HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: beth@col.hp.com (Beth Vail Jones)
Subject: Re: Diaper Services - worth it ?
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 20:24:31 GMT
Organization: HP Colorado Springs Division

Well, I have to put in my 2 cents' worth on the cloth vs. disposable
question.  For our first son (Ben), we used cloth diapers at home,
disposables at daycare.  For our second son (Andy), we use disposables
only.  Here's why we switched:

 The diaper pail smelled awful after the baby started eating solids.
 We finally bought a regular diaper pail.  We collected a few days' worth
 of diapers in it, then we'd take the plastic bagful of stinkies and
 put them in the big pail from the diaper service.  Yes, we were quite
 conscientious about dumping the poop in the toilet.  The deoderant tablets
 the diaper service provided helped quite a bit, but after a while, even
 THAT smell started to smell yucky - it was always followed by a waft
 of stinkum.

 The cloth diapers plus diaper wraps did a terrible job of containing
 Ben's poops, which were otherwise not extraordinary.  For the first
 several months, whenever Ben pooped, we had to change his diaper,
 diaper wrap, clothing, and whatever he was sitting on (including
 sometimes our own clothes!).  Breastfed babies have soft stools.

 I did lots more laundry with Ben than with Andy, almost entirely due to
 poopy pj's and diaper wraps.  I remember being amazed that Andy could
 wear one sleep-n-play for a couple of days.  We use Huggies on Andy;
 Huggies (and others) have an inner leak barrier which really makes a
 difference.  The Huggies Ultra-trim are also very low-volume; they wrap
 up in a tiny ball (we're sure to dump the poop in the toilet first!).

 The diaper wraps were very expensive (~$8-$11 each, although I've seen
 cheaper ones lately).  Due to the leaky poop problem (see above), we
 needed at least 6 wraps to get through a couple of days.  The wraps did
 do a good job of preventing wet-leaks, but then Ben wasn't a very wet
 baby; by the time he was about 12 months, he was usually dry overnight.
 We went through about 4+ complete sets of wraps in the 20 months we
 used the cloth diapers; we tried various kinds including Gore-tex,
 wool, all-cotton, Biobottoms, Nikky's and some others.  The Nikky's
 with designs worked best for us.  They have a heavy vinyl lining, nylon
 mesh inner-lining, and cotton cover.

 We spent more money on cloth diapers per week.  Using cloth at
 home only, we still spent $8-$12 per week on cloth diapers (less as Ben
 got older), plus the disposables for daycare (about 1 pkg per 3 weeks).
 Using disposables only, we spend about $7 per week, and average one
 package per week.  For Andy's first couple of months (when he was still
 wearing Small disposables), I think the most we used was about 1 1/2
 packages per week.  I don't remember if we used the Newborn size; if we
 did, it was only for a couple of weeks.  We don't make Andy sit around
 in wet diapers, either.  It certainly hasn't delayed his potty interest
 either (a theory I've heard); at 18.5 months he tinkled in his potty
 for the first time a couple of nights ago! :-)

YMMV - these are our experiences.
Beth Jones
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: bcrespo@nyx.cs.du.edu (Beth Crespo)
Subject: Announcement & Hello!
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 14:31:58 GMT

Hello Net.Parents,
 Please welcome to the world my now 5 mo. old daughter:
   Lisa Nicole Kieffer
   Born: June 4, 1992,  5:52 PM
         7 lbs. 3oz.; 21 inches
         healthy and beautiful!
   Now: 14 lbs. 4 oz; 24 inches,
        rolling around and still, healthy and beautiful!

Thanks to University of Denver for providing net access;
it is nice to re-connect and see some familiar names.
It's also nice to read that my birth experience was not unique!
More later,
Beth Crespo
(signature under construction)

Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: judy@locus.com (Judy Leedom Tyrer)
Subject: Re: toy storage
Organization: Locus Computing Corporation, Los Angeles, California
Date: Sat, 07 Nov 1992 02:48:28 GMT

We use a mini-chest of drawers.  All batman toys go in one drawer.  All
Robin Hood toys in the next drawer.  All Turtle toys in the next drawer,
and all Cowboy and Indian toys in the fourth.  We also have large colored
cylinders (like giant trash cans) which contain Legos, Balls, Guns, etc.
On all of the above, I took colored plastic tape and cut out letters so
that the house keeper knows where the toys go.  The additional advantage
is that Mitchell is learning to read the words on the containers.

One other thing I did that I'm terribly proud of, and people really like
when they come to the house, is convert the children's closets into toy
chests.  They have Jack and Jill closets (one closet, with half being
in one room and half in the other).  They have huge sliding doors.  We
replaced the wooden doors with mirrored doors and now leave the doors open
all the time.  I wallpapered the closets and we put shelves in them.

I find my children have far more toys than clothes.  For Mitchell we bought
a small dresser for his foldables and a little locker (both from Stor, now
defunct).  The furniture is small and fits nicely in his room.  Erin still
uses her diaper table which has 4 drawers under the table and a small
closet.  Alas her size 4 dresses don't hang well anymore so we're about to
get a dresser/armoire to match her bed.

One thing I really hate is the proverbial toy chest.  The pieces to all 
the toys get strewn together making them hard to find.

Also, you'll want a big area where toys that look good can be displayed
and more actively played with.  For example, Erin now plays with her
playmobile doll house, but only if it is set up.  Which means I have to
reset it up on the floor after the cleaning woman comes (but that's a 
small price to pay for not having to spend every Saturday cleaning the
house - worth every penny if you ask me.  Even recalcitrant Ron has come
to love Dora days).


-- 
Judy Leedom Tyrer

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"	- William Blake
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: goldberg@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Patti Twigg)
Subject: Re: a new fun thread??
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 17:16:00 GMT

In article <Nov05.191655.57148@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU>, bh437292@lance.colostate.edu writes...
>|> In article <1d99f1INNdl8@mizar.usc.edu>, biddleco@mizar.usc.edu (Susan Biddlecomb) writes:
>|> > Has anyone accused you of kidnapping your daughters? 
> 
>I am rather dark skinned and my wife is as white as a sheet, so our
>daughter had dark black hair and olive skin when she was born.
>Since my wife is blond, when she would go out in public with Kelsey,
>without me, people would ask her if she was adopted.
>Now Kelsey's hair has turned to auburn/blond, and _I_'m the one that
>gets the dirty looks when I'm with her without my wife.
>People are never happy.
> 
Isn't that the truth?! Both my kids are blondies, and my husband and
I are brunettes, so people are always asking where they got their
blonde hair. Actually, both my husband and I were blonde as kids,
it just got darker as we got older - now it's getting lighter again
(gray)!! 8-)
                  Patti Twigg
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: judy@locus.com (Judy Leedom Tyrer)
Subject: Cute Things They Say (4 YO)
Organization: Locus Computing Corporation, Los Angeles, California
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 00:49:44 GMT

I wear glasses.  Yesterday Mitchell asked me to take off my glasses so he
could see my eyes.  I did.  He then said, "Mom, your eyes are cracked."  
Well, they were a bit bloodshot :-)

-- 
Judy Leedom Tyrer

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"	- William Blake
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: judy@locus.com (Judy Leedom Tyrer)
Subject: Re: Disneyland Hints
Organization: Locus Computing Corporation, Los Angeles, California
Date: Sat, 07 Nov 1992 02:30:15 GMT

Okay, I've been thinking we should have a Southwest picnic like those in
the Northeast did, but Sue's post made me think that maybe a SW trip to
Disneyland might be a lot of fun.  Maybe sometime in February when the park
is generally less crowded.

Is this just too lame, or would anyone else be interested.  E-mail and I'll
post a summary.


-- 
Judy Leedom Tyrer

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"	- William Blake
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin)
Subject: Re: It's a boy!  It's a boy!
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 02:35:50 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

In article <1dojh9INN4rt@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, schwartz@ces.cwru.edu (David G. Schwartz) writes:
> 
> We are thrilled to announce the birth of twin boys,
> born Monday, November 2, 1992.
> 
> Twin 'A', Noam Yefet, arrived at 6:43am weighing in at 6 lbs 15oz.
> Twin 'B', Tal Yair, arrived at 6:56am weighing in at 7 lbs 5oz.

Congratulations, and good luck....
> 
> I expect this to be a real boost to my thesis productivity as I now
> have a rocking chair in front of my keyboard and can work on my thesis
> at 3am while I rock the babies.  All I need are two extra arms.

Hey -- it might be possible...  During Rebecca's colic spells, I'd
lay her across my knees, face down, while I coded up all manner of
strange stuff (you know, useful stuff, like porting Adventure to the
UNIX PC).  But nothing requiring too much concentration...
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: lcheap@cac.washington.edu (Laurel Cheap )
Subject: Family dinner (was Re: Eating Healthy (was Re: Halloween Stories
Organization: UW Computing
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 20:53:39 GMT

In article <27192@oasys.dt.navy.mil> dsegelho@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Diane Segelhorst) writes:
>I do have a couple of rules I would like to instill in my children though.
>(I'm meeting with limited success so far.)  One is that you must take
>at least one bite of everything served - you can't say you don't like
>it without at least tasting it.  The other is that the kids have to
>sit with us at the table for at least some amount of time.  I'm trying
>to instill in them the sense of mealtime as a social event as well as
>just food.

I think these are great "rules".  I'd like to have them in my house too
but how do you instill them in a SPOUSE!  My husband has this addiction
to watching the nightly news and we always have dinner on trays in
front of the tv.  I can't avoid it by eating at a different time (local
news is at 5:00, national at 6:00) without dinner being too late for
Brendan (14 months, eats ~6:00).  I've also tried to get him to tape
the news but that's not an option as far as he's concerned. HELP!!

I'm tempted to get him one of those small tv's for the dining room
table so that we can at least eat there rather than the living room.

Does anyone else have this problem?  I'd like dinnertime to be a more
social time (not just during commercials :) ) since it's the only meal
of the weekday that we all have together.  I grew up with family
dinners and would like to start having them in my home especially now
that Brendan is old enough to sit through a meal and eat on his own.

Any solutions/advise out there?  (divorce is not an option :) )

Thanks,
Laurel
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laurel Cheap           University of Washington   lcheap@u.washington.edu
Information Systems    Seattle, Washington  USA   a.k.a. Brendan's mommy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: dank@tekig6.PEN.TEK.COM (Daniel G Knierim)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: 20/20 and Spanking
Date: 5 Nov 92 19:11:33 GMT
Reply-To: dank@tekig6.pen.tek.com
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton,  OR.

In article <1d7de9INNdja@network.ucsd.edu> dlin@weber.ucsd.edu (Diane Lin) writes:
>In article <1992Nov3.225029.29087@oakhill.sps.mot.com> millerm@oakhill.sps.mot.com writes:
>[...]>
>>* After age XX (5?,6?, 7? who knows, depends on the child) spanking is not
>>  effective, nor is it probably the best form of punishment...

>So why is it effective before age XX?  

I believe *all* forms of externally applied discipline become less effective
as a child grows up.  The most important task of "disciplining" a child is
teaching the child self-discipline.  We've read stories here of teenagers
that got spanked, and it didn't work.  We've also read stories of teenagers
that were given "timeout" (grounded) and it didn't work (they slipped out the
window).  We've read stories about teenagers that were given a "talking to"
and just talked back.

As to why parental control is effective on a young child, but not so much on
an older child, I can suggest two reasons.  One is the parent's superior
size/strength/cleverness/etc.  I.e. the "it's not a fair match" argument.  But
this applies to all forms of punishment, timeout, physical restraint, etc.
Most parents, on both sides of the spanking issue, will not let a toddler
play with matches, but would not let the toddler prevent the parent from using
matches.  Independent of the method chosen, the parent is still exercizing
control based on being "bigger".

The second reason is that I believe small children are aware that they don't
yet have the ability to deal with the world on their own, and thus are willing
to accept some parental control and guidance.  As the child grow ups, s/he
learns how the world works, and becomes more confident is his/her ability
to deal with what the world dishes out, and therefore is less accepting of
"interference" from parents.

- Dan Knierim
These opinions aren't worth the standard disclaimer form they're printed on!
From: lowry@watson.ibm.com (Andy Lowry)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: 20/20 and Spanking
Date: 5 Nov 92 03:15:02 GMT
	<1992Nov3.191351.27680@das.harvard.edu> <25770@optima.cs.arizona.edu>
	<1992Nov4.221143.17368@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>
	<1d9s2fINNp09@matt.ksu.ksu.edu>
Distribution: usa
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM

In article <1d9s2fINNp09@matt.ksu.ksu.edu> bets@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Beth Schwindt) writes:
 > Many times, my father would scream and yell at me for a long time.
 > Gradually, I learned to tune him out.  He would have been much more
 > effective in disciplining me if he *had* spanked, instead .....

[OK, by now you can all probably predict this...:-)]

I don't doubt your last statement.  It doesn't imply spanking would
have been the best choice, just that screaming and yelling for long
periods was not.
--
Andy Lowry, lowry@watson.ibm.com, (914) 784-7925
IBM Research, P.O. Box 704, Yorktown Heights, NY  10598
From: exusag@exu.ericsson.se (Serena Gilbert,cs,x0364)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Silly Putty
Date: 10 Nov 92 15:07:45 GMT
Reply-To: exusag@exu.ericsson.se
Organization: Ericsson Network Systems, Inc.
X-Disclaimer: This article was posted by a user at Ericsson.
              Any opinions expressed are strictly those of the
              user and not necessarily those of Ericsson.

Is there an easy way to remove silly putty from clothes?  My son stuck some in his
pocket and it won't come out (I tried freezing it).  The pants are made of fleece.

Thanks,

Serena
From: bweiss@cs.arizona.edu (Beth Weiss)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Gestational Diabetes
Keywords: questions
Date: 9 Nov 92 17:56:45 GMT
Organization: U of Arizona, CS Dept, Tucson

John F. Berkey) writes:

|> Also, is there an "F.A.Q." on this subject?, and if so could someone
|> please E-mail it to me. 

There is an FAQ file on Gestational Diabetes.  If you're interested in
it, please e-mail me and I'll send it out.  If you have comments
and/or experiences to add, please send those, too!

-- 
--Beth Weiss
bweiss@cs.arizona.edu
From: elg@elgamy.uucp.taronga.com (Eric Lee Green)
Date: 6 Nov 92 17:13:00 CDT
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: 20/20 and Spanking
Distribution: world
Organization: Eric's Amiga 2000 @ Home

From article <1dc082INNt4i@hpsdde.sdd.hp.com>, by davids@hpsdde.sdd.hp.com (David Schwantner):
> for a couple that they continued). After the first time she spanked her older
> girl (then maybe 8-10 years old), when the daughter had settled down from the
> shock that her mom actually did it, the girl came to her mom and said "Thank
> you, mom, I really deserved and needed that spanking. I was wrong". The mom
> never did really continue using spanking regularly, and the girls are still
> troubled and troubling in their mid-teens (drugs, running away, etc...).
>
> Draw your own conclusions!

No need to. The conclusion is right there in your text: that discipline
must be firm, fair, and CONSISTENT in order to work.

I find that with my own students, by the way. For example, this morning I
allowed them to play multiplication bingo with all of us sitting on the
carpet in a circle. We had a great time. But the rest of the day, when they
needed to sit in their chairs, raise hand before talking, etc., they were
out of it... just that one little brief period of inconsistency
regarding the rules about raising your hand before speaking made the rest
of their day inconsistent.

--
 Eric Lee Green  elg@elgamy.taronga.com   Dodson Elementary
 (713) 664-6446                             Houston, TX
                "Kids are kids, no matter what"
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: LISAS@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Lisa S Lewis)
Subject: Brio Compatible Thomas trains
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 16:15:33 GMT

A while back people were looking for Brio compatible Thomas trains.  I
noticed that these are available through one of the catalogues I receive.
It's called Troll Learn and Play, and their number is 1-800-247-6106.
>
I have ordered from them in the past, and they seem to be a pretty good
company.
Lisa
From: jm5p+@andrew.cmu.edu (Judi Mancuso)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Halloween Stories
Date: 9 Nov 92 06:49:50 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.8ezdOiW00WBME3038b
Distribution: usa
Organization: Student Employment Office, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

> 
>So, any other good stories out there?  Any costumes that worked particularly
>well?  (Can you tell I'm fishing for ideas for next year already :-)
 
This was the first year our daughter, Toni, went trick-or-treating (she
is 17 months old).  Our son, Vince, 7 years old,is an old vetran and has
always loved it.  Anyway, my sister made Toni a skunk outfit and
everywhere we went (we also went to the mall's trick-or-treating early
in the day) everyone commented on how great the costume was--and we did
not see another skunk anywhere.  The costume was pretty simple.  My
sister, Denise (she does not have children and loves to "create" and has
time to do it) made it in about 4 hours.  She could not find a plain
black sweat suit so she ended up buying one that was basically black but
with a design then turned it inside out.  She dyed s cheap white 
courdoroy bonnet black--she took off the brim and used the material to
make little ears.
She bought this furry stuff (like Santa's beard) at the craft store and
put in down the back of the pants, shirt and hat (on the hat she had it
come down on to the forhead in a "V") and then made a tail--using pipe
cleaners to make it stiff and so it would have sort of an "S" curve. 
She then made a bib out of the fur for the front and then just so
everyone knew this was a girl skunk, she bought or made (I don't really
know) this cute black and white checked bow with floweres attached and
put it on the one ear.  We put some cheap perfume on her tail and off
she went.
Since we went with my son, my 7 year old neice and my 5 year old nephew,
Toni liked trailing them---she literally ran behind them, up to each
house and put out her sachel (several years ago, I bought these really
great "Boo-bags" from Brightscreek---they are quilted with pumpkin
faces, arms and legs too. I never saw them again--thank God I bought 2
of them!)  Anyway, the one thing she just could not get the hang of was
not carrying the candy.  She always wanted to carry a piece in each hand
so when she went to the next house, she would try to "trade" with the
person giving the candy.  So, I had to intervene a little.  But, she was
just adorable and made for a great memory.  When my son went for the
first time, he loved all the visiting so much--he would go into people's
house's (our neighbors), talk, look around,  and ask all kinds of
questions (he was 25 months old the first time)--the candy was
secondary-- I actually had to drag him up our driveway to get him in the
house then the next day he wanted to go visiting with everyone again!
So, I think we have another Halloween lover on our hands. Stands to
reason--mom and dad love it too.  Mom was a "she-devil" and dad was
"Batman".   Judi (the she-devil)   
From: ivy@hpscit.sc.hp.com (Ivy Griffiths)
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 17:33:49 GMT
Subject: Re: "New Mothers Room" in the workplace
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Santa Clara, CA
Newsgroups: misc.kids

Here at some of the older former mfg bldgs of Hewlett Packard, exist "lounges"
in the ladies rooms.  These consist of nice couches and a plug in.  These work
great.  Then some folks use a "community refrigerator", or their own ice chest.
Unfortunately in some of the newer buildings, the rest-rooms are "equality-
designed".  In the past, we've used conference rooms, the nurses office, and
when my first child was young, I used my van in the parking lot and a blue
ice cooler.  I think you're ideas are great, and I'm sure it wouldn't be hard
to convert a space in your medical services department for breast feeding.
Keep in mind, I've always worked in environments with a male population of
more than 85%, and have had pretty good support.

Rgds,
Ivy Griffiths
From: shack@cs.arizona.edu (David Shackelford)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: 20/20 and Spanking
Date: 8 Nov 92 08:46:27 GMT
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson

In article <7498@tekig7.PEN.TEK.COM> dank@tekig6.pen.tek.com writes:
 > [...]  I am trying
 >to participate in this discussion as a parent who believes spanking is not
 >*required*, but can be useful in some situations and for some families, and
 >as a parent who wants to learn from others how to be a better parent.

I commend you for having an open mind on the issue.  The most important
part of your statement is "can be useful in some situations".  This
says it all.

Dave
Newsgroups: misc.kids
From: crobshaw@rd.hydro.on.ca (Catharine Robshaw)
Subject: Re: teething biscuits
Organization: "Ontario Hydro - Research Division"
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 13:20:58 GMT

My son loved Ferber's biscuits right from about 5-6 months.  They are a
bit messy but that's okay.  Then he progressed to Cheerios, he was
obsessed with them for a while, now it's Ritz crackers.  He only has
his 4 front teeth and one other that just popped out, and he had no
trouble with any of those.

Catharine 
Newsgroups: misc.kids