Parenting

When Kid M. brings a baby into that most hip of hipsterati watering holes, yes, the Herrell's in Allston, all the tatted ones want to hold the baby. Just not for the reason other people would want to.

Via Allston City Limits.

If it's morning rush hour and you're about to get on a trolley with your baby and he is screaming his head off, should you stop boarding and wait until he calms down? Martin wishes a woman on the B line this morning had done just that:

... Please, out of common courtesy to your fellow passengers, many of whom are still half-asleep or are trying to enjoy some last "quiet" time before they get to the office, have the decency to tend to your child - or better yet, wait until he/she has quieted down and then get on the train. Thanks. ...

Unspecified threats made against Roslindale students in general, so Boston Police stepped up surveillance of all public schools in the neighborhood on June 16. Officials at some schools told parents, officials at other schools didn't, you can imagine how parents of some elementary-school kids were a bit disturbed to find cops at the schools when they brought the kids to school in the morning..

Margalit reports on "Insane Dad," a Newton father who has taken such an intense dislike to a group of Newton kids that he put up a Web page with their photos and detailed descriptions of why he hates them. The page came down in about four hours after Margalit and others complained to the hosting company. Naturally, it doesn't end there.

Beantown Bloggery picked up on a Time magazine article in which 17 teenage girls, 4 times the number as the previous year, at Gloucester High School were found to have made a pregnancy pact and to want to raise their children together. The article explains:

All it took was a few simple questions before nearly half the expecting students, none older than 16, confessed to making a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Then the story got worse. "We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy," said principal Joseph Sullivan.

Some girls described the desire to give birth to something that unconditionally loves them. Other observers wonder if the in-school daycare and strollers mingling with students in the hallways might be presenting the wrong impression of teen pregnancy.

Jody reports she's now fully qualified for the Dying in the Heat Watching Little League Games badge.

Cambridge Police wish to have a word with the white guy in "a big straw hat" who keeps asking kids at the Haggerty Elementary School for their phone numbers and if they want to see his dog and the black guy in "a white turban with a cap over it" who keeps staring at the kids.

Um, what? Dr. Gwenn says small pitchers have big ears, so don't start throwing chairs around or sticking pins in an Obama or Clinton voodoo doll today. At least, not until after you get the kids into bed.

Christine Bower reports that when she got her free iced coffee at Dunkin' Donuts a couple weeks ago, she was behind two kids, looking about 6 and 9, who were also there for their free coffees:

... The younger boy wasn't able to read the Red Sox posters hanging in the shop, and the older kid struggled to sound out the words. After they got their Free Iced Coffees and left, I was actually a bit dumbfounded. My first instinct was to pity their adults, because the boys would be a handful that evening (this was about 6 pm); my second instinct was that if you allow children that you are responsible for to wander around a major city with no adult supervision, you deserve hyperactive, caffeinated brats.

The City Council holds a hearing on Thursday on Bisphenol A, a chemical used in many plastic bottles (Nalgene, anyone) that might not be all that good for your health. Councilors could try to ban bottles made with the chemical.

Michael Pahre will tell you way more than you thought you'd need to know about the chemical - and why the council is taking up a matter normally under the purview of the federal Food and Drug Administration.

The hearing, organized by at-large Councilor John Connolly, starts at 3 p.m. in the Ianella Chamber, fifth floor, City Hall.

Sarah Schweitzer reports on the latest issue confronting the weary, beaten-down monied classes: full-day kindergarten:

One parent penned a letter to the [Concord] School Committee, saying studies had shown that students who benefited from the program generally come from "at-risk communities."

Dear Concord parent,

Thanks for reminding me why I couldn't stand Concord when I was a reporter.

Sincerely,

Parent of a non-at-risk kid who went to full-day kindergarten, albeit not in your precious snowflake of a town.

Shocking disclosure: I actually sort of agree with a point our Robb Reporter in training raises: Although I think our daughter did well with full-day kindergarten, I did find it a little sad to see just how much academic work these kids were expected to do. But then Ms. Schweitzer comes through in the clutch with all sorts of down-their-noses sneering at the lesser classes and ties it all together in a trend story based on complaints from, oh, three people, and my faith in her ability to make me rant at the vapidity of people with too much money and the newspaper that serves them is restored.

Oh, brother. That boy who claimed he ran away from a kidnapper on the way to St. Brendan's School in Dorchester the other day was lying just like the girl who texted her mother yesterday about bad things being done to her, Boston Police report.

Further investigation revealed that the young man had fabricated his story because he was concerned about being tardy for school.

Currently the Boston Police School Police Unit will work with the families of these two children to assist them with receiving any necessary social services. Also officers are seeking to get the children involved in community service. In addition, the Boston Police School Police Unit is working closely with the Boston School Department to develop an educational awareness program to reinforce to students the true and serious ramifications for falsifying information to their parent and authorities.

The Boston Police Department would like to take this opportunity to urge parents to have a conversation with their children about the seriousness of both these situations and the consequences that result.

So the anonymous person who posted this not long after I posted about the St. Brendan's kid was absolutely right.

Dr. Gwenn advises.

You resort to paying one son to stop throwing rocks at another.

A much less depressing parenting story.

Alicia recounts the woman she saw stationed for a couple of weeks at State and Congress streets:

... [T]here was a grown woman selling Girl Scout cookies from the trunk of her car. For at least a couple of weeks, I could count on seeing her courting the after work foot traffic. She'd wave boxes of Do-Si-Dos and Tagalongs as we walked by and shout, "Girl Scout cookies!" She was either the world's oldest Girl Scout, or someone looking to help her daughter earn a badge (or free trip to Europe.) I was tempted to buy some Thin Mints, which I love to eat frozen, but something just felt wrong buying Girl Scout cookies from a middle-aged woman housed in the back of her Acura.

Promo for a documentary by the Hyde Square Task Force's Health Career Ambassadors on youth violence in Boston:

Info on the documentary's premiere, May 29 at the John D. O'Bryant African-American Institute, Northeastern University.

Aw: Little boy helps out a little girl bawling her eyes out:

... So this skinny little boy in a patriots cap, who'd gotten on earlier, trots down from the back of the bus with a big picture book about disneyworld. And asks if she likes Disney and wants to see it. She is intrigued, and stops crying. He plops himself down on the seat and proceeds to explain the whole book, page by page, showing off all the neat things. ...