I never checked my corporate email account and refused to answer pages or return calls. I know corporate culture...I am disposable -- if I'm not in the office and you want to solve a problem...solve it yourself. And life was good.

My "off days" became "Express-Mommy" days. Just the two of us. We'd spend our mornings at the park, on day trips, just having a fun time. Even if we'd hang out at Casa Crazedparent and he'd be playing on his own, I'd work on the garden, scrapbook, puddle about. I'd do my freelance work and blogging at naptime. And like Jen, I'd spend many a night working late on deadline so it wouldn't eat into my time with my boy.

But the times, they are a changin'. I just quit my day job to focus on writing. And the off switch that once was so easy to turn off? It stays on...alot. I've very passionate about my work, even moreso now that I can do what I've always dreamed of doing. And with blogging, I'm equally driven to keep crazedparent fresh, especially with traffice increasing.

Thankfully, writing is something I can do anytime of the day. And that's the beauty of working from home.  I continue to do my freelancing during baby Q.'s naps, when E. is at school and late at night. But I've got take the tips that I've posted on crazedparent about working from home...I need to have a better, more established schedule. And I need to flip the off switch when the Express comes home from school. I need to bring back the "Mommy-Express" moments, add some Mommy-Q time.

Work, even at home, will always be here for me. Hell, I create more of it every second with my idea-a-minute-brain.

And so, I will work on it with the same passion I have for writing. Because let 's face it...you can make time for your kids, but it doesn't mean squat if your not mentally present.

(And yes, in case you are wondernig, the boys are napping as I tap tap tap away!)

Let's.get.a little bit fiesty...

F-I-E-S-T-Y!

Mom and columnist Carol Hay takes on a sometimes taboo topic today: spanking your kid as a form of discipline. Her column, "My take, for what it's worth," runs online at Cayman Net Nets and let me tell you, she is FIRED UP.

Her bottom line? Spanking works. Time outs don't. And parents are over-inflating their kids egos.

The crazedparent opinion on spanking kids...not into it. I can't swap my kid on the rump when I'm constantly telling him hands are NOT for hitting. Time outs? Eh...sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't. Parents over-inflating the egos of their children? The example Hay cites is a little much for me. But can you really praise your kid too much?

But Hay appears to want a rowdy debate...

"Those of you who haven’t raised young kids, you’re not eligible to have an opinion.  Child psychologists and psychiatrists, people with boring supposed statistical reasoning, bring it on. Nahnahnahnahnah … I can’t hear you. You raise your children your way and butt out of the way I raise mine – end of discussion."

Them's fightin' words. Any takers?

Moms on film...

Just because Hollywood moms are famous, it doesn't make their return to work any less tramautic than the rest of us. They have feelings too, you know, along with some really tough choices to make...

• how many nanny trailers do I need on the set?
• will I need two nannies or will one be fine when we shoot overseas?
• should i turn down 5 of the 8 scripts before me or just make one single blockbuster film for the year, thereby working two solid months and taking the remaining 10 off to spend with lil' pumpkin?

Ahhhh. So hard. I know, I know, I'm passing judgement...or is it that I'm just plain jealous?

Either way, here's a good story from the Dallas Morning News about Hollywood moms keepin' it real.

Mama pampering...

Citymama made me want to cry today. She spent 24 hours away from her two kids for some much-necessary and well-deserved mama pampering at her cousin's place. It sounded like pure bliss.

Mighty Q. digs his own mama, so much so he won't take a bottle yet. We continue to try, but until he does I can only get "me time" in one hour chunks. And I need some "me time." Or maybe I need martini time?

But a full 24 hours alone? Good lord...I can't even think about it for fear I really truly will cry.

Celebrity moms...

Are Britney Spears and other celebrity moms making motherhood look all to inviting for teengae girls? That's the question being asked by Sacramento Bee writer Rachel Leibrock. Pop culture is very celebrity "bump" focused. And you've got Spears being quoted as saying "I'm going to be a hot mom."

Are teenage girls vulnerable to the message that being pregnant is the hip new thing? I'm guessing no. But it certainly does give the conservative folks some fuel. Forget suggestive music lyrics...let's start protesting sassy maternity clothes!!!

See the story here (via Detroit Free Press as the SacBee requires registration).