Pointy-Headed Kids and the End of Play

Interesting/disturbing numbers taken from a report by the Alliance for Childhood (did they spend much time coming up with that name?) called “Crisis in the Kindergarten: a new report on the disappearance of play”: Minutes of standardized test prep, on average, that New York and Los Angeles kindergartners undergo each day: 24 Minutes of unstructured …

My Son Will Be an Uneducated Sap

Hate to say it, J.P., but the chances of your getting an education similar to the private, prep-school one that I received are nil. I went to a fancy Upper West Side private school, where I received advanced instruction in insider trading, pasta kneading, and the ethical justifications for moral lapses. The cost to send …

I Own All of These Things

Because there are an infinite number of Websites, there is, of course, the “Top 5 Worst Baby Shower Gifts.” My favorite: the peepee teepee. The one I wished I was shocked existed: baby high heels. The one I actually owned (blame the ex): the baby-wipe warmer. Anyone out there have stuff that should have made …

‘The Favorite Model of Your Child’

Let’s not get into how I found myself searching the Internet for the phrase “child catapult.” I was. Deal with it. It yielded some rather interesting stuff: Freeplanstobuildacatapult.net. Interesting site. Links to how one might build paintball guns, bazookas, and land mines. Nothing on catapults. The Assembly Required Blog offers a link to a “free …