HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hau4@ellis.uchicago.edu (sven  hauptfeld)
Subject: Re: infants and bilingual training
Reply-To: hau4@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 17:44:47 GMT

Virtually all bilingually raised children I know have developed at least 
decent communication skills in all languages spoken to them, although one
tends to be dominant.

An example closest to me (close relatives): two children brought up in USA by
a Croatian father and Chech mother. Parents spoke to them in their respective
languages, but not exclusively - English was also spoken at home.
The children's "native" language is definitely English, but they can both 
understand spoken and written Croatian and Chech perfectly and can speak at
least decently. 

Interesting observation: one of them is exceptionally intelligent, the other 
is about average - but it is the average one that speaks the parents'
languages much better.

I also know some ethnic Hungarian families in Croatia, where BOTH parents
frequently spoke Hungarian to their children, but all of them knew Croatian.
Children end up understanding Hungarian perfectly, but with only fair speaking
skills.

Third example would be some Croatian families living in Germany, where BOTH
parents speak Croatian to their children AND both parents know German only as
a foreign language. Children usually end up truly bilingual, but more 
proficient in German in matters concerning school, sports or play and more
proficient in Croatian in family and home matters.

Conclusion based on these examples:

Virtually all children seem to pick up two or three languages without any
problem, insofar as understanding is concerned. Speaking is less sure and
depends on the individual, UNLESS there is a parent (or grandparent or any
other dear and close family member) who DOES NOT KNOW the dominant
language of the community well enough, so that the child is "forced" to use
his/her language.

Of course, this is based on personal experience and has no "scientific"
value.

Sven

Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: leeba@mot.com (Leeba Salzman)
Subject: Re: Whole milk verses 2%
Reply-To: leeba@mcil.comm.mot.com
Organization: Motorola Communications Israel Ltd., Tel Aviv
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 05:02:48 GMT

In article <1992Aug12.151818.18894@kodak.kodak.com> salvaggi@sunshine.Kodak.COM (Nanette Salvaggio) writes:
>
>My son is now 9 months old.  The doctor has told us to switch
>him to milk, which he seems to like just fine.  My
>question is that our doctor has said whole milk,  yet
>my daycare providers doctor insists that whole or 2% doesn't really
>matter.  I have taken a quick survey around the office and
>there seems to be a 50 - 50 split over which is better.  My
>son is healthy and sits right on the 50th percentile for
>both weigth and height.  Everyone in my family except me
>has always had weight problems so I am concerned and 
>don't want my son to end up with a weight problem.  So we
>are concerned about his fat intake.  What is the net experience
>and knowlegde on this subject?
>
Children (unless they are overweight, which your son is not) should have
whole milk until age 2.  


Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: Nigel.Allen@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Nigel Allen)
Subject: duplicate baby blankets
Organization: Echo Beach
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 10:49:08 GMT

Babies and small children often develop a strong attraction for their
favorite blanket or other toy, and will get upset when you take it away to
wash it. The solution is to buy two identical blankets, and swap the clean
one for the dirty one when the child is asleep or distracted by something
else. Then you can wash the dirty one.

Not a major observation, but perhaps one which will lead to happier
children and parents.

--
   The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of
     North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Campus Office for Information
        Technology, or the Experimental Bulletin Board Service.
           internet:  bbs.oit.unc.edu or 152.2.22.80
From: van@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (valerie.thompson)
Subject: Re: Waterbeds
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 16:34:28 GMT


Is a water bed more comfortable during pregnancy
than a traditional mattress?  YES YES YES!!!  I got a waterbed 2 months before
my first was born, and suddenly, I could sleep!  6 years and 3 kids later,
I still have it, and still love it.  I've heard different opinions about
whether or not it's safe for kids, but MY opinion is that it's fine - just
keep it well filled so it's firm, and of course, don't leave an infant un-
supervised on it.  I always nursed my kids in bed, then fell asleep with
them in my arms, and there was never a problem on the waterbed.  Hope you
find SOMETHING to make it more comfortable to sleep at night!!

Valerie Thompson
From: M18611@MBVM.Mitre.Org (Kathy Wilk)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Sweet things they do (3 years)
Date: 18 Aug 92 15:16:09 GMT
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford MA 01730

In article <1992Aug17.224841.15943@cco.caltech.edu>
hough@seismo.gps.caltech.edu (Susan Hough) writes:
>We have a cat who frequently stands at the door and meows to go
>out.  Yesterday evening, my 22-month old saw her doing this, got
>up from where he was sitting in the living room, opened the front
>door, held it open for the cat, and closed it again once she was out.
>
>What makes it all the more amazing is that this is a child who will
>usually dash outside himself the minute he sees an open door.
>
>:o)    :o)     :o)
>
>Sue
 
  This reminds me of how nicely my kids and the dog get along.  Sheba (the
dog) is a BIG 3-year-old Doberman/Lab mix; we adopted her from the pound
seven months ago.  It seems that all she wants to do is be a member of the
family and so she makes a very good pet (obeys well, is not destructive,
loves affection).
  The other night, I was putting the kids to bed with the usual bedtime
story hour.  I tell two stories when the 3-yr-old is in bed and her 21-
month-old brother is in his crib.  The stories always contain elements
from the day's activities; that night, I included a friend's dog, 'Spanky',
in the story because we had visited the friend and her dog that day.
  The door to the bedroom creaked open and Sheba stuck her head in.  I
said, 'Come on in, Sheeb' and my 3-yr-old daughter leaned out of her bed
and said, 'Yeah, come on in, Sheeb, we were just talking about Spanky'.
   Never mind that the two dogs have never met.
   Well, you had to be there!
 
 
                        K. Wilk
                        M18611@MBVM.MITRE.ORG
 
            <--********************************-->
 'Thrusting my nose firmly between his teeth, I threw him to the ground
  on top of me.' - Mark Twain
            <--********************************-->
From: kassover@rumsey.crd.ge.com (David Kassover)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: God's Family Values
Date: 14 Aug 92 14:55:05 GMT
Organization: nada

In article <1992Aug13.141535.13261@xn.ll.mit.edu> rsteele@adam.ll.mit.edu (Rob Steele) writes:
>
>On the contrary, varying interpretations prove that there is something to  
>interpret.  
>

Only in the sense that "to prove" means "to test".

Often, evaluations of the form "there is less here than meets the
eye" are the correct ones.  Excuse me, more correct than others.


>
>Making a choice certainly does not require rudeness.  But it's not purely  
>subjective.  

Nor is rudeness or politeness an absolute.


-- 
David Kassover             "Proper technique helps protect you against
uupsi!khazad!kassover	          sharp weapons and dull judges."
kassover@aule-tek.com                   F. Collins
kassover@ra.crd.ge.com
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: dan@Ingres.COM (Daniel J. Dick)
Subject: Re: God's Family Values
Organization: Ingres, an ASK Company, Alameda CA 94501
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3
Date: 21 Aug 92 00:00:22 GMT

This is great!  I love it.  I have some other suggestions if I can share
them.

elambert@qualcom.qualcomm.com (Eber Lambert) writes:
: 
: Geez Louise... all this talk of God and Jesus and still nobody has told me
: how to answer the big theological questions that my kids pose:
: 
: 1) How does God see through the ceiling? (age3) (current answer: He uses the
:     same service that Santa Claus uses)

Who says He's only on the *other* side of the ceiling.  Maybe He's using
   *your* eyes!!!  That's a good one to tell at bedtime!

: 
: 2) Why does God let so many people starve to death? (age 7) (current answer: 
: because hes too busy looking through well-fed peoples ceilings)
: 

God gave lots of food but we have to learn to share.  (Ouch!!!)

Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: yslas@riverauswest.com ( Rob Yslas)
Subject: Re: Stoppint bedtime bottle
Organization: U S WEST Advanced Technologies
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 19:35:20 GMT

I think that kids eat when they're hungry and I bet he will let you know if he
is.  All kids are different but both of our boys were off the bottle completely
by their first birthday.

-- 
yslas@uswat.uswest.com
Organization: University of Maine System
Date: Wednesday, 19 Aug 1992 12:32:59 EDT
From: Ailsa N.T. Murphy <IO81409@MAINE.MAINE.EDU>
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Talk talk TALK talk
 <1992Aug18.173116.8721@uc.msc.edu>
 <bandor.714180812@byerley.rdt.monash.edu.au>

THANK YOU for posting!!!  i was thinking, "oh, a thread about katy!"
but now i realize how lucky i am...  katy started in what *I*
consider nonstop chatter when she was 4.  but she only talks when
she has somethign to say.  unfortunately for me, she has a LOT
to say...  "mummy, look at that big truck!"  "mummy, when are we
going to see grandma again?"  "mummy, how do you spell 'tuesday'?"
"mama, you know what?"  "mama, look what teh cat is doing!"
"mama, can i have an animal cracker?"  "mama, when are you going to
be done on the computer?"  "i don't LIKE red sauce!"  and on and on and
on...  it's not that what she says is STUPID, it's just that sometimes
i want her to JUST STOP TALKING!!!!!!!!!!!  "katy, be quiet!"  "katy,
stop talking!"  "katy, SHUT UP!" are fairly frequent phrases around
here...  the latter phrase much less frequent, but anyway...  i
don't send her to the corner as much as i used to, mostly because
she's so darned articulate, i forget i CAN send her to the corner!

but, having read the posts that came before mine, i am now very
thankful.  she does stop talking, compared to these kids...  she
just talks to much for ME.

                                        -ailsa
From: CLH7@psuvm.psu.edu (Chris Himes)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Toddler table/chair recommendations
Date: 19 Aug 92 13:53:59 GMT
Organization: Penn State University

Everyone was so helpful with their suggestions for gifts for young boys,
that I thought I would come to the well one more time.

We are considering buying a small table and chair set for Doug for
Christmas.  I have seen the plastic Little Tyke sets, the set in the Right
Start catalog with the top that can open up for sand/water play, and the
wood set in the Natural Baby catalog.

Have other parents been happy with the plastic sets, or is wood the way to
go?  I'm inclined to get separate chairs, rather than an attached bench
type.  Are there other sets that parents would recommend?  I'm probably
leaning toward the wood set, but I wonder if it is worth ~$300 for a table
and 2 chairs.

Chris Himes
From: lindsay@sesame.lbl.gov (Lindsay Schachinger)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Active children and sitters
Followup-To: misc.kids
Date: 20 Aug 1992 17:28:51 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.3.254.22


Is there anyone else out there who has an active child who is
with a sitter half-time or more? My son is 6 months, and I'm
concerned that his sitter wants him to be "quiet." Actually, it's
pretty subtle, and more like a suspicion on my part. So I'd like
to hear from people who have had experience with sitters and
active (or "challenging" :-) kids. What did you look for in a
sitter? Is this just an inevitable problem with sitters? 

No flames about leaving him with a sitter, please. I feel bad
enough already.

Lindsay

-- 

   Lindsay Schachinger			lindsay@sesame.lbl.gov
   Exploratory Studies Group		ucbvax!sesame.lbl.gov!lindsay
   Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory		(510) 486-5009
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: paula@helix.nih.gov (Paula Moore)
Subject: Flying with infant - results
Organization: National Institutes of Health, Bethesda
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 18:50:30 GMT


Thanks to all how sent along ideas on flying with infants. (My sister
was flying cross country with her 5 month old).  They made the trip ok
and she had really nice people sitting next to her, one woman played 
with Stephen while my sister ate.  They did have some incredible problems
the seats they originally had assigned to them were 8 rows apart.  I don't
know if they didn't request seats together or what, but my sister was 
hysterical - she's moving to Ca, the rest of the family is all here
in Maryland in close proximity, she was going first with her husband
joining her in a week and the furniture has been delayed by (currently)
1 week.  Haivng trouble with the airline seats was the last straw.  
They did get her seats switched at the gate, but at first had her next to a
door.  What a mess.

Meanwhile, I don't know how much my 2 year old daughter grasps about this
move.  We didn't see my sister all that often, but with the impending move
we've seen each other much more.  And Melanie (daughter) really likes
seeing her cousin Stephen.  We were at my parents house yesterday and
Mellie saw my sisters car, and asked 'Kaki [Kathy] here?', I responded that
she was far away in California (may as well give 'far away' a name) then
she asked 'Stephen here?', and I gave her the same answer.  SHe looked at
the car and said 'Kaki's car!'.  My BIL is staying with my parents until he
can ship the dog and then he's driving out.  And then my parents kept
talking about Geemommy going on an airplane - she's out to help them settle
in.  Mellie woke up last night - a rare occurence, and has been out of
sorts today but doesn't have a fever.  I didn't think she'd understand that
she won't be seeing my sister and family for a while, but maybe she's
understanding more than I think, or just responding to some undercurrent of
change we are all projecting.  Anyone else have anecdotes on kids this
young grasping such big changes?

Paula Moore
paula@pandora.dcrt.nih.gov
From: mark@whizbang.wariat.org (Mark W. Schumann)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: God's Family Values 
Distribution: world
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 92 02:51:58 GMT
Organization: The Software Sweatshop, Cleveland, Ohio USA


In article <2A87DE84.581D@intercon.com> ooblick@intercon.com writes:

! In article <1992Aug11.001034.2213668@locus.com>, judy@locus.com (Judy Leedom 
! Tyrer) writes:
! > If you'd really like to meet them, you might go to the soup kitchens, the
! > homeless centers, the hospital wards, the hospices, elderly centers, etc.
! > You might even come to church.  There is an active gay/lesbian group in
! > the Episcopal church.  I'm sure they'd be more than happy to talk to you 
! about
! > Christianity.  
! 
! I hope you're not saying that doing "good deeds" is the exclusive realm of 
! xtianity.

If Christians bash gays, you should be offended by Christianity itself,
even though many other people bash gays too.

If Christians feed the homeless, that isn't relevant because you don't
have to be a Christian to do it.

Okay...if you say so....


! I do not think that any faction of xtianity can be said to be a religious 
! minority.  Worship of Jesus is the default in this country.

Ask a Jehovah's Witness.  Or a Mormon.
From: ngivler@bbn.com (Noelle Givler)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Rewards (Was: Re: Mischievous Child (3 YO))
Date: 18 Aug 1992 14:51:47 GMT
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
Reply-To: ngivler@spca.bbn.com (Noelle Givler)
NNTP-Posting-Host: bbn.com

In article <1992Aug18.003732.2202633@locus.com> judy@locus.com (Judy Leedom
Tyrer) writes:
>Does that mean if I do a good job I don't get a promotion and a raise?  Does
>that mean if I slack off and refuse to do my job I won't get fired?  Does that
>mean if I treat my friends really well I won't get invited to important
>parties?  Does that mean if I treat my spouse like dirt he won't divorce me?

Actually, Judy, your statement is a pretty good illustration of why I do not 
want to rely on external rewards in raising my child -

	I know lots of people who've worked hard at their jobs and who were
	'rewarded' by being fired or laid off. (The company went under or their
        boss didn't like them or their last name came too early or too late in
        the alphabet or the clerk keypunching in the names of the unfortunate
        made a mistake or ...)         
   
	On the other hand, I know quite a few people who've put forth a minimal
        effort and been rewarded with raises and promotions (The company was
        doing so well that everyone got raises or their boss really liked them
        or they managed to hide their own lack of achievment by taking credit 
        for other people's work or ...)

	I suspect we all know people who've been treated poorly by spouses
        and friends.  Surely you're not suggesting that they all 'deserved' 
        that treatment? 

	Life ain't fair.  I do not want my child to believe that its 
        unfairness is a reflection upon her own abilities. 

       
Noelle Givler
Xref: sparky misc.kids:20925 sci.lang:6386
From: martin@chiton.ucsd.edu (Martin Olivera)
Newsgroups: misc.kids,sci.lang
Subject: Re: infants and bilingual training
Date: 12 Aug 92 15:44:55 GMT
Organization: UCSD - Scripps Inst. of Oceanogr. - MPL

In article <Bsu4Co.8JD@acsu.buffalo.edu> gorman@acsu.buffalo.edu (Anne-Marie K. Gorman) writes:
>
>I have heard of children who were spoken to in a different language by
>every important adult (mum, dad, grandparents) and thought that every 
>person speaks a different language.  Urban legend, perhaps.
>
My 2 cents: two experiences close to me.
A couple frined of mine speak Spanish at home and their older daughter also
learns English everywhere else (school, friends, etc). She's now 6, and is
fluent in both. One thing to note is that since she was 4 she was able to
switch back and forth from English to Spanish and viceversa, depending on the
language she was spoken to and the person she was talking to. For instance,
she'd speak in Spanish to me because she knew I spoke in Spanish to her folks,
but she'd switch instantly to English when my wife, English-only, became
involved in the conversation.
The second case: another couple friend of mine. They spoke Spanish at home, but
since she had swiss-german upbringing she'd speak swiss-german to their daughter,
and the girl would pick up English at the day care center. So she was exposed to
3 languages at the same time. Last I saw of them the girl was 2.5 yrs old and
she could barely communicate with the rest of the world. She'd utter sounds that
tried to become words if a mixture of languages. Maybe later on she was able to
learn to tell apart and communicate in all 3 languages (they now live in Italy,
so there's a 4th language involved). Who knows.

Now my case: we speak English at home, but I intend to speak in Spanish only to
Tommy (now 4 months old) and see what happens. I know that in the long run he'll
be more inclined to speak English (mother, envirnoment), but he might have an
easier time learning Spanish if he's exposed to it early on.

Martin
>On the other hand, my brother-in-law had a hard time learning English
>and would have been doubly confused if he'd been presented with two
>languages simultaneously.  Friends of mine who had teh same system as
>my sisters and me (English at home, French at school) ended up with
>worse English *and* worse French than we did.
>
>I think success depends on a lot of things:
>- child's natural aptitude
>- how much language practice teh child gets in general
>  (e.g. reading, listening, speaking, etc.)
>- who speaks what to child and how often/how long
>
>I would go for it, but be ready to stop if it looks like the child is
>having too much trouble.  (How can you tell?  I have no idea.  If you
>find out let me know, so I'll know when to stop speaking French to
>my babies!)
>
>
>-- 
>==============================================================================
>Anne-Marie K. Gorman          Sophie and Teresa are 7 months old and crawling!
>Human factors/ergonomics      Time flies twice as fast when you're having
>University at Buffalo         twice as much fun.


--
From: alison@husky.informix (Alison Suggs)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: birth announcement
Date: 20 Aug 92 17:43:01 GMT
Reply-To: alison@husky.informix
Organization: Informix Software


Well, it's a bit late, but I feel I have to announce anyway:

Danika Hayes Suggs
April 24, 1992 8:26 a.m.
9 lbs, 11 oz   21 inches

I'm almost afraid to post the birth story because I had a very easy time
despite the fact that she was so large.  They say first-borns are smaller
and girls are smaller.  I am seriously worried about having a boy the 
second time around!

Alison
From: sg@tredysvr.Tredydev.Unisys.COM (Susanne Gilliam)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Cute things they say/do [20 mos and 4.5 years]
Date: 12 Aug 92 19:58:27 GMT
Organization: /usr/lib/news/organization

In article <1992Aug11.140539.428@cs.brown.edu> mhn@cs.brown.edu (Marian H. Nodine) writes:
> [...other funny stuff deleted...]
>
>Then last but not least, I had given Anna a sticker last night just
>before she went to bed.  She likes sticking them on things, so she stuck
>it on herself.  Then she was trying to nurse, but got very distracted
>moving the sticker to different parts of my body ...
>Anna:  Knee!
>Misty:  Yes, the sticker is on my knee ...
>Anna:  Tummy!  <moves the sticker to my tummy>
>Misty:  Yes, that's right, that is my tummy ...
>Anna:  Nipple!  Milk!
>Misty:  Yes, that's right, you put the sticker on my nipple ...
>Anna:  Bye bye!  <pulls down my shirt, toddles off to bed ...>
>Which brings you to ... you know you're a mother when you find yourself
>sitting on your bed laughing with a sticker stuck to your nipple ...
>
>-- Misty

  At our house last weekend, I'd given my 2 year old daughter 2 stickers
before she went to bed, and forgot to peel them off her pj's later, so
she had them on all night.  When she and her roomate/big brother woke
**way** too early on Sat morning, my husband kindly went in with them,
to try and help them settle down and get some more sleep.  He apparently
crawled in the lower bunk, with my daughter, and peace returned to the
household (and I went back to sleep, though the monitor was on).  When
we all got up for "real", it turned out Elizabeth had not been sleeping
at all, though Daddy had been. She apparently sat up, after awhile, and
upon re-discovering the stickers, she peeled them off her pj's, and
looked for someplace interesting to stick them.  I suspect she played
with them for awhile, but by the time my husband woke up, they were
carefully, and completely, stuck in his underarm hair!  He swears
he slept with his arms at his sides, but somehow I doubt it...
  When I could finally see again, through the tears of excessive
laughter, I helped him peel/cut the stickers out.
 
					Susanne Gilliam