Is it medicine or is it candy?
How Do We Potty Train Our Kids
July 9, 2009 by Dan
Filed under Human Interest
By The Potty Training/PIO
July 7, 2009
It probably seems like just yesterday that you changed your baby’s first nappy, but before you know it she’ll be ready to start potty training. While there’s no magic age at which a child is ready to start using the potty, most toddlers will develop the necessary physical and cognitive skills between 18 and 24 months of age (though some aren’t ready to start until they’re as old as four). Use the checklist below to keep track of your toddler’s progress toward readiness.
You don’t have to wait until you’ve checked off every item to start training; rather, look for a general trend toward independence and an understanding of what it means to go to the bathroom like a grown-up.
Your child may be ready to start potty training if he or she:
- Has regular, soft, formed bowel movements
- Can pull her pants up and down
- Imitates others’ bathroom habits (likes to watch you go to the bathroom, wants to wear underwear, and so on)
- Makes a physical demonstration when she’s having a bowel movement (such as grunting, squatting, or telling you)
- Has words for stool and urine
- Can follow simple instructions (such as “Give me the toy.”)
- Understands the physical signals that mean she has to go and can tell you before it happens
- Dislikes the feeling of being in a dirty nappy
- Has “dry” periods of at least three or four hours (this shows her bladder muscles are developed enough to hold her urine in and store it)
- Isn’t negative about everything
- Understands the value of putting things where they belong
- Demonstrates a desire for independence.
Can walk and sit down
Toilet training (or potty training) is the process of weaning a young child off diapers (nappies) and training him or her to use the toilet for urination and defecation. Potty training is usually done between the ages of eighteen-months and three years.
Readiness
It is important not to start toilet training until both parent and child are ready. One is ready when one is able to devote the time and energy necessary to encourage a child on a daily basis for at a minimum of 3 months.
A child is ready to begin toilet training when he or she can signal that his or her diaper (nappy) is wet, or that they need the toilet. This usually occurs between the ages of 18-24 months, but it is not uncommon for a child to still need diapers until 4 years of age.
A child can have problems later in life if the training doesn’t go well, or is too strict. For example, as an adult a person could strive for perfection or excessive cleanliness because they were too harshly trained. The current popular wisdom on this subject is that toilet training is a mutual task, requiring cooperation, agreement and understanding between both the child and the caregiver. It is strongly recommended that coercion and shame are not used as disciplinary instruction tools during this phase of development.
Pre-Toilet Training
There are five aspects to pre-toilet training.
1) Naming urine and bowel movements is the first. When you notice that your child has a wet or dirty diaper, mention what has happened, using the words that you have chosen. These words should be culture specific, and should be frequently used words in the normal everyday environment. It is advisable for you use culture specific or commonly known words, since if the child asks for example, at Kindergarten to use the toilet, not using a known word could severely complicate the issue and lead to accidental urination or defacation.
2) Allowing your child to watch you or other family members use the toilet. This provides the child with opportunities to see, ask questions, and learn. This is OK providing your family is comfortable with this idea.
3) It is also a good idea with children to introduce the idea of “Private Zones” on their bodies, since once at Kindergarten, other people may have to assist with helping the child, and its a good idea your child becomes aware of which parts of their body are considered “private”.
4) Change your child’s diaper as soon as possible after it becomes wet or dirty to prevent the child becoming comfortable with, or even liking, wet and dirty diapers. When you change a child’s diaper, never make him/her feel bad for wetting or soiling it, or show any signs of disliking what you see or smell, but do not praise him/her.
If possible, change the diaper in the bathroom. This will accomplish a few important toilet training tasks before initiating training. Emptying the diaper into the toilet will help your child learn that the toilet is where his/her motions go. If you encourage the child to help flush the toilet, then s/he will learn how to flush.
5) Praise your child whenever s/he tells you verbally or with a gesture that they have urinated or defacated. Once the child develop voluntary control, s/he will tell you before the fact. Be sure to provide praise then, too.
Toilet Training
Toilet training takes time, effort and co-operation from both the parents and the child. Toilet training takes on average 3 months, however it may be much longer before your child is completely dry during the day. It is not uncommon for a child of 3 or 4 to still be having frequent wetting accidents, however, if by the age of 4 your child has still had no success at toilet training it may be worth visiting your family doctor to ensure that there is no underlying medical condition.
Toilet Training Girls
Because of the female anatomy, girls and women generally urinate sitting down. Girls should be taught to wipe from “front to back” after using the bathroom. This helps prevent the bacteria in feces from coming into contact with the vagina, helping to keep it free from infection.
Wishing to urinate while standing
If a girl has seen her father, male friend, or a sibling standing up while urintating, she may want to try it. One may wish to let, as she is curious. Cleaning up puddles may be necessary, but she may get the idea that it is more practical for her to urinate sitting down. If she persists, having someone explain why females urinate the way they do may help.
Toilet Training while traveling
Parents often ask what to do if they are traveling with a child who is being potty trained, and also if they should stop the potty training process. The answer to this is no. Parents should not stop the process. In fact, this should be an opportunity to teach your child about going to the bathroom away from home.
Here are some hints to help parents out:
Go before you go: Your child will need to learn that s/he’ll sometimes have to use a bathroom before a long trip, even if she doesn’t feel a strong need at the time.
Bring extra clothes: Accidents happen, so be prepared with extra pants/skirts/dresses, underwear, shoes and socks if s/he accidentally urinates or defacates.
Bring wipes: Bring toilet paper or wipes in case a bathroom is not available, or if there is no toilet paper.
Where to go: Away from home, teach your child to recognize rest room signs, and encourage him/her to use public bathrooms whenever the need arises. Many kids find toilets fascinating, so compare new toilets with the ones at home. Children under the age of 6 should be accompanied by an adult when using a public restroom.
Urinating / Defacating in the Car: You should consider keeping a potty chair in the car to eliminate the need to find a rest room in the event of a potty emergency. However, if your child is desperate enough and you didn’t bring a potty with you, then you can always let your little boy use a jar or can, or for little girls, a plastic bucket can work if you ensure a good fit for her.
Urinating Outdoors:Sometimes a bathroom won’t be available when your child has to use the toilet, so you may have to teach them how to urinate outdoors. This isn’t a problem for boys, but little girls must learn to squat so their feet and clothing are out of the way. You can help your daughter by showing her the appropriate position and physically supporting her as she squats. Please also be aware that in some countries, this is forbidden by law if the child is over a certain age.
Source: Pampers
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com
Exclusive with ZEKE AND LUTHER’s Adam Hicks
July 8, 2009 by Dan
Filed under Entertainment, Human Interest
By Karen
STACKS Staffer
July 8, 2009
I am not a morning person. So a few weeks ago when I realized I had to get to the office by 8:30 a.m. for a celebrity video shoot, I was not happy. Not happy at all. But then I met Adam Hicks, and all was forgiven. If you’ve been watching Disney XD’s Zeke and Luther, you know Adam as the sometimes awkward, often zany, always irrepressible Luther.
So I was kind of expecting the Tasmanian Devil to show up for the video shoot. But it turns out that Adam is totally calm, down-to-earth, and cool. AND he loves to read: In addition to the video shoot, Adam also sat down for an interview with Marie (the same goddess who connects THE STACKS with all our celeb coverage – we bow to Marie).
They chatted about the show, plus everything else from books to music to cheetahs (yes, cheetahs). Keep an eye out for the full interview in Scholastic’s magazines in the fall. In the meantime, read on for a sneak peek, not to mention more videos with Adam!
(Q) First of all, let’s talk about Zeke and Luther. Tell me about the plot.
(A) Okay, it’s about two 15-year-old kids who have this dream of becoming professional skateboarders. They’ve been friends ever since they were 5 years old so this is a dream that they take very seriously. And I play Luther, who’s a 15-year-old zany kid. He’s outrageous, always getting into these sorts of outrageous situations, and I sort of get persuaded from that dream and it’s Zeke’s job to pull me back at any given time.
(Q) Zeke and Luther is on Disney XD. From what I understand, that channel aims to appeal more to boys than to girls. Do you think that the show is going to be more boy-oriented, or appeal to both?
(A) I honestly think it’s both in a way because Zeke has a younger sister who sort of brings the girl appeal to the show, and it has different situations where it does focus on both. Honestly anyone pretty much can love it. There’s outrageous stunts. It is extreme. So it’s definitely a new type of thing for Disney that they’re doing, and I feel like any gender will love it.
(Q) When you say it’s extreme, what do you mean by that
(A) Well, there’s outrageous stunts. We’re always traveling. It’s fast-paced, always moving, lots of music, lots of tricks. Stuff like that.
(Q) Now, did you skateboard beforehand?
(A) I did actually have a dream of becoming a professional skateboarder when I was a little kid, but I sort of jumped out of that phase. I had been skateboarding about six years before the show, and then I got the show, so I am pretty good, yeah.
(Q) Do you have to take classes, work with professionals?
(A) Oh, yeah. We have this professional there, and his name is Jimmy Gorecki. He has helped Hutch and Daniel and me – everyone on set pretty much, and he’s pretty much guided us because skateboarding is always changing. The kids are always bringing new flavor into everything and it’s his job to let us know because we’re not always there to pick up on what the new trend is. He’s helped us so much from the pilot all the way to the end of the season.
(Q) Do you do all your own boarding or do they have stand-ins?
(A) We have a stand-in. My stand-in, his name is Sammy – I mean, he’s amazing. He’s a pro, and he pretty much makes us look great.
(Q) Do you have a personal favorite move?
(A) A 360 Flip.
(Q) How long did it take you to learn how to do that?
(A) I actually learned it on the show. From Sammy. I had never really understood how to do it, but all you really need is guidance – because it’s complicated, but only in your head. For someone else, they’ve mastered things that you think are complicated, so if you just listen for a second, it’s very easy to pick it up.
(Q) Any scary or funny moments on the board?
(A) Man, I have done things. Yeah. There have been a lot of races and stuff where we just totally came off the board. And I mean, it’s gonna happen. I remember this scene, and I had this huge backpack on and I had to go down this hill. It took at least 20 tries because the backpack kept weighing me down, so every time I jumped on the board, the backpack would come over my head and I would just wipe out immediately. And they didn’t call in our stunt doubles that day, so we had to do it.
(Q) In real life, do you think Luther would be a friend of yours?
(A) Definitely. I think Luther is in every kid really. That’s why I think he has an appeal to every person, girl or boy . . . Have you ever had those moments where you live in that quiet type of abnormal state? Like you live in the outrageous moments? I know in your life you have a couple moments where you shouldn’t have said that or you shouldn’t have done that. That’s sort of Luther all around. He lives in those types of moments: “Oh no, I shouldn’t have done that! Why did I do that?” But he doesn’t realize it. And that’s sort of how I based the character. I looked at other people’s outrageous states and just sort of created him.
(Q) Have you ever met anybody like Luther?
(A) Honestly, no, to tell you the truth. I mean, he has his serious moments. He’s into girls; he’s starting to hit that age, but he’s still outrageous. He wears outrageous clothes. He eats outrageous foods. He doesn’t get it. You can tell him, but he still just won’t listen. And I don’t think it’s that he doesn’t care; he’s just not aware. You can go as far as doing whatever with this character. That’s why I love it.
(Q) Now, I know that you write songs and play the drums. Do you have a band?
(A) Well, we tried a band when I was little, but as I grew up I started hanging with an older group and they sort of influenced me on the hip hop type of music. I know at first look – I mean, I get this all day long: “What, what? What are you – ?” But actually, Daniel Curtis Lee, who plays Kojo on the show, we make music and we have a whole thing of mix tapes and CDs. We’re working on that right now. And so hopefully that gets launched. So yeah, we make music and I wish you guys could hear some. [Karen] Well, your wish is our command, Adam! Little did he know that we’d eventually get our hands on this to watch Adam and Daniel’s music video for their remake of MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This”! (in our Video section)
(Q) I’ve heard that animals are a big part of your family’s life and your mom takes in a lot of stray animals. Have you ever been with your mother when she’s rescued an animal?
(A) You have no idea. It’s like daily – yes. Constantly . . . If you talk about an animal lover, then you talk about my mom. Seriously. She’s like 150 percent, all the way – I mean, she’ll drive down the freeway and see a dog off the freeway and get off the freeway and go down to rescue it. I mean she has seven, eight cats. I can’t even – I don’t even know! We have seven or eight cats, two dogs . .
(Q) Silly question about animals – if you could be an animal, what animal would you like to be?
(A) Let me think. Probably a cheetah. Speed, beauty, physique.
(Q) You’ve said that a favorite book of yours is Henry VIII. Do you like biographies?
(A) I do, I do like biographies. I have a weird taste . . . I don’t want to say tragic, but real life stories appeal to me more than stuff. I read a lot of autobiographies, a lot . . . I don’t know, I think it’s more appealing. It draws you in more, does it not? And it’s not just those types of biographies – I’ll read history, stuff on space. It really doesn’t have to do with anything, but just black holes and stuff like that. I find it interesting.
(Q) If you were going to recommend three books to other kids, what would they be?
(A) The Black Pearl, all the Harry Potters, and The Hobbit. Man, those were good!
Why exactly does Adam like The Hobbit so much? See what he had to say: We also asked Adam if he had a favorite book series from when he was younger, and he recommended Goosebumps by R. L. Stine. (Coincidentally, Adam also starred in the movie Mostly Ghostly, based on the first book in R. L. Stine’s series of the same name.)
Check out what Adam had to say about Goosebumps: Of course, Adam also loves Stephen King, who’s considered, like, THE master of horror for adults. So that clinches it – not only is Adam not the kind of confused, slightly spastic character he plays on TV, but he’s definitely a much braver soul than I am.
Source: Blog Scholastic
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com
U Cant Touch This – Zeke and Luther
Scientists Find Oldest Flute in the World
By Laura Leigh Davidson
July 8, 2009
Editor’s Note: Professor Nicholas Conard shows a 35,000-years-old flute during a press conference in Tuebingen, Germany, on Wednesday, June 24, 2009. Scientists say it is the oldest handmade musical instrument yet discovered. (Photo: Daniel Maurer/AP Images)
We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com
Imagine yourself living 35,000 years ago. What would a typical evening in your family’s cave be like? After eating the food your parents hunted and gathered, would you have a rock-throwing contest with your sister? Would you draw pictures in the dirt? A new discovery suggests you might pass the time making music on a flute.
A group of scientists have unearthed a 35,000-year-old flute in Germany. They believe it is the oldest handcrafted musical instrument ever discovered.
Professor Nicholas Conard led the team of archaeologists, or scientists who study the remains of ancient cultures, that found the flute. The team reconstructed the instrument from 12 separate pieces they dug up from the floor of a cave in southern Germany.
The instrument is about eight-and-a-half inches long. It is made from the wing bone of a vulture. (A vulture is a large bird that feeds on the meat of dead animals.) One end of the flute has two V-shaped notches. Conard says that’s where a musician would blow to produce sound. Five finger holes are carved into the instrument. As with modern flutes, the player would cover one or more of the holes while blowing on the flute to make different tones.
“It’s [clearly] the oldest instrument in the world,” Conard told news organization Associated Press (AP). Conard described the historic discovery for the journal Nature in June.
The ancient flute was too fragile to play, so Conard and another researcher made a copy of the instrument from the same type of vulture bone as the original. They were able to play a number of songs, including “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Creative Culture
This flute is just the latest evidence suggesting that early humans in Europe were artistically creative. While researching the same cave where the bone flute was found, Conard’s team discovered a statue of a female made of ivory. They believe that, at 40,000 years old, it is the oldest known sculpture of a human.
The team also found other works of art. Among them were ivory carvings that, pieced together, resemble a horse’s head, and a statue of a half-human, half-lion creature.
Conard and many other experts believe that music and art strengthened the bonds of community for early humans in Europe. In addition, their creativity helped them develop better communication skills. Strong communities and advanced communication skills enabled early humans to survive difficult living conditions to establish the modern societies we have today.
Source: Scholastic News Online
Galaxy Kids eLibrary At The Car Wash
HAIRSPRAY” Star Nikki Blonsky Joins Colgate
Homeschooling and Socialization of Children
July 7, 2009 by Dan
Filed under Parent's Advice
By Apples4theteacher
July 7, 2009
Homeschooling is defined by Preiss (1989) as “the educational alternative in which parents/guardians assume the primary responsibility for the education of their children.” This Digest will offer some background information on homeschooling and discuss conflicting viewpoints culled from research on the socialization of home-schooled children.
RAPIDLY ESCALATING NUMBERS
While a Department of Education study in 1990-91 concluded that between 250,000 and 300,000 school-age children were being educated at home, “USA Today” recently cited the Home School Legal Defense Association figures for 1994 as between 750,000 and 1 million–up from only 15,000 in the early ’80s (Thomas, 1994). What is the reason for this explosion?
Mayberry (1991) pinpoints the gradual development of the modern state and public education as arenas which attempt to legitimate themselves by embodying the ideologies of many different public segments. She argues that by considering other agencies of socialization (in this case, the church or the family) as arenas which embody ideologies in contradiction to those transmitted by state institutions, the “context surrounding parental choice to home educate gains clearer focus.” She stresses that “…the decision to home school (or seek other forms of privatized education) represents a political response by people who perceive a threat in the current organization and content of public education.” Thus, the homeschooling movement is directly linked to the State’s struggle to balance contradictory imperatives (Mayberry, 1991).
BACKGROUND AND PROFESSIONAL RESOURCES
For historical background on homeschooling in America, both Bliss (1989) and Aiex (1994) provide enlightening information. Preiss (1989) offers a concise treatment of the legal aspects of homeschooling.
With the tremendous growth in numbers of the home schooled, there has been a corresponding growth in the market for homeschooling information–indeed, there are now myriad newsletters and books aimed at parents who home school, as well as at least one scholarly newsletter, “Home School Researcher.” According to Preiss (1989), “In 1987, in one home-schooling catalog alone, over 300 suppliers of home-schooling materials are listed.” With the explosion in homeschooling during the past few years, one can only imagine how large the network of professional suppliers of materials is by now.
The granddaddy of all the providers of courses for home study is the venerable Calvert School of Baltimore, which, for many years, was almost the only institution which offered correspondence courses below college level. It was founded in 1906 and has enrolled, through the years, upwards of 360,000 students in its home instruction courses. It has, of course, been joined by other entities in the past decade.
WHY PARENTS HOME SCHOOL
Parents home school for a wide variety of reasons–for example, many parents still live in areas where schools are not readily available (a number of rural areas and some parts of Alaska come to mind), and many parents are anxious about the physical well being of their children in an increasingly more violent school setting. Still others simply feel that they can give their children a better education at home. According to Mayberry (1991), however, two groups of parents home school primarily for ideological reasons:
- deeply religious parents
- “New Age” parents.
Mayberry surveyed 1600 Oregon families who home schooled, receiving a 35% response rate to her questions. Their responses led her to conclude that the two groups cited perceived homeschooling as an activity that provided them a way to reproduce their “way-of-life” by controlling the content of their children’s education. She reports: “…the meanings and values embodied in public education were not the ones that these parents wanted articulated to their children” (Mayberry, 1991).
SOCIALIZATION OF CHILDREN
Does the research show any clear-cut advantages or disadvantages to homeschooling, in relation to the social and emotional development of children schooled at home? Does the home-schooled youngster do as well in measures of interpersonal skills and communication skills as the conventionally schooled child?
The stereotypical home-schooled child is often portrayed as being shy, passive, and lethargic because of his/her isolation from the normal socialization found in formal schooling. Critics further allege that the self-concept of the home-schooled child suffers from lack of exposure to a more conventional environment (Stough, 1992).
Another socialization-related accusation faced by home educators is that of overprotecting their children from the real world. If this is true, however, at least one researcher (Bliss, 1989) does not consider this to be a serious problem. She argues that “Protection during early, developmental years for purposes of nurturing and growth is evident in many arenas: plant, animal, and aquatic. Why should it be considered wrong or bad in the most vital arena, human development?”
Stough (1992),looking particularly at socialization, compared 30 home-schooling families and 32 conventionally schooling families, families with children 7-14 years of age. According to the findings, children who were schooled at home “gained the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to function in society…at a rate similar to that of conventionally schooled children.” The researcher found no difference in the self concept of children in the two groups. Stough maintains that “insofar as self concept is a reflector of socialization, it would appear that few home-schooled children are socially deprived, and that there may be sufficient evidence to indicate that some home-schooled children have a higher self concept than conventionally schooled children.”
This echoes the findings of Taylor (1987). Using one of the best validated self-concept scales available, Taylor’s random sampling of home-schooled children (45,000) found that half of these children scored at or above the 91st percentile–47% higher than the average, conventionally schooled child. He concludes: “Since self concept is considered to be a basic dynamic of positive sociability, this answers the often heard skepticism suggesting that home schoolers are inferior in socialization” (Taylor, 1987).
From the findings of these two studies, it would appear that the concerns expressed by teachers, administrators, and legislators about socialization and homeschooling might be unfounded. Indeed, Bliss (1989) contends that it is in the formal educational system’s setting that children first experience negative socialization, conformity, and peer pressure. According to her, “This is a setting of large groups, segmented by age, with a variation of authority figures…the individual, with his/her developmental needs, becomes overpowered by the expectations and demand of others–equal in age and equally developmentally needy.”
Webb (1989), one of the few researchers who has examined aspects of the adult lives of wholly or partly home-educated people, found that all who had attempted higher education were successful and that their socialization was often better than that of their schooled peers.
MORE RESEARCH IS NEEDED
At this point, more research on homeschooling is necessary–what we have is inconclusive about many of its aspects. Although more and deeper studies are certainly called for, the population to be studied is not readily accessible to researchers. And the types of research that can be done are still limited to case studies of families or to surveys of self- reports by participants.
Notably, the success or failure of the homeschooling experience depends inevitably on the success or failure of the family’s interpersonal relationships. Homeschooling is a complex issue and represents a tremendous commitment on the part of the parents–in most cases, the father must function as the sole breadwinner, and the mother must spend most of her time instructing her children.
For now, we will let Preiss (1989) have the last word. She says: “Because homeschooling contains so many diverse and changing factors, each family situation is unique. Yet there exists within the home-schooling community a sense of unity which transcends ideological, political, and religious concerns. That unity lies in the parents’ commitment to the education of their children, whose welfare is their primary concern.”
Source: Apples 4 The Teacher
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com
Recall – Drop Side Cribs
July 7, 2009 by Dan
Filed under Parent's Advice
By Safe Kids
July 7, 2009
On July 2, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of 400,000 Simplicity drop side cribs due to suffocation risk. The crib’s plastic hardware can break or deform, causing the drop side to detach. When the drop side detaches, it creates a space between the drop side and the crib mattress. Infants and toddlers can roll into this space and become entrapped, which can lead to suffocation.
The CPSC is aware of one death involving an 8-month-old who became entrapped between the drop side of the crib and the crib mattress and suffocated. The agency is also aware of 25 additional incidents involving the drop side detaching from the crib. In two of the incidents, children became entrapped between the drop side and the crib mattress, but the children were not injured.
The cribs were sold at department stores, children’s stores, and mass merchandisers nationwide from January of 2005 through June of 2009 for between $150 and $300.
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled cribs and find an alternative, safe sleeping environment for their baby.
For more information, including a list of model numbers, read the CPSC recall notice
The CPSC has also compiled a complete listing of Simplicity recalls
Source: USA Safekids
Editor’s Notes: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com
Remembering ‘A Life Worth, Overlooked’
July 7, 2009 by Dan
Filed under Encouragement
MARTHA GILLIS
Springfield
July 7, 2009
Editor’s Note: This was written in the Washington Post on July 5, 2009. We believe that it is worth sharing with you the readers. Please past this on to others.
My nephew, Brian Bradshaw, was killed by an explosive device in Afghanistan on June 25, the same day that Michael Jackson died. Mr. Jackson received days of wall-to-wall coverage in the media. Where was the coverage of my nephew or the other soldiers who died that week? There were several of them, and our family crossed paths with the family of another fallen soldier at Dover Air Force Base, where the bodies come “home.” Only the media in Brian’s hometown and where he was stationed before his deployment covered his death.
I remember Brian as a toddler wandering around in cowboy boots and hat, not seeing the need for any other clothing. He grew into a thoroughly decent person with a wry sense of humor. He loved wolves and history. Most Christmases, I gave him a biography or some analysis of the Civil War. He read such things for pleasure.
He had old-fashioned values and believed that military service was patriotic and that actions counted more than talk. He wasn’t much for talking, although he could communicate volumes with a raised eyebrow.
He was a search-and-rescue volunteer, an altar boy, a camp counselor. He carried the hopes and dreams of his parents willingly on his shoulders. What more than that did Michael Jackson do or represent that earned him memorial “shrines,” while this soldier’s death goes unheralded?
It makes me want to scream.
Source: Washington Post
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com