HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: lauraf@classy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Laura Floom)
Subject: Re: Sesame Street is HARMFUL to children (Was something else)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 18:04:29 GMT

In article <9212171620.AA11134@cairo.kodak.com> mbb@keps.com (Maureen Busch) writes:
>Many of the criticisms of the 'fast-moving "non-reality" images' are
>much more applicable to the older Sesame Street shows.  They still
>incorporate the older segments into the shows on occasion, but they
>are doing that less and less as they build up their library of newer,
>slower-paced segments.  I would like to hear a more up-to-date 
>analysis of recent SS shows as I think it is a lot less guilty of
>fast pace, etc. than it used to be.

That is interesting. A few months ago I posted about an article I had
criticizing SS. It was in a magazine called (???) American Educator.
[sorry to be so vague, but I looked and couldnt find it]. The gist of
the article was to look at the goals of SS and see how well they had
fulfilled these goals. It was felt that they hadnt done a good job at all.
They felt the one group of kids that they had really failed were the kids
who had no other source of early education (pre-school, parents who read
to them, etc). They felt that the pace was so fast, that without other 
sources of knowledge, the children would get confused by what they were
seeing, and have a feeling of failure. So, I dont think that misc.kidders
would be too good at adressing that sort of problem, since I doubt many 
of our kids fall in that category.

Another important point, that may back up what Maureen is saying, is that
SS was behind the study, and was well aware of thier failures. They were
working on a long range plan to improve the quality of the show. The 
article was several years old, so the show kids are watching today is probbaly
much different then the show that has been criticized by many people.

I really dont like TV much (except Murphy Brown), and mean mom that I am,
Jeffrey doest watch TV yet, so I dont have any personal experiences with
SS.

Laura Floom


Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: clare@nynexst.com (Clare Chu)
Subject: Re: Sign of the times
Organization: Nynex Science and Technology
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 20:46:01 GMT

In article <1gj59bINN8oa@network.ucsd.edu> dlin@weber.ucsd.edu (Diane Lin) writes:
>In article <1992Dec14.214338.2406@clpd.kodak.com> staffan@ca.serum.kodak.com (Kenneth Staffan (x37507)) writes:
>>>> Westernized.  So did the American fathers (in the 60's) changed
>>>> diapers or is this a new phenomenon? ;-)  Maybe it's related to the
>>>> fact that most mothers work also now?
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>At least in the circle that I run with, it seems to be the two-working parent
>>syndrome which has redefined the father's role.  
>[...]
>>I'd be interested to hear if families with a stay-at-home parent feel that
>>the working parent is more "enlightened" today, etc.
>>
>I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I certainly think that my employed-for-wages
>spouse :-) is more enlightened today.  He does not believe that 
>childrearing is my job exclusively.  For the 8 hours or so that my
>husband is away from home during the week, my job is childrearing.  In
>the evening and early morning, the job is split between us.  There
>is *no way* I would put up with a spouse who thought he was "helping"
>with the child.  Similarly, my husband would not appreciate being

  My husband won't change poopy or peepee diapers unless the baby's butt is
  going to fall off and neither me nor his mother is around.
  I also work outside of the home 8 hours+ a day.  And he only
  plays with the baby while I cook or clean.  And no, I didn't know
  this before I was married...  :-(  He thinks driving my son to his
  mother and back is just compensation for diaper changing.  Actually
  I'd rather do the diaper changing than driving into the warzone
  South Bronx twice a day and carrying him up and down the stinky
  stairs in the projects (reeks of urine and bloodstained).
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: jschwarz@lonestar.utsa.edu (Jan A. Schwarz)
Subject: Effacing (?)
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 22:38:05 GMT

Hi.  My daughter went to the doctor today.  She is 36 weeks.  He told
her that she is 40% effaced (this has been just since last Thursday).

Any thoughts as to how long it may be before she has this darling
baby girl?  I knew nothing about effacing when I had my two (years
ago).

Just curious to see how long "you all" think it might be.

Jan
From: peri@cco.caltech.edu (Michal Leah Peri)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: "my wife and I are pregnant", revisited
Date: 18 Dec 1992 00:44:28 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: punisher.caltech.edu

rollo@xylogics.com (Dena Rollo) writes:
>But I think it's euphemizing the differences between men
>and women.

Don't you think most people can tell the difference?

-- 

                                                --  Michal
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course there's no reason!  
Newsgroups: misc.kids,alt.dads-rights,alt.child-support,soc.men,soc.women
From: rac@philabs.philips.com (Regina Conrad)
Subject: Re: Neglected or Abused Children, CPS, Foster Care and Prison
Organization: Philips Laboratories, Briarcliff Manor, NY.
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 13:32:16 GMT

In New York State, a teacher is required by law to report a child being
left home alone.     Age, persoality, time duration, place,  etc... , as I 
understand it, cannot be taken into acount by the teacher.

However, one cannot call CPS and get permision to leave a child.
You need to be reported, investigated, and deemed "not unsafe or neglectful".
(As I understand it,  they can't say "It's safe", cause you can
sue them if something happened to your child. ??)

Or lie and teach your child to lie to authorities ( I can't do that.)

I would be interested in "the law " and any procedures involved.
Shiela Finn
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: lauraf@classy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Laura Floom)
Subject: Re: Orajel
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 16:55:33 GMT

In article <1992Dec15.154923.4618@porthos.cc.bellcore.com> mpb@troy.cc.bellcore.com (bunz,marcus p) writes:
>In article <1992Dec15.044046.1854@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov>, lauraf@classy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Laura Floom) writes:
>> I occasionally used vanilla extract on Jeffreys gums. It would help for a
>			^
>Typically, vanilla extract is 35% alcohol!  80 proof Scotch is 40%
>alcohol.  By my book, there isn't much difference!  Don't get me wrong,

Excuse me, but where in my article did you think I was making the claim that
Vanilla wasnt alcohol? The reason I didnt use scotch or anything like it, is
I dont generally have it around.

Please dont look for arguments where there arent any.

Laura Floom



Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: js@cs.tulane.edu (Jan Silbermann)
Subject: Re: My Son Won't Stand Up
Organization: Computer Science Dept., Tulane Univ., New Orleans, LA
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 23:53:33 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host-[nntpd-2263]: caesar

>Your child is probably fine.  But please, do take your child to a
>specialist.  And I don't mean your pediatrician.

 I am taking my 6mo to the pediatricain on Thursday for a "developmental
 test." I don't know what to expect, or what questions to ask the
 pediatrician. If any one knows anything, please let me know.

  Ellie is not rolling over, not grabbing for things, keeps her hands
  and toes curled up. She also does this really weird thing where she arches
  her back violently in a jerky motion, then cries as if someone had stuck
  her with a pin. She will also suddenly collapse if she is being held
  on your knee in an upright position.

  I posted a while back about Elllie being a difficult baby and am dreadfully
  worried that the fussiness may be caused by something more serious
  than her just being "difficult."

  Her big sister rolled over at 4mo and was sitting and crawling by 6mo.

  Ellie seems to be fine socially, she smiles at us, turns in the
  direction of my voice and seems to know her name.

  I guess there's always something to worry about when you've got kids!
  I also thought I was being a neurotic mother, and I hope that this
  turns out to be the case and Ellie's development is normal for her.
From: peac@sybase.com (Jeff Peacock)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Strings & Tags
Date: 17 Dec 92 17:20:18 GMT
Organization: Sybase, Inc.

In article <1992Dec4.215039.15777@u.washington.edu> lcheap@cac.washington.edu (Laurel Cheap ) writes:
>In article <1992Dec3.214654.6399@netcom.com>, pam@netcom.com (Pamela Araki) writes:
>|> My six month old has the most odd fascination for strings and
>|> the tags that are on stuffed animals, clothing, etc.
>.. . .
>
>My son (now 15.5 months) had this same fascination with tags.  I
>thought a great toy for him would be a stuffed ball with tags sticking
>out all over it. :) 

Our daughter loves pieces of paper or plastic sheets from packages.  We got
her a stuffed clown that has cellaphane (sp?) inside thinking she'd enjoy
that as much and it wouldn't be as dangerous, but she really couldn't
care less.  She wants the real thing. ;)

-Jeff
--
ADVISORY:  Any use of this information, in any mannner whatsoever, will increase
the amount of disorder in the universe.  The reader is warned that this process
will ultimately lead to the heat death of the universe.  No responsibility will
be accepted for any damages or inconvenience that may result.
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: zippy@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (steven.s.albert)
Subject: Re: "my wife and I are pregnant" - NO WAY
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 22:57:07 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.205715.11830@clpd.kodak.com>, staffan@ca.serum.kodak.com (Kenneth Staffan (x37507)) writes:
> Is there a one-word description for the couple expecting a baby?

How about "tired"? :-)

Anyhow, since male opinions were requested in an earlier post, I think I
probably said we were expecting, but I don't really remember.  Clearly,
the mom goes through the physical discomfort, but both go through an
emotional aspect - it's just different.  As Coni pointed out, the father
is likely to experience changes in diet and sleeping habits, etc.  I
sure did.  In fact, our entire life was turned upside down because Mary
was so sick in the beginning.

It's not a fair analogy, but it is accurate for me.  I *far* prefer to be
the one suffering rather than the one watching.  It was very hard for me
to watch Mary's pregnancy.  It was very hard for me to watch Billy go through
his ordeal with his kidney.  Of all the medical mishaps we had in the last
year, the one that was the easiest for me to deal with was my own emergency
appendectomy (which was no picnic for Mary or Billy, however).

IMHO, this is a semantic issue.  If the phrase doesn't work for you, that's
ok by me and I'll respect it.  If you want to say "we're pregnant", that's fine
too.  I understand what is meant in either case.  However, I do think that I
provided far more than just moral support during the pregnancy, so I suppose
I do take issue with that.

	Steve Albert (Billy's dad [30 months])
	ssa@usl.com
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Newsgroups: misc.kids

If there is something that you don't like about public television, 
write them a letter!  They really do listen because they have to,
being dependent on your support for their existence.

I mentioned on the earlier Barney string that my daughter was
very upset when Barney was discontinued on weekdays.  So she wrote
PBS a letter saying that she wanted Barney back (well, actually, she
dictated and I wrote).  What a surprise about 3 weeks after we sent
the letter, Barney came back on (in Boston area) on weekdays.  My 
daughter is feeling very empowered, thinking that her taking a stand must 
have made the difference.  And about another week later, she received a
letter from PBS thanking her for her input (and saying by the way
that they'd received thousands of letters in support of Barney).
So if you have a complaint, make yourself known!  You might be
surprised and get quick results.

Jane Marcus
jane@apollo.hp.com
Xref: sparky misc.kids:30678 alt.child-support:3991 soc.men:21310 soc.women:21576 sci.psychology:4825
From: ackerman@convex.com (Linda Ackerman)
Subject: Questions about monitors and bi-lingual babies
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
Distribution: USA
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 17:07:54 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

I am posting this for a friend - there are 2 questions.

Lately she has been getting obscene messages over her baby monitor
receiver.  Has anyone else out there ever had this happen and do
you have any suggestions on what to do.  She doesn't know who is
overriding her monitor but it is very upseting.  The strange
thing is that our houses are very close together and we don't
ever get anything like that on our monitor!

The second question has to do with teaching her son - 9 months old -
Spanish and English.  I know this has been covered before so if someone
could send me some info. on this please.  She justs wants to know if
it is a good idea, the order in which she should teach the languages or
if she should teach them at the same time??

Thanks for your help.

Linda

Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: sasmlb@pecos.unx.sas.com (Maria Moore)
Subject: Orajel 
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 21:39:36 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute, Inc.

In article <28030@optima.cs.arizona.edu> bweiss@cs.arizona.edu (Beth Weiss) writes:
>
>Jordan nurses well when sleepy.  If he starts to get upset, I've found
>he can be convinced to nurse if I don't let him get too upset: I've
>learned to stop right away, put some Orajel on his new tooth area, give
>
I thought is was interesting that when my husband talked to our pediatrian
about teething he said that we shouldn't use Orajel or other "medicines" but
we should wipe some scotch on his gums.  So the "guys" sit down together and
have a scotch!


From: janem@hpfcdc.fc.hp.com (Jane Marcus)
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 15:01:15 GMT
Subject: Re: Christmas Toys - and pushing them
Organization: HP Fort Collins, Co.
Newsgroups: misc.kids

My niece received a very nice kit for assembling a model of
a dinosaur skeleton.  This has led her into a lot of related
scientific readings and excursions.

Jane Marcus
jane@apollo.hp.com
From: rollo@xylogics.com (Dena Rollo)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Baby food recipe, help!!!
Date: 15 Dec 1992 08:02:35 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


Judy Drake writes:


So maybe a preference self-feeding does have something to do with fine 
motor skills.  I've also read that girls tend to develop these skills faster 
than boys, which has been borne out in my kids.

************************

Well, I have no sons to compare her to, but Isabel was
not early in developing a pincer grip.  She couldn't
manage cheerios at all until 7.5 mos., and scooped
them (rather than using two fingers) until 9 mos.
So there's one data point to say girls can be
just as clumsy as boys :)  (On the other hand,
her daycare teacher felt she was early at doing stuff
like dialing the toy phone, and other fine-motor
stuff - so various subsets of these skills may
develop differently)

As for self-feeding - Isabel (at almost 11 mos) *loves*
to feed herself, but is quite picky about what she'll
eat this way, so she still gets a lot of spooned
food as well. She'll eat anything in a sandwich, bu
except for cheese and ground chicken or turkey I'm
short of ideas. She'll eat cheerios, crackers, toast
etc. The only "wet" foods she'll touch are bananas,
apples and pears. Forget pasta, or cut-up veggies,
or rice (and it's not the taste -she's one of the
few kids I know who loved the jarred green beans
and peas from day one). 

So she usually gets some favorite finger food, plus
one she's rejected previously (in hopes that one
day she'll decide we're not trying to poison her!)
PLUS a full meal of spooned food. She's a BIG eater
(and so much for people who say that metabolism 
doesn't affect weight - she's quite small, and eats
tons more than many of her larger "friends") so
it would be hard to make sure she got enough with
finger foods alone.

And she still likes her spooned food with few or
no lumps, thank you very much! I'm sure most of you
know that reproachful look a baby gives you when
s/he realized that you've just spooned something
absoultely disgusting into their mouth - that's
how Isabel reacts to lumps. A drag for her parents,
who would love to share more of their food with
her.

So again, kids have very idiosyncratic eating styles.
I'm jealous of you parents of early self-feeders out
there, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that
it all evens out eventually!

-Dena
From: sgauch@ccs.northeastern.edu (Susan Gauch)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Cute things they say (3.9)
Date: 14 Dec 92 15:50:10 GMT
Organization: College of CS, Northeastern U

We were watching "The Rescuers" and there was a scene with the
seagull on it:

Laura: "Birds are made from pillows."
Me (puzzled): "Why do you say that?"
Laura: "Because pillows have feathers in them!"

Okey-dokey!  Sounds good to me...

---

We have forced hot water radiators through the house, except for one hot
air blower in our bathroom.  When I was getting ready for work this morning,
Laura came up from the den and sat right in front of the blower in the
bathroom.

Laura: "I came upstairs to get nice and warm."
       "When I was downstairs, I got nice and cold."

Not exactly how I would phrase getting too cold...
-- 
Susan Gauch
sgauch@flora.ccs.northeastern.edu
From: uttla@ (Laura Utt)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Stocking stuffers
Date: 12 Dec 92 22:45:12 GMT
Article-I.D.: leela.1992Dec12.224512.11808
Organization: Computer Science Outreach Services - Oregon State University

I just have a simple question about stocking stuffers. What kinds
of things do you put in an 8 month old's stocking? I have 2 little
key ring teethers, but what kinds of other things could go into it?

-Laura (Mommy to 8 month old Elizabeth)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: jpa@holmes.acc.Virginia.EDU (Jayne Ashworth)
Subject: Help with locating Madonnas
Originator: jpa@holmes.acc.Virginia.EDU
Organization: Academic Computing, U. Va.
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 21:18:35 GMT

The children's division of the church I attend (United Methodist)
would like to do a multi-cultural bulletin board for Advent '93
(yes, that is a year away) that shows Madonnas (pictures of the
mother of Christ) from various cultures:  our files show
pictures of Caucasian Madonnas and one Indian sub-continent Madonna,
but no others, though we know there exist pictures of Oriental,
African, etc. Madonnas.  Can anyone help by providing info
on where I could (inexpensively) acquire such pictures?  Would
anyone like to trade a non-Caucasian Madonna for one of our
Caucasian Madonnas?  Please respond via e-mail - I'm several
hundred articles behind in this newsgroup now and have no
hopes of catching up before the holidays (or even after, I fear!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Jayne Ashworth                                ITC/Academic Computing
User Services                                 University of Virginia
ashworth@virginia.edu                                   804-924-0619

Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: dlin@weber.ucsd.edu (Diane Lin)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: A few facts about circumcision
Summary: bzzzt
Date: 13 Dec 92 17:17:08 GMT
Article-I.D.: network.1gfr6kINN9ti
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of California, San Diego
NNTP-Posting-Host: weber.ucsd.edu

In article <4103@phred.UUCP> harryb@phred.UUCP writes:
>
>An OBTW.  A few years ago, I saw the results of a study published
>somewhere (no, I do NOT recall the source) which purported to show a
>higher incidence of cervical cancer among women with circumcised
>partners, so if nothing else, think of the welfare of your future
>daughter-in-law :-)
>[...]

Sorry, but you've got that backwards--there is a higher incidence
of cervical cancer among women with UNcircumcised male partners.
There are numerous sources for this information.  Here's a quote
from _Taking Care of Your Child:  A Parent's Guide to Medical Care_
by Pantell, Fries and Vickery.  "Cancer of the penis has been said
to be more common in uncircumcised males and cancer of the cervix
more common in the sexual partners of uncircumcised males.  If
engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse, uncircumcised males are
more likely to acquire infection."  Of course, there are plenty of
good arguments against circumcision, but lower incidences of cervical 
cancer in female partners is *NOT* one of them.  
-- 
Diane C. Lin			"Live now; make *now* always the
dlin@weber.ucsd.edu	         most precious time.  Now will 
(Dylan's mom, 2 years)	 	 never come again." (ST:TNG)
From: ssmith@xocolatl.com (Shannon Smith)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: A few facts about circumcision
Date: 13 Dec 92 18:36:59 GMT
Reply-To: ssmith@xocolatl.com
Organization: Amethyst Systems, Fremont, CA

harryb@phred.UUCP (harry barnett) writes:

-> An OBTW.  A few years ago, I saw the results of a study published
-> somewhere (no, I do NOT recall the source) which purported to show a
-> higher incidence of cervical cancer among women with circumcised
-> partners, so if nothing else, think of the welfare of your future
-> daughter-in-law :-)

Actually I believe it was the other way around, with the higher
incidence of cervical cancers amongst the partners of the
uncircumcised.  Goes along with the higher rates of penile cancer
among those uncircumcised.

But we're talking about VERY SMALL NUMBERS here, and more than one
physician has suggested that proper hygiene is a large factor in
those tiny differences.

After I had my son, one of the reasons I kept him in the room with me
was to make sure that he was to be kept intact--even though on every
paper I had the phrase NO CIRCUMCISION in caps and highlighted,
mistakes could happen.

The pediatrician was making his rounds a few hours after the delivery
and asked "circumcision?"  After I replied in the negative he said,
"Good!  I can sleep in in the morning.".
Date: Sunday, 20 December 1992 01:07:56 MST
X-Mailer: TMail version 1.15R
From: "D. C. Sessions" <dcs@witsend.tnet.com>
Organization: Nobody but me -- really
Subject: Re: A few facts about circumcision
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Distribution: world

In <1992Dec17.142721.9611@nynexst.com>, clare@nynexst.com (Clare Chu)  wrote:
#                                             As a medical student my
#   sister had to do a circumcision for her first attempt (I guess you
#   gotta practice on someone...)  I don't mind hairdressers practicing
#   on my hair, it'll always grow back.  But on my son's penis???

  Urk.  Always a first time, eh?

  FWIW, mohels practice on stillborn and early infant mortality cases,
  who must, by Jewish law, be circumcised for burial.  As I understand
  it, they get THOUSANDS of test runs before a live one.

--- D. C. Sessions                            Speaking for myself ---
--- Note new network address:                dcs@witsend.tnet.com ---
--- Author (and everything else!) of TMail  (DOS mail/news shell) ---
Newsgroups: misc.kids