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Posted at 12:46 PM ET, 12/19/2012

Military day cares under investigation

The U.S. Defense Secretary Tuesday announced an investigation into the staff at all U.S. military day cares, an investigation that will delve into hundreds of centers all over the world.

The surprise announcement comes after a troubling episode at the Fort Myer day-care center, the largest in the Department of Defense with a capacity for almost 450 children. It also highlights a problem that plagues many day cares around the country: faulty or limited background checks.

This fall, two day-care employees at the Fort Myer center were arrested for assault. In October, WJLA reported that a parent complaint led officials to review surveillance videos of the day care. On the tapes, officials saw one worker dragging and hitting one 2-year-old and another worker hitting a different 2-year-old child and threatening him with a sticky rodent trap filled with bugs.

One of those workers now faces five counts of assault, the other faces four.

A subsequent investigation revealed that up to 30 staff members at the center, which serves children of Pentagon employees and families based at Fort Myer, Fort McNair and other military facilities in the region, had problematic records. According to the Associated Press the Army has not said what it found in those backgrounds, other than “derogatory information.”

Officials closed the center last week and moved the children to a different facility.

Such problems, though unexpected at a military facility, are not so unique.

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By  |  12:46 PM ET, 12/19/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Childcare, Safety

Posted at 07:00 AM ET, 12/19/2012

Parental denial a universal affliction

Of the many facts we will never learn regarding the Newtown shootings, one is the mindset of Nancy Lanza.


This handout image provided by ABC News, shows Nancy J. Lanza, mother of suspected mass shooter Adam Lanza at an unspecified time and place. (Handout - Getty Images)
We can assume that she had no idea how violent her son could become. It’s perhaps likely that she was, in some part at least, in denial.

If so, hers would have been an extreme form of what, it turns out, is an affliction suffered by most parents.

Last month, the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture released survey results assessing the “Culture of American Families.” One of the results, based on interviews with thousands of parents nationwide, was that parents often delude themselves when it comes to their own children’s behavior.

For instance:

● Based upon parental reports, the average grade point average for high school students is between 3.15 and 3.24.Yet, according to national transcript data, the average high school grade point average is between 2.95 and 3.0.

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By  |  07:00 AM ET, 12/19/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)

Posted at 01:36 PM ET, 12/18/2012

School safety at what cost?

School security — we’re all focused on it this week. Schools across the country have sent parents e-mails reassuring them and detailing the, sometimes new, procedures in place to try to protect our children from the evil unleashed upon innocent victims in Newtown.


(Noah Berger - AP)
But can “procedures” really prevent such tragedies and, if they are so airtight that they might, what’s the cost?

What chills many of us even more in the Newtown aftermath is that the little Sandy Hook school was about as safe as they come. Entrances were locked every day, visitors had to be buzzed in.

But door locks and buzzers are no match for heavy arms.

“Turning our schools into fortresses is not going to solve the problem,” University of Virginia safety expert Dewey Cornell, told Washington Post reporters Donna St. George and Lyndsey Layton for a story on school safety in Tuesday’s Post.

What if we tried it? Gun control legislation certainly looks like it might take a while to enact and, as Ezra Klein points out in Tuesday’s Post, wouldn’t have stopped the shooter Adam Lanza either.

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By  |  01:36 PM ET, 12/18/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Safety

Posted at 11:05 AM ET, 12/18/2012

Are iPads a good teaching tool for toddlers?


A child uses her mom's iPad to create artwork. (Katherine Frey - THE WASHINGTON POST)
From elsewhere in The Post: Tempted to buy your toddler an iPad this holiday season? James Steyer, chief executive and founder of Common Sense Media, says that’s a “ridiculous idea” in this story by Rachel Saslow in the Health & Science section. But some experts see value in introducing technology to kids at a young age.

Saslow writes:

Among parents and experts, the idea of giving a toddler an iPad is a fraught subject. There are some obvious drawbacks. For one thing, they’re expensive — as much as $829 for the most recent version. They’re also fragile. But the science on how the iPad affects young children isn’t yet clear, and while some experts see them as developmentally inappropriate, others see some benefits to the technology — and not just in keeping a parent’s sanity (if not guilt) in check.

Read the rest of the story here. And join Saslow and “mediatrician” Michael Rich of Harvard Medical School for an online chat on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. Submit your questions here.

Related content:

Tempted to buy your tot an iPad?

Should Santa bring an iPad?

Mobile apps raise child privacy concerns

By On Parenting  |  11:05 AM ET, 12/18/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  electronic media

Posted at 09:31 AM ET, 12/18/2012

Chickpeas for your little chickadees


(Gil Guelfucci - Getty Images)
I’ve always thought of my husband as a Midwestern meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, him being from Minnesota and all, and imagined myself as the spice-loving, healthy vegetarian. But I realized the other day that his favorite meal is meat-free and probably one of the spiciest, most healthful dinners I regularly put on the table: chickpea curry over brown rice.

We have been eating a lot of chickpeas lately. This passion began when we returned from Istanbul having devoured the most delicious chickpea dishes on the planet. The hummus there is silky and smooth and worth licking up. The lemon chickpea soups are refreshing and flavorful. I could go on.

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By  |  09:31 AM ET, 12/18/2012 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Casey Seidenberg, kids and nutrition

 

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