New Program by USO Helps Military Families
By Henry Dunkelberger
Mar. 4. 2010
Military families sacrifice a lot when a loved one is overseas fighting for his or her country. The USO (United Service Organization) wants to show appreciation to those families, says Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden. Biden joined a group of volunteers to pack and ship 3,000 care packages to families with loved ones in Iraq or Afghanistan.
“I have seen firsthand just how much a small act of kindness can mean to a service member,” Biden said. Biden’s son Beau is a member of the Delaware Army National Guard and has served in Iraq.
The event at the National Armory in Washington, D.C., kicked off the Military Family Care Package program. The first packages are destined for families of 3,000 Florida National Guard Soldiers who will deploy in the coming weeks.
“The items in these packages will make life just a little bit easier for them,” said Biden. “Whether it’s a disposable camera, a grocery-store gift card, or a pre-paid phone card, for the service members serving abroad and missing their loved ones, these packages will bring some comfort, knowing that their families have not been forgotten.”
Other items in the packages include a journal to record events and memories they can share once the service member gets home, Hallmark greeting cards, and gift certificates.
Two colorful inflatable characters known as Hoops and YoYo joined in at the care package event. Designed by Hallmark, the whimsical, colorful blow-ups are highlighted on cards included in the packages.
Hoops and YoYo are aimed at bringing smiles to the faces of kids missing a loved one.
Kids can also help show appreciation to these families, Biden told the Scholastic Kids Press Corps.
“You can find out who are the military and the National Guard families in your neighborhood so you could maybe take over a movie one night and popcorn,” she said. “Or you can help your mom bake cookies and take them over to the family.”
The USO is a bridge between the American public and the U.S. military, both in times of peace and war. Currently the USO can be found in more than 130 locations around the world, including Kuwait and Afghanistan. For more information about the organization and how you can help, check out the USO website.
Source: Scholastic News Online
Editor’s Note: Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden stuffs care packages at the USO Military Family Care Package event on February 24, 2010 at the DC National Guard Armory. (Photo: USO Photo by Mike Theiler)
We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Should You Be Allowed to Discipline Other People’s Kids?
By Logan Ward
Mar. 2, 2010
When it comes to disciplining someone else’s child you don’t want to offend the kid’s parents, but if his behavior is dangerous or harmful you can’t simply ignore it either.
“It’s not intruding on another parent’s turf when you’re protecting your own child,” says Michele Borba, EdD, a Parents advisor and author of No More Misbehaving’: 38 Difficult Behaviors and How to Stop Them. Still, the right response depends on the circumstances — we’ll tell you how to respond here.
Playground Bully
Your 3-year-old is drawing with sidewalk chalk when two 5-year-old boys ask to borrow some. You give them a few pieces, but then they return asking for more. Your son says “No,” but they pull the chalk away from him.
What you’re tempted to do: “You want to say, ‘Hey, stop that — don’t you kids know better?'” says family therapist Hal Runkel, author of Scream Free Parenting: the Revolutionary Approach to Raising Your Kids by Keeping Your Cool. But if you lash out, Runkel cautions, you’ll only scare the children and put their parents on the defensive.
What you should do: “Your first step is simply to make your presence known,” says Dr. Borba. “Often, that’s enough to stop aggressive behavior.” If it isn’t, address the boys calmly but sternly:
“We don’t grab things from other people. Somebody might get hurt.” Let them know your son is happy to share his things, but they need to share too — and to stop grabbing. If their behavior continues, put the chalk away and head for another area of the park.
When Ellen Morris’s 5-year-old son, William, was being pushed around by an older child at a playground near their Louisville, Kentucky, home, she felt she had to intervene.
“I said, ‘Fighting is not okay,’ then asked the boy nicely to play in another area, which he did,” says Morris.
Bad Play date
Your 4-year-old daughter’s friend bosses her around during dress-up, hogs all the toys, and then refuses to help clean up the mess she made.
What you’re tempted to do: Put her in a time-out or send her home.
What you should do: Your house, your consequences. Right? Well, yes, but restrain yourself — maybe your little guest is just having a bad day.
Reiterate the rules (“In our house we take turns, and everyone cleans up her own mess”), then offer a reward (“When you’re done cleaning up, we’ll have cookies and lemonade”).
If she still won’t play nicely, you might try having the kids play separately for a while and see whether that helps. Steer clear of time-outs unless you’ve gotten the mom’s permission to give one.
Even then, save it for more egregious behavior, such as when a child is throwing toys or being defiant. If necessary, ask if she’d like you to call her mother to see whether she has any suggestions (the mere threat might change her tune). Be up-front about the problems at pickup: “We were having a little trouble with getting along and sharing today.”
In most cases, a visiting child will want to win your approval. Christy Majors, of Waynesboro, Virginia, hosts play dates all the time for her kids, Tess, 6, and Max, 3.
“When someone misbehaves, I talk to them at eye level and treat them with respect,” she adds. “Kids know when they’re being dealt with fairly, and they’ll usually cooperate in return.”
Biting
Your son comes home from class with a bite mark on his arm from another child.
What you’re tempted to do: Confront the child’s parents, and shoot off an angry e-mail to the teacher.
What you should do: Preschools exist in part to help children learn which social behaviors are acceptable and which aren’t. Hitting and biting are common at this age.
Although that doesn’t make them acceptable, your son’s teacher is the right person to handle the problem.
Feel free to set up a conference where you can express your concern: “Would you please keep an eye out when our son plays with Max, so this doesn’t happen again?” Also, make sure the teacher has spoken to the boy’s parents.
There’s no reason for you to contact them directly, though, unless you’re friendly with them and feel that not mentioning the incident would be awkward.
Bad Table Manners
While having dinner with your family, your daughter’s 5-year-old friend eats her Mac ‘n’ cheese with her fingers.
What you’re tempted to do: Tell her to use a fork — she’s old enough to know better.
What you should do: Hold your tongue. “Give kids a little leeway with certain kinds of manners,” says Daniel Buccino, a clinical social worker at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in Baltimore.
The child’s bad table habits might be the result of her cultural background, or she could have a manual dexterity problem. By overlooking the poor manners, you’re teaching your children to be gracious hosts.
But if the sloppy dining leads to truly bad behavior, like throwing food or belching intentionally, it’s fine to (gently) correct the child. Later, praise your own kids for using their utensils and eating properly, so they’re not confused by the apparent double standard.
Dirty Words
Your 8-year-old nephew starts teaching your kindergartner dirty words, and your brother doesn’t notice (or pretends not to).
What you’re tempted to do: Cover your child’s ears, and scold your potty-mouthed nephew.
What you should do: Calmly ask the boy to clean up his act. Say, “You’re older, and it’s not appropriate to use these words in front of Matthew.” This will make the child and his dad aware of the problem without offending anyone.
When they leave, talk to your child about the naughty words: “We don’t use that language in our family. Those words can upset people, and they’re inappropriate.”
Passive Parent
Your friend’s daughter constantly interrupts your conversation, but your friend ignores this impolite behavior.
What you’re tempted to do: Tell the child she’s being rude, and then suggest your friend teach her some manners.
What you should do: Address your friend, not her kid. “Ask, ‘Do you need to go help Lauren? Because I’d be happy to continue this conversation in a few minutes,” says Peggy Post, coauthor of Emily Post’s The Gift of Good Manners: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Respectful, Kind, And Considerate Children.
This is a subtle but clear way to send the message that you’re frustrated by the behavior and feel she should correct her child.
When You Lose Your Cool
The playmate is out of control. Kids are spilling drinks, throwing toys, and fighting. Finally, when one child leads your son up the outside of the stair railing, you yell at them to get down — now. And when they don’t, you send them to separate rooms.
An overreaction? Probably. But what’s your damage-control strategy? “My advice is the same as it is for wayward politicians,” says social worker Daniel Buccino. “Disclose all, and do it early.” Call the child’s parent right away and give your side of the story:
“Kyle and Joey were climbing the stairs on the outside, and I was scared they might fall and get hurt. I spoke sharply to them and gave them time-outs. I realize I lost my cool, and I just wanted you to know.” Fess up, and chances are you’ll get sympathy on the other end of the line.
Keep quiet, and you risk having Kyle complain about Joey’s mean ol’ mom when he gets home.
6 Discipline Strategies for Other Kids
Follow these guidelines when you’re in charge of someone else’s kid.
- Tread lightly. Don’t ever spank or yell, even if the child does something dangerous or destructive. Your goal is to correct his behavior, not to punish him.
- Plan ahead. Discuss the rules with the child’s parent (for example, how much TV she can watch and what she can eat for a snack) and agree on consequences in advance.
- Explain your expectations. A child isn’t likely to obey boundaries unless you set them. Take a few minutes to go over the house rules: “No running or playing ball indoors, everyone must share, and toys go away when you’re done playing with them.”
- Let the little things go. If a child knocks down a block tower or doesn’t say thank you for the homemade cookies and lemonade you made, don’t correct him. Remember: Every parent has a different set of expectations about acceptable behavior.
- Don’t embarrass her. Never discipline a child in front of her friends. Address her as part of a group: “I can see everyone’s tired of playing this game. Let’s all take a break and sit down for a snack.”
- Accentuate the positive. When you have to remind another child to share, clean up, or stop throwing things, make a point of praising your child (in private) for being good.
What’s your take on disciplining other kids?
Source: Parents
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Pledge of Allegiance under Assault by ACLU in Maryland, & Congressman shows disrespect.
By A.J. Plourde
YC/Staff
Feb. 24, 2010
Editor’s Note: The staff at the Chronicle, would like to welcome another writer A.J. Plourde to our staff.
A.J. will be writing columns in both Gold Coast Chronicle, and in our children site Young Chronicle News & Reviews.
We hope you will enjoy his passion and commitment to this country like millions of other Americans who are disappointed in the direction this Administration is pursuing to lead us.
We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Fox news reported today two different stories which shows exactly why Americans need to examine where we are, and where we want to go as a nation.
It is a sad day indeed when loyalty to this country through the “Pledge of Allegiance” to our nation is challenged and disrespected in a school and in a meeting attended by a Congressman.
Although the two stories happened on either side of the country, they both demonstrate that we here in America have surely lost our way. President Ronald Reagan would be disheartened to hear of such a thing.
The question is why is there so much disrespect being shown to our country and its heritage via the confrontations over the “Pledge of Allegiance” and the words. Not long ago, a single person almost succeeded in his attempt to remove the word “God” from our pledge because he was an Atheist.
The courts finally dismissed his case, but not at the beginning. He made it as far as the appeals process, when he shouldn’t have made it past the first court.
The fox stories covered the ACLU issuing a complaint to the Montgomery County Public Schools Board, over the punishment of a girl in middle school refusing to stand up during “The Pledge of Allegiance”.
Her punishment that the ACLU is challenging is standing in the hallway. The ACLU of Maryland is saying, “The U.S. Constitution and the State Law protect the right of students not to participate in reciting the pledge.”
Where does it say in the U S Constitution anything at all about this? Can you believe it the School Board agreed with the ACLU?
Boy does that raise questions about the quality and integrity of the education processes in Germantown schools in Maryland. Whoa!! Since when don’t the students in this nation as minors have to comply with school regulations?
If the entire class is participating and it is a school practice why are we giving students who are minors, an option they should not have. What happened to adult authority and responsibility for the minor while in their charge?
Is not a minor supposed to obey regulations any longer and show respect for their country.
Whoa!! When did that rule between adults and minors change? Did minors suddenly become accountable and relieve the adults of their responsibility to them. I don’t recall seeing that item in the news.
When a child in school refuses to stand for a salute to their country, what kind of citizen is this person potentially going to be? I fear that if the School Board doesn’t recant their statement, then there is serious potential for loss of control in the classroom.
The School Board is wrong to side with the ACLU, and parents should unite in coming out strong against this interference by the ACLU over minor’s rights.
What do you think?
Should children be allowed not to stand and say the “Pledge of Allegiance” when so many of our citizens have given the supreme sacrifice so they could remain free?
Red Skelton, an American Icon, and a great and wonderful comedian, has a great presentation on the “Pledge of Allegiance”. Perhaps the young student who did this should be required to view it, in fact the whole class might get something out it.
Here is where you can find this beautiful lesson in Audio and Child’s Video Version.
Now the other story involved a Congressman at a meeting and a person in the audience requesting the “Pledge of Allegiance” be said before they proceeded further into the meeting.
The meeting was just starting at that point, and when the Congressman heard that request, he was caught laughing at the suggestion (see the video).
Here again, this was a public meeting where a citizen spoke up and requested the “Pledge of Allegiance” and volunteered to lead it.
It is important for all citizens of this nation to understand that the “Pledge of Allegiance” said before the flag means something and is not just words. We as citizens need to be ready to defend our nation against all its enemies within or outside of its borders.
We must be ready to preserve Liberty and Freedom for the generations that will come after us. We should be proud and stand tall and straight when we say our “Pledge of Allegiance” to our country as it is a statement about each of us as citizens showing our pride in our country and its heritage.
The Pledge of Allegiance should never be taken lightly and no one should ever laugh at the suggestion of saying it. The Congressman owes an apology for his action to the community that he represents.
Here is something for all of us to remember a quote by President Ronald Reagan:
“Freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children through our blood stream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children’s children what it was once like in the United States when men were free.”
Hero of the Week – Army Vet Robin De Haven
By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Feb. 19, 2010
Editor’s Note: Each Week we will be Honoring people or groups that are making a difference in helping others especially during this tough times in America.
When we as Americans are put through a test, we come out in flying colors on the other side.
We would like to know what you think. And if you know someone or group that we can Honor. You can contact us at dan@youngchronicle.com
This week we will be honoring: Robin De Haven. Here is his story:
By KELLEY SHANNON and JAY ROOT
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Robin De Haven was driving his truck to another job for the glass company he works for when he saw something that didn’t look right – a small plane, flying extremely low over a heavily congested area of Austin.
The 28-year-old Iraq war veteran recalled Friday that he then saw black smoke billowing from the office building and rushed to the scene. A pilot furious at the Internal Revenue Service had slammed his plane into the building Thursday where about 200 IRS employees worked, killing himself and one other person.
De Haven said when he pulled up to the burning building he saw five people peeking through the broken glass. He
hurled his 17-foot ladder off his truck and onto the building, helping to rescue them as thick smoke poured into the air.
“I wanted to go help,” De Haven told The Associated Press. “I thought, ‘I’m going to go ahead and do it.’ I thought my boss would understand.”
De Haven retold his rescue efforts outside the hulking black-glass Echelon 1 building Friday as police and fire investigators picked through the wreckage. Arson crews also inspected pilot Andrew Joseph Stack III’s red brick home about six miles away – which Stack apparently set on fire before taking off in his plane Thursday morning.
Stack posted an angry anti-government manifesto on a Web site registered to him before he flew a single engine plane into the building.
Stack, 53, apparently targeted the building’s lower floors, which housed the IRS offices. U.S. law enforcement officials said they were trying to determine if Stack put anything in the plane to worsen the damage caused by the impact and fire.
One law enforcement official also said investigators were trying to find out if a marital dispute precipitated Stack’s angry suicide mission. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Standing across the street from Stack’s fire-damaged home, a representative for Stack’s wife, Sheryl Stack, issued a statement on her behalf Friday. Rayford Walker said he had been asked by the family to distribute the statement.
“Words cannot adequately express my sorrow or the sympathy I feel for everyone affected by this unimaginable tragedy,” the statement read. “Due to the ongoing investigation related to this tragedy, I feel it is best to make no comment beyond this statement and to not respond to questions of any nature.”
Stack took off from an airport in Georgetown, about 30 miles from Austin, and flew low over the Austin skyline before plowing into the side of the building just before 10 a.m. Thursday. Flames shot from the building, windows exploded and terrified workers rushed to get out.
Emergency crews originally said people were missing inside the building, but later recovered two bodies. Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Palmer Buck declined to discuss the identities of those found, but said authorities had now “accounted for everybody.”
Thirteen people were injured, authorities said. One man remained hospitalized Friday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio with burns and was in stable condition, the hospital said.
Authorities have credited numerous stories of heroism for keeping the death toll so low in the crash. A glass workers union said Friday it wants to honor De Haven in Washington, D.C., and the company he works for said it has been flooded with phone calls and e-mails calling him a hero.
De Haven said after he extended his ladder and climbed to the second floor, he realized his ladder was unsteady and he couldn’t help people down on it. So, he said he climbed inside the building and helped find a better escape route.
Once inside, he found four men and a woman were trapped inside and smoke was seeping in from the hallway.
De Haven and another man in the office broke open a window with an iron rod and made their way to a lower ledge where the ladder would be more secure.
“I don’t feel like a hero,” he said. “I was just trying to help,” he said.
Some who knew Stack said he offered little hint of his anger toward the government and the IRS.
“He didn’t rant about anything,” said Pam Parker, an Austin attorney whose husband played in a band with Stack. “He wasn’t obsessed with the government or any of that. … Not a loner, not off in a corner. He had friends and conversation and ordinary stuff.”
But in his self-described “rant,” Stack fumed about the IRS and wrote, “Nothing changes unless there is a body count.” Stack also railed against “big brother,” the Catholic Church, the “unthinkable atrocities” committed by big business and the governments bailouts that followed.
In the note, signed “Joe Stack (1956-2010)” and dated Thursday, he said he slowly came to the conclusion that “violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer.”
Stack’s father-in-law, Jack Cook, told The New York Times that he knew Stack had a “hang-up” with the IRS and his marriage had been strained. His wife had taken her daughter to a hotel to get away from Stack on Wednesday night, the newspaper said.
A few hundred people had joined Facebook pages by Friday honoring Stack, including one that said while it didn’t agree with Stack’s actions, it sympathizes with his thoughts on the government.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: AT&T
Editor’s Note: Associated Press writers April Castro and Jim Vertuno in Austin; Michelle Roberts in Georgetown; Linda Stewart Ball, Danny Robbins, Jeff Carlton and John McFarland in Dallas; Devlin Barrett in Washington contributed to this report, along with the AP News Research Center.
Need a Degree to be President?
By Chris Kyle
Feb. 15, 2010
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, once suggested that we “remember that our nation’s first great leaders were also our first great scholars.”
Case in point: Five of our first six U.S. presidents received a college degree and the sixth, George Washington, received a surveyor’s certificate from The College of William and Mary.
In honor of President’s Day and the 43 men who have held the job, let’s take a look at some certificate and degrees available today, and the presidents who earned them.
TEACHING CERTIFICATES
Lyndon B. Johnson earned his teaching certificate from Southwest Texas State Teachers College in 1930 (now Texas State University-San Marcos) and worked as a teacher before and after graduation.
Woodrow Wilson served as president of Princeton University and worked as a teacher prior to becoming President of the United States. John Adams taught before he went into politics, as did Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland (who landed an assistant teacher position through the help of his brother William).
ASSOCIATE’S DEGREES
Harry Truman attended Kansas City Law School (now the University of Missouri-Kansas City). Though he didn’t complete his Juris Doctor (JD) degree, his two years of schooling would have been enough time to earn an associate’s degree in paralegal studies or court reporting.
Barack Obama has been very vocal about the power of an associate’s degree. “In an economy where jobs requiring at least an associate’s degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience, ” he says. “It’s never been more essential to continue education and training after high school.”
BACHELOR’S DEGREES
Most of our presidents – 34 to be exact – have earned a bachelor’s degree.
Jimmy Carter and Herbert Hoover studied engineering in college and earned bachelor’s of science degrees. They are the only two presidents to have found work as engineers.
Ronald Reagan studied sociology and economics at Eureka College in Illinois, becoming an actor and sportscaster before launching his career in politics.
MBA DEGREES
When he was elected in 2000, George W. Bush became the first U.S. President to have earned his master’s in business administration (MBA), though this fact isn’t so surprising when you consider that the world’s first MBA program wasn’t established until 1908.
Today, online MBA programs are redefining the business school model, perhaps paving the way for the very first president with an online MBA degree.
LAW DEGREES
More than half of our 44 presidents (23 total) have been lawyers, including Obama, which is a trend that began with John Adams, our second president.
Obama earned his JD from Harvard, where he served as the first black president of the school’s law review.
William Howard Taft is the only president who also served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He received his bachelor of laws, a precursor to the JD, at the University of Cincinnati.
If our presidents have taught us anything, it’s that many different degrees can lead to greatness.
So look into online degree and certificate programs today and who knows… We could be celebrating you on a future Presidents’ Day.
Source: Yahoo News
Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Honor Presidents’ Day – A Prayer from Ronald Wilson Reagan
By Dan Samaria
Publisher/YC
Feb. 15, 2010
To honor Presidents’ Day, I would like to share a prayer from one of the greatest Presidents of all time. In his own words, he made this speech to the American People on Feb. 6, 1986.
By President Ronald Reagan
To preserve our blessed land we must look to God… It is time to realize that we need God more than He needs us… We also have His promise that we could take to heart with regard to our country, that “If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Let us, young and old, join together, as did the First Continental Congress, in the first step, in humble heartfelt prayer. Let us do so for the love of God and His great goodness, in search of His guidance and the grace of repentance, in seeking His blessings, His peace, and the resting of His kind and holy hands on ourselves, our nation, our friends in the defense of freedom, and all mankind, now and always.
The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America… Our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual renewal. Today, we utter no prayer more fervently than the ancient prayer for peace on Earth.
If I had a prayer for you today, among those that have all been uttered, it is that one we’re so familiar with: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace….” And God bless you all.
Editor’s Note: Lets honor this day and never forget all those past Presidents that has served us during good and bad times.
We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Indoctrinating Kids: Obama-Terrorists, No Difference
by Audrey Russo
YC/Staff
Feb. 11, 2010
Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” A solid principle that can be used for good…OR for evil….
Terrorist crud got this a long time ago. Taint the kids while they’re young. Carefully saturate their minds with hatred…and you will have killer-bots for life, however short that life may be…
And guess who else got it…yes, that’s right…good old Barry…
Organizing for America (OFA), formerly Obama for America, is up to no good in our public schools.
They have been busy handing out Internships in organizing. Something Obama’s idol, Saul Alinsky, would have been plotzing (exploding from excitement) about.
In Alinsky’s book, Rules for Radicals, he focused on the 1960s generation of radicals, drafting his views on organizing for mass power.
The Obama weekly internship curriculum is Alinsky paraphrased and can be seen here.
This is Obama’s model. And he knows, as Alinsky did…that you need to train the children well and early. Funny thing is…Jihadists see it the same way.
In the Islamic world, children as young as 3 years of age are indoctrinated with the hateful ideology that Islam offers.
Their curriculum is not concerned with the future and potential of these children, but rather with accomplishing their vicious agenda toward Jews…and the rest of the infidel world.
If you’re thinking that the Obama-Terrorist analogy is off…I beg to differ. Obama’s socialist agenda is a cruel enslavement of the people, an interminable lingering death of the individual. Jihadists instruct to achieve a quick terrorizing death of the individual…and as the Muslim world indoctrinates to achieve their goals, so does O and his ilk.
(And neither is willing to live under what they require the children to. So there’s hypocrisy to boot…).
The brainwashing by both of these entities results in the death of the individual…and therefore, the cessation of liberty. Is THIS what we dreamed for our posterity?
Shalom through strength…
Editor’s Note: we would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
We Should Honor Stay-at-Home Dads
by Gary Drevitch
Feb. 10, 2010
Every Father’s Day, grandparents honor the dads in their grandchildren’s lives, with an array of ties, robes, fishing lures, and colognes.
For grandparents whose grandchildren are being raised primarily by at-home dads, though, there may be some lingering doubts in their gift boxes as well.
While the number of at-home dads is surging nationwide, it remains an uncommon choice for a father to put his career on hold for diaper and playground duty — and it was virtually unheard of when many of today’s grandparents raised their own kids.
In 2006, the Census Bureau estimated there were about 159,000 stay-at-home dads in the United States, a 60 percent increase from 2004, but demographic experts say those numbers have almost certainly risen since then, as families react to two trends — the tightened job market nationwide, and the increase in the number of couples in which the wife out earns her husband, currently between a quarter and a third of all marriages, according to various estimates.
How are at-home dads handling their role? The evidence suggests that they, and their kids, are not only surviving but thriving.
According to a research by University of Texas psychology professor Aaron Rochlen, at-home dads not only report higher overall satisfaction with their lives than the general parenting population, they also report greater job satisfaction than they had when they last worked full-time.
Here are a few more reasons to celebrate the at-home dads in your lives:
His Kids Get More Attention
Parenting researchers have found that children with at-home dads may actually get more overall parenting attention than other kids. That’s because full-time working dads are more likely to sacrifice time with their children for their jobs than are working moms, who remain reluctant to let go of time with the kids.
“If there’s a choice between the mom staying at home and the dad staying at home,” says Joan Williams, director of the Center for Work Life Law at the University of California-Hastings law school, “the child ends up with more parental attention when dad stays home.”
It’s the Best of Both Worlds
As should be obvious to any grandparent who has spent significant time in a playground, moms and dads parent differently. In general, dads are a little more rough-and-tumble, a little more “challenging” than most moms. And that’s great for the kids, says Scott Coltrane, associate director of the Center for Family Studies at the University of California-Riverside.
“It’s important for children to be exposed to different parenting styles, and men and women parent somewhat differently.” Even though some moms may criticize dads for their non-verbal tendencies, that benefits kids too, Coltrane says.
“A father might be less verbal and more physical than a mother. And so children learn to read people differently, and develop greater emotional and communication competence.”
He May Just Be Better at It
Before Mark Haskett married his wife, Christine, they talked about how they’d raise their kids. Neither wanted to hire a nanny or place children in full-time day care. But while Christine, now a partner at a San Francisco law firm, had no desire to stay home full-time, Mark, a photographer at the time, said he’d have no problem with it.
Now an at-home father of two, Mark has never looked back. His mother, Grandparents.com contributor Kathleen Curtis Wilson of Alameda, Calif., admits, “I would never have thought this would work out way back when he was 18, but it’s worked out very well.
He’s absolutely the one in the family who should be at home. He goes with the flow much easier, and it’s amazing how much the kids have bonded with him. I’d never seen a stay-at-home dad firsthand before. They’re raising two wonderful children.”
Kathleen Wilson writes of her efforts to find more time to spend with her at-home dad son and his children.
But He Still Needs Your Support
As fulfilling as at-home dads find their role, a skeptical or critical parent or in-law can still cast a cloud over their homes. “For a lot of guys I’ve met, getting their parents to understand the decision to be an at-home dad was one of the tougher parts of making the transition,” says Brian Reid, who produces Rebel Dad, a nationally recognized website for at-home fathers.
“I think that fatherhood has changed enough in the last generation that the new crop of grandparents doesn’t always get it at first. The fathers who have sat down and explained exactly what they’re doing and why tend to be able to get their parents’ support more quickly,” Reid adds.
“If there’s one thing that grandparents understand, it’s the well-being of their grandkids — a happy dad raising happy kids goes a long way toward getting grandparents on board.”
Source: Grandparents
Editor’s Note: Columnist Beverly Beckham’s son has spent time as an at-home dad. “The time he has spent with his daughter has been the best of times, harder than he anticipated,” she writes.
We would like to hear your story if you are a stay at home dad. dan@goldcoastchronicle.com
World’s Tallest Building Opens in Dubai
By Robbin Friedman
Feb. 8, 2010
The people of Dubai have extended their reach—into the sky.
In January, the world’s tallest building opened there. The skyscraper, called the Burj Khalifa, is more than 160 stories high, with 60-mile views from the top of the tower. At 2,717 feet, the structure stands more than 1,000 feet taller than the last tallest building, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan.
After five years of construction, the Burj Khalifa opened with a party. Fireworks lit up the surrounding sky.
The world’s largest fountain shot water high into the air. Two men parachuted more than 2,200 feet from high on the building to set a new world record.
But now the tower is getting down to business. The skyscraper has 37 floors of office space and 1,000 apartments. It will house the world’s largest mall. The owners hope that eventually more than 12,000 people will live and work in the 6 million square feet inside the building.
A New Name for the Middle Eastern Tower
The Burj Khalifa was originally named the Burj Dubai, or Dubai Tower, after the region where it was built. Dubai is a sheikdom, or a region in the Middle East that is governed by a ruler called a sheik.
It is part of the United Arab Emirates, a country made up of seven sheikdoms. Recently, Dubai needed a loan. Sheik Khalifa, President of the United Arab Emirates and sheik of neighboring Abu Dhabi, helped out. Burj Dubai was renamed Burj Khalifa in his honor.
World’s Tallest and More
The towering structure have broken a number of records besides the record for height. It has the world’s highest swimming pool, on the 123rd floor.
It also has the world’s highest outdoor observation deck: Visitors can stand in the open air 124 stories above ground.
Fifty-four elevators race up and down, going as fast as 40 miles an hour. Should the elevators stop working, 3,000 stairs go from top to bottom. And when it’s time to clean the windows, 36 workers will spend about three months washing them.
Reaching half a mile into the sky, the Burj Khalifa soars over even the world’s other highest skyscrapers. Its height outstrips the Taipei 101 by 60 stories. It stands more than 1,100 feet taller than China’s Shanghai World Financial Center.
And Dubai’s new tower dwarfs one of the most famous skyscrapers of all: it stands more than twice as high as the Empire State Building in New York City, the world’s tallest building for more than 40 years.
Source: Scholastic News
Editor’s Note: GRAPH IT Map: Jim McMahon
Read today’s story about the Burj Khalifa, then complete this graph-reading activity about the world’s tallest buildings.
Download it here! Map: Jim McMahon
We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com
Happy 100 Hundred Years of Service
By Anne Driscoll
Feb. 8, 2009
From Harrison Ford to Neil Armstrong to Barack Obama, some of America’s most well-known celebrities and well-respected leaders have worn a Scout uniform. As the Boy Scouts celebrate 100 years, Tonic takes a look at the history — and values — of an organization that shapes our nation for the better.
Wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone pledged to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent?
In the past 100 years since the Boy Scouts of America was founded, 112 million boys have raised their right hand to live up to those homespun standards and uphold the Scout Law, earning merit badges and volunteering for service projects ranging from food collection to conservation.
And a significant number of scouts have grown into conscientious adults who continue to contribute in ways, large and small, to the social good.
A century ago today, former president Theodore Roosevelt helped found the Boy Scouts of America and served as its first and only Chief Scout Citizen.
Since then there have been 18 other US presidents involved with scouting in some capacity, including Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford and John F. Kennedy, each of whom spent at least some of their childhood in a Scouts uniform.
No other US youth organization has served as many boys and none can boast such a long roster of luminaries who have, later in life, made such significant impact in politics, public service, commerce, sports, science and entertainment, to name a few.
Today, there are 3 million youth Scout members guided by another 1.1 million adult members involved in volunteer and community service projects, crafting boyhood memories and building a foundation for the men they will become.
Over the years, many notables have attributed their achievements to their association with scouting. Jimmy Stewart, who was a US Air Force Brigadier General, as well as a movie star, was quoted as saying he wouldn’t trade his experiences in Scouting for anything. And just this month, Ed Begley told Tonic that his green roots can be traced to a love of nature that sprouted when he was a scout.
Other well-known actors have been scouts, too, like Ashton Kutcher, Richard Gere and Henry Fonda. Harrison Ford taught Reptile Study as a Life Scout and made movie history when he played the fictional Life Scout Indiana Jones. Jerry Mathers, known as “The Beaver” in that boy-next-door ’60s TV show Leave it to Beaver was a Cub Scout in California.
In 2007, he recalled his audition to a reporter in Parade Magazine, saying, “I had just joined the Cub Scouts, and I had my first Cub Scout meeting and didn’t want to miss it. My mom told me to wear my uniform to the audition and she would drive me to Cub Scouts right after it. I went in and the producers said, ‘Why are you so fidgety, Jerry?’
And I said, ‘I don’t want to be here because I have a Cub Scout meeting.’ My mom said that probably wasn’t the best thing to tell them! That night the producers called and said I had the part. And the reason they picked me was that they’d rather have a child that wanted to go to a Cub Scout meeting than to be an actor.”
Athletes on every field, court or track have been scouts including Bruce Jenner in track and field, Mark Spitz in swimming, Bill Bradley in basketball, and Steve Young in football. Baseball great Hank Aaron, for example, was quoted as saying that the greatest positive influence in his life was his involvement in scouting.
And scouting has launched other high achievers whether they reach the literal heavens (astronauts Neil Armstrong and John Glenn), the highest bench of law (US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer) or the heights of commerce (Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton).
Surprisingly long before he was making margaritas or singing about them, Jimmy Buffett was earning merit badges. Walter Cronkite practiced reciting the Boy Scout pledge years before he was delivering the nation’s nightly news. Bill Gates was doing volunteer service work as a Life Scout well before he made billions with Microsoft and then created a foundation to give much of it away to charity.
Director Michael Moore first began his filmmaking career with his Eagle Scout project in 1970 as a high school sophomore when he photographed polluted areas in his hometown of Davison. Similarly, Steven Spielberg was an Eagle Scout who made a movie of his Scout troop while working on his photography merit badge.
He ultimately helped to design the requirements for the Cinematography Merit Badge for Eagle Scouts.
The Boy Scouts of America, which was incorporated on February 8, 1910 and chartered by Congress in 1916, has never wavered from its original purpose, which is to provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build character, promote citizenship and develop personal fitness. But since its inception, the organization has grown and changed.
It now offers a Tiger Cub program for boys in first grade and offers various levels of scouting programs all the way to Ventures for young men up to age 20. And since Arthur Eldred was recognized as the very first Eagle Scout in 1912 and Anthony Thomas of Lakeville, Minn., became the 2 millionth Eagles in 2009, an average of 5 percent of all Boy Scouts earn that most revered highest rank in scouting, including 52,025 since 2008.
In the coming months, there are a number of celebrations planned to observe the centennial of scouting. The most ambitious is scheduled for July 31 at 8 p.m. EST when — for the first time in the history of the Boy Scouts of America — the entire scouting community is encouraged to take part in a special nationwide broadcast, A Shining Light Across America, that will air festivities at the 100th Anniversary National Scout Jamboree in Fort AP Hill, Va., to communities across the country via satellite and a webcast.
Whether it’s today, on July 31, or at any other point during this centennial year of Scouting, we here at Tonic hope you’ll take a moment to think about, thank, and support the Boy Scouts in your own community.
After all, your support of their efforts today will help shape the men they will all become tomorrow.
Source: Tonic
Editor’s Note: Logo courtesy of Boy Scouts of America and photo by a la Corey via Flicker
We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com