Strollerderby : angst

Teen Angst Times Ten For the Famous

Kelly Mills — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:06:00 GMT

You couldn't pay me enough to be a teenager again. Between the drugs and the horrific relationships and the mean kids and the really bad clothes (I won't even go into the hair) it's no wonder I felt utterly insecure and ansgt-ridden, and I can't imagine my experience was all that unique. So honestly, I feel for these celebrity kids who star in shows on Disney and Nickelodeon. They get all the freakiness of the teen years captured and dissected in the media, plus they are supposed to be role models for our kids. Oh, and worry about future earning potential. Bleugh.

I know someone is gonna say, "Poor babies, all rich and famous" but I doubt it's a sweet life. And aside from the fawning and critiquing they get during their formative years, they have to worry about their image more than most teens, and that's saying something. Does a Miley Cyrus' pregnancy rumor upset her fan base? Are Vanessa Hudgens' naked pics gonna hurt her chances of playing squeaky-clean roles? Lord, if what I did as a teenager impacted my adult career, I think I'd probably be scrubbing toilets for a living right now. And I really don't like to hear these kids parroting agent-speak: "Disney definitely sets up a fan base for you" and "I see myself with my own show." I don't doubt there are good parents out there trying to give their famous kids a balanced life, but I know I'm relieved my adolescence didn't get played out in the limelight.

New Study: Everything Is Harmful To Children

JasonAvant — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 16:21:00 GMT

This week saw the release of a groundbreaking new study, conducted by a joint committee consisting of senior research staff of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization, the British Dental Association, the American Cancer Society, the Pan American Health Organization, AAPCHO, the Alheimer's Association, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, the International Red Cross, the American Stroke Association, the Arthritis Foundation, the International Health Exchange, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Project Hope, the International AIDS Foundation, and UNICEF. The study, which surveyed over 1 billion children over the past 50 years, concludes that everything is bad for children.

"We were not at all surprised by the results", Dr. Arthur Lemming of the BDA was quoted as saying. "We took a long, hard look at the data, and were stunned to find that every single child in the world at some point has contracted some sort of illness. The surveying was exhaustive, but after we collected all of the information, it didn't take long at all to come up with the conclusion." That conclusion, as summarized by Dr. Lemming, was simple. "Everything's bad for kids. The air they breathe, what they eat, what they drink, the forms of entertainment they choose, every outdoor activity, every indoor activity, sunlight, darkness - literally, all of it can be attributed to some form of ailment or another. For example, paper cuts alone account for some 4,650,000,000 bandage usages a year. Ice cream is the root cause of over 130,000 headaches a minute. Last week, it was reported that 748,000 American kids suffered abrasions after tripping over untied shoelaces. And over 537,982,910 cases of nightmares caused by just one viewing of The Doodlebops have been documented. Clearly, life itself has the potential to cause great harm to kids."

Armed with such knowledge, scientists are feverishly working on a cure. But don't expect results over night, warns Dr. Lemming. "Clearly, we're dealing with an almost infinite number of root causes, since everything that we know of that exists on planet Earth can potentially harm our kids. But we're not giving up hope."

No Escape from Bullies in Internet Era

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:55:00 GMT

My fist brush with a bully came in third grade, when I begged off a 3 p.m. fight with a decidedly honest, yet painfully embarrassing, admission. "I can't," I said, "My mom's picking me up." I shrugged my shoulders, apologizing for letting my mom come between a bully and his beating.

It's getting so much more difficult for kids to escape their bullies, as this story points out. Thanks to MySpace and other online harassing sites, kids are getting all sorts of grief that used to be confined to the schoolyard.

This story's young girl had to move to several different schools to escape the bullying -- and yet it continued anyway, showing there are no borders when it comes to the Internet ... and how mean kids can be. The mom in this picture is doing a stellar job, if you ask me. She pulled her kid from the schools and decided to home-school her, while also preparing to shut down her access to MySpace. What she doesn't know, I suppose, won't taunt her.

You've Already Messed Up Your Baby ... Maybe

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:32:00 GMT

Everything you're doing is messing up your kid -- and your own potential to have more, which, of course, you'd mess up. From drinking a soda yourself and shampooing your hair to using baby bottles to feed your child, a toxic cocktail of chemicals is playing havoc on hormones and causing developmental problems modern science has yet to fully comprehend.

At least that's the message of an Oakland Tribune article about the as-yet-unknown downside of modern, everyday products. The chemicals inside plastics, toys and appliances tinker with key hormones -- turning them on when they should be off, or vice versa. "In the absence of concrete data for many of these chemicals, the precautionary principle should be exercised," said one scientist.

If that's not the scariest message I've heard in a long time, I'm not sure what is. On its face, it appears to be sound advice. Be cautious. OK, sure. Fine. But of what, exactly? Should I not drink Coke? Should I throw out my daughter's baby bottles? Will drinking beer from a can instead of directly from the tap inhibit my ability to have more kids? Get on it, people. Stop with the scare tactics and get with the testing. Just how safe is my kid? How safe are we all?

Angsty is the New Happy: Parents Eschew Therapy for Blogging

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:17:00 GMT

Her Bad Mother is a wonderful writer who has an impressive ~~Google ranking~~ following for someone who has only been blogging since January of last year (could be all those references to "sore nipples.") She is a professor who lives in Toronto and is part of an excellent group of writers at UrbanMoms. She writes today (and quite frequently) about the angst and worry she feels about parenting her darling daughter, Wonder Baby. As Wonder Baby gets older and more active, the trouble seems to get deeper. The adorable giblet pictured at right is now a wild and challenging toddler.

Like many parent bloggers she uses her blog as therapy. And while her style has often been derided (as popularized by the now defunct TrainWrecks), reading her blog, one is keenly aware of the difference between solipsism and soulfulness. Blogs like hers are honest and vulnerable and true. Like all things of this nature, they inspire awe and gentleness rather than snark and sarcasm. And in their own way, they make the world better.